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.
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 emulator and waveterm. Even Bregović claimed that the use of such instruments increased their musical spher that columinated into the success of the album. Laza was known for reusing his equipment for the later album "Pljuni i zapjevaj moja Jugoslavijo"
Bijelo Dugme was polled in 1998 as the 28th on the list of 100 greatest Yugoslav rock and pop albums in the book .

Background and recording

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. The band spent the summer of 1984 in Rovinj, where they held small performances in Monvi tourist centre, preparing for the upcoming album recording.
The album was recorded in Sarajevo, Skopje, Zagreb and Belgrade. The working title of the album, Još uvijek nas ima, was discarded after it was decided that Uroš Predić's painting would appear on the cover. 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. The song "Pediculis pubis" featured Bora Đorđević, the leader of Bijelo Dugme's main competitors at the time, Riblja Čorba, on vocals. Đorđević co-wrote the song with Bijelo Dugme leader Goran Bregović, and sung it with Bregović and Vojičić. 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. 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.
The album featured a version of Yugoslav national anthem, "Hej, Slaveni", as the opening track. The song "Lipe cvatu, sve je isto k'o i lani" is musically based on the song "Šta ću nano dragi mi je ljut", written by Bregović and originally recorded by Bisera Veletanlić.

Track listing

Personnel

The album was well received by the audience. "Lipe cvatu, sve je isto k'o i lani" was the album's biggest hit. Other hits included "Padaju zvijezde", "Lažeš", "Da te bogdo ne volim" and "Jer kad ostariš". Many critics, however, disliked the album.
The album sale and the tour were very successful. The album sold more than 420,000 copies.
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. He performed with Bijelo Dugme for the last time at a concert in Moscow.

Influence and legacy

Bijelo Dugmes 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.
The album polled in 1998 as the 28th on the list of 100 greatest Yugoslav rock and pop albums in the book '.
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.
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.
In 2011, Radio 202 listeners voted "Meni se ne spava" one of the 60 greatest songs released by PGP-RTB/PGP-RTS during the 60 years of the label's existence.

Covers