Bijelo Dugme (album)

Bijelo Dugme is the seventh studio album by former Yugoslav and Bosnian rock band Bijelo Dugme. Due to Bijelo Dugme's usage of Uroš Predić's famous painting Kosovo Maiden for the album cover, the album is unofficially known as Kosovka djevojka (trans. Kosovo Maiden).

Bijelo Dugme
Studio album by
Bijelo Dugme
Released12 December 1984
RecordedStudio I, RTV Sarajevo
Studio IV, RTV Zagreb
Studio RTV Skopje
Studio Akvarijus, Belgrade
GenreRock
Pop rock
Folk rock
Length39:07
LabelDiskoton, Kamarad
ProducerGoran Bregović
Bijelo Dugme chronology
Uspavanka za Radmilu M.
(1983)		 Bijelo Dugme
(1984)		 Pljuni i zapjevaj moja Jugoslavijo
(1986)

Bijelo Dugme is the band's only album recorded with vocalist Mladen Vojičić "Tifa", who came to the band as the replacement for Željko Bebek. The album is also notable for featuring the band's former member Laza Ristovski, who, after the album was released, became an official member of the band once again. The album was praised for the usage of computers and digital synths such as the E-mu emulator and waveform. Even Bregović claimed that the use of such instruments increased their musical sphere; this culminated in the success of the album. Laza was known for reusing his equipment on "Pljuni i zapjevaj moja Jugoslavijo"

Bijelo Dugme was listed in 1998 as the 28th on the list of 100 greatest Yugoslav rock and pop albums in the book YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike (YU 100: The Best Albums of Yugoslav Pop and Rock Music).[1]

Background and recording
Kosovo Maiden by Uroš Predić, used on the cover

Vocalist Željko Bebek left Bijelo Dugme in April 1984, deciding to dedicate himself to his solo career, and the band's new vocalist became a former Top and Teška Industrija member Mladen Vojičić Tifa.[2] The band spent the summer of 1984 in Rovinj, where they held small performances in Monvi tourist centre, preparing for the upcoming album recording.[3]

The album was recorded in Sarajevo, Skopje, Zagreb and Belgrade.[4] The working title of the album, Još uvijek nas ima (We're Still Here), was discarded after it was decided that Uroš Predić's painting would appear on the cover.[5] Bijelo Dugme featured Radio Television of Skopje Folk Instruments Orchestra, folk group Ladarice on backing vocals, Pece Atanasovski on gaida and Sonja Beran-Leskovšek on harp.[4] The song "Pediculis pubis" (misspelling of "Pediculosis pubis") featured Bora Đorđević, the leader of Bijelo Dugme's main competitors at the time, Riblja Čorba, on vocals.[4] Đorđević co-wrote the song with Bijelo Dugme leader Goran Bregović, and sung it with Bregović and Vojičić.[6] (Bregović would, in return, make a guest appearance on Riblja Čorba 1985 album Istina, singing with Đorđević in the song "Disko mišić".[7]) Đorđević had an idea of political song, with lyrics mentioning names and nicknames of Yugoslav politicians, but Bregović persuaded him that the song should feature joking lyrics about pubic lice.[6] The final mix of the album was done by German producer Theo Werdin, who initially came to Sarajevo to produce Divlje Jagode's album Vatra, but whom Diskoton, after his arrival, hired to work on Bijelo Dugme.[8]

The album featured a version of Yugoslav national anthem, "Hej, Slaveni", as the opening track.[4] The song "Lipe cvatu, sve je isto k'o i lani" ("Linden Trees Are in Bloom, Everything's Just Like It Used to Be") is musically based on the song "Šta ću nano dragi mi je ljut" ("What Can I Do, Mom, My Darling Is Angry"), written by Bregović and originally recorded by Bisera Veletanlić.[2]

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Hej, Slaveni" ("Hey, Slavs")S. Tomášik (translated by D. Rakovac)Unknown composer1:30
2."Padaju zvijezde" ("The Stars Are Falling")G. BregovićG. Bregović4:40
3."Meni se ne spava" ("I Don't Feel like Sleeping")G. Bregović, M. ŽuborskiG. Bregović4:15
4."Za Esmu" ("For Esma")G. BregovićG. Bregović4:15
5."Jer, kad ostariš" ("Because, When You Grow Old")G. BregovićG. Bregović3:40
6."Lipe cvatu, sve je isto k'o i lani" ("Linden Trees Are in Bloom, Everything's just like It Used to Be")G. BregovićG. Bregović4:00
7."Pediculis pubis" (misspelling of "Pediculosis pubis")B. Đorđević, G. BregovićG. Bregović4:25
8."Aiaio Radi Radio" ("Aiaio the Radio Is On")G. BregovićG. Bregović2:53
9."Lažeš zlato, lažeš dušo" ("You're Lying, Sweetie, You're Lying, Darling")G. BregovićG. Bregović3:47
10."Da te bogdo ne volim" ("If I Could Only Not Love You")G. BregovićG. Bregović5:18

Personnel

Additional personnel
  • Ladarice - backing vocals
  • Bora Đorđević - vocals (track 7)
  • Laza Ristovski - keyboards, computer programming, fairlight
  • Pece Atanasovski - gaida (track 6)
  • Sonja Beran-Leskovšek - harp (track 10)
  • Radio Television of Skopje Folk Instruments Orchestra (track 6)
  • Mufid Kosović - engineer
  • Mladen Škalec - recorded by Ladarice
  • Milka Gerasimova - recorded by Radio Television of Skopje Folk Instruments Orchestra
  • Ratko Ostojić - recorded by computer (track 3)
  • Theo Werdin - mixing

Reception and events following the release

The album was well received by the audience. "Lipe cvatu, sve je isto k'o i lani" was the album's biggest hit.[2] Other hits included "Padaju zvijezde", "Lažeš", "Da te bogdo ne volim" and "Jer kad ostariš".[2] Many critics, however, disliked the album.[9]

The album sale and the tour were very successful.[2] The album sold more than 420,000 copies.[10]

Vojičić, under the pressure of professional obligations, sudden fame, and a media scandal caused by revelation of his LSD usage, decided to leave the band.[2] He performed with Bijelo Dugme for the last time at a concert in Moscow.[2]

Influence and legacy
From the band's position, it was the self-preservation album. [...] They were together on the recording of that album. They breathed as one, spent all of the time in the studio and followed Bregović's energy. They thought about every detail. That album is a collection of incredible details imbibed into an incredible unity. [...]

Generally speaking, it's a magical album, magical in its every point, in every note, in every sung syllable. Or — as Đorđe Matić, the author of the best essays about Bijelo Dugme that were never written, would say — 'something that is, at the same time, like the Sex Pistols, like the Russian suprematists and the Italian futurists, and like, in the more extensive context, Yugoslavia itself — all of that could, now it is obvious, last for only a short, the shortest period of time, just like any supernova — the explosion of a star, by its nature, can't last for long.'

If the album Uspavanka za Radmilu M. was a hint of Bregović's own genre, the album Bijelo Dugme was the announcement of it. It represents the greatest artistic independence reached by the Yugoslav culture when it comes to popular music. And then, it's the album which doesn't resemble any other album, from anywhere else.

-Dušan Vesić[8]

Suppose we view Laibach and Mizar as ideological avant-garde — the Marx and Engels of Yugoslav rock, and we further assign Riblja Čorba the role of the people, then Bijelo Dugme can be looked at as the Communist Party's local neighbourhood branch. Bijelo Dugme was a compound of Yugoslav reality with an image that had been created to show what things are supposed to be like, but without excessive illusions. Bijelo Dugme offered a mildly stylized, slightly removed state of things.

On their 1984 self-titled album, Bijelo Dugme recorded one of their biggest hits, 'Lipe cvatu', a song that's larger than life. The album opens with a cover of the Yugoslav anthem 'Hej, Sloveni', a decision that's a typical example of Titoist pseudo-dissidence. And they also brought us a clinical plagiarism of Van Halen in 'Padaju zvijezde'. All in all, if you needed a single album to point to as definition of this band's canon, here it is.

Of course, it is even more important to bear in mind that this album knocked the entire SFR Yugoslavia off its feet, that its hits became immortal, and that Bregović's book on making hit records began to be written around the time of this album. At the same time, he allegedly stated he intentionally doesn't put much effort into mixing his records due to figuring his fans have bad stereo equipment at home anyway, while further assuming those who do own good equipment certainly wouldn't waste their time listening to Bijelo Dugme. Yet another one of his nuggets of wisdom when it comes to creating hit tracks was that he knew 'Lipe cvatu' would resonate with a mass audience because he statistically calculated the last time a song in that rhythm became a hit.

Anyhow, this record is a primer on how to make a commercial monster in Yugoslav rock, a record for weddings and funerals, for Yugoslav stereo equipment, for entertainment of the nations and nationalities, and how to create a bubble that can't be blown away.

-Dimitrije Vojnov in March 2007[11]

Bijelo Dugme's folk-oriented pop rock sound, alongside the idea of Yugoslavism, present on the album via cover of "Hej, Sloveni", influenced a great number of pop rock bands from Sarajevo, like Merlin, Plavi Orkestar, Crvena Jabuka, Valentino and Hari Mata Hari, often labeled as New Partisans.[2]

The album polled in 1998 as the 28th on the list of 100 greatest Yugoslav rock and pop albums in the book YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike (YU 100: The Best Albums of Yugoslav Pop and Rock Music).[1]

In 2000, "Lipe cvatu" and "Za Esmu" polled at 10th and 78th spot respectively on the Rock Express Top 100 Yugoslav Rock Songs of All Times list.[12]

In 2007, Serbian critic Dimitrije Vojnov named Bijelo Dugme one of ten most important records in the history of Yugoslav rock, despite having a negative opinion of the album.[11]

In 2011, Radio 202 listeners voted "Meni se ne spava" ("I Don't Feel like Sleeping") one of the 60 greatest songs released by PGP-RTB/PGP-RTS during the 60 years of the label's existence.[13]

Covers
  • Serbian and Yugoslav folk singer Zorica Brunclik recorded a cover of "Lipe cvatu, sve je isto k'o i lani" on her 1993 album Branili su našu ljubav (They Were against Our Love).[14]
  • Bosnian turbo folk singer Igor Vukojević recorded a cover of "Lažeš" on his 2003 album Ringišpil (Carousel).[15]
  • Serbian ensemble Ekrem Sajdić Trumpet Orchestra recorded an instrumental cover of "Lipe cvatu, sve je isto k'o i lani" on 2004 various artists album Kad jeknu dragačevske trube 2 (When the Trumpets of Dragačevo Start Playing 2).[16]
  • Serbian folk singer Saša Matić recorded a cover of "Lipe cvatu" on his 2010 cover album Nezaboravne... (Unforgettable Ones...).[17]

Sampling
  • The Severina's 2012 song "Dobrodošao u klub" sounds like the Bijelo Dugme's 1985 song "Lažeš zlato, lažeš dušo".

References
  1. Antonić, Duško; Štrbac, Danilo (1998). YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike. Belgrade: YU Rock Press.
  2. Janjatović, Petar (2007). EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006. Belgrade: self-released. p. 34.
  3. Vesić, Dušan (2014). Bijelo Dugme: Šta bi dao da si na mom mjestu. Belgrade: Laguna. p. 230.
  4. Bijelo Dugme at Disogs
  5. Vesić, Dušan (2014). Bijelo Dugme: Šta bi dao da si na mom mjestu. Belgrade: Laguna. p. 237.
  6. Vesić, Dušan (2014). Bijelo Dugme: Šta bi dao da si na mom mjestu. Belgrade: Laguna. p. 240.
  7. Istina at Discogs
  8. Vesić, Dušan (2014). Bijelo Dugme: Šta bi dao da si na mom mjestu. Belgrade: Laguna. p. 241.
  9. Krstulović, Zvonimir (2005). Bijelo Dugme: Doživjeti stotu. Profil. p. 42.
  10. Vesić, Dušan (2014). Bijelo Dugme: Šta bi dao da si na mom mjestu. Belgrade: Laguna. p. 236.
  11. "10 najvažnijih SFRJ ploča", Dimitrije Vojnov, pressonlie.rs
  12. "100 najboljih pesama svih vremena YU rocka". Rock Express (in Serbian). Belgrade (25).
  13. 60 хитова емисије ПГП на 202!, facebook.com
  14. Branili su našu ljubav at Discogs Archived April 24, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  15. Ringišpil at Discogs
  16. Kad jeknu dragačevske trube 2 at Discogs
  17. Nezaboravne at Discogs
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