"Kantautor" by Arsen Dedić (1985)

Very pretty piano-and-voice album where famous croatian artist celebrates work of his colleagues.

Title of this album refers to a word croatians literary picked up from italian - "cantautore" (singing author) - that sounds far more sophisticated and elegant than clumsy english "singer songwriter" To my knowledge Dedić never called himself "kantautor" except mockingly - he calls himself "craftsman" since his work encompassed everything from children's music, soundtracks,TV and theatre music to composing for himself and other singers,not to mention several published books of poetry,truly fascinating man.

A very gifted singer-songwriter himself,Dedić has already glanced at other people work - his early EP singles were full of covers and there were two albums from 1977. and 1980. where he recorded material associated with lyrics writer Zvonimir Golob and various poets. This time in 1985. - in the time of thundering synthesizers and gimmicky MTV video clips - Dedić recorded piano-and-voice album where he focuses on other brothers in arms: Jacques Brel, Luigi Tenco, Fabrizio De Andre even John Lennon.

The lack of big production means the stage is set to spotlight Dedić and lyrics - only his serious,declamatory voice and wonderful,simple music coming from the hearts of his fellow colleagues. As ever eclectic, Dedić re-visits not only famous international stars and his idols,but also a local songwriters and friends (Hrvoje Hegedušić, Kemal Monteno, Đorđe Balašević) not to mention completely off-the-wall choice of some old hit from 1950s ("Hvala Ti" by long forgotten Zvonimir Krkljuš) where campy old love song turns into heartfelt and sincere mournful ballad. Borrowing - or should we say celebrating - songs from left and right,Dedić shows excellent taste and strangely enough whatever he sings has such a strong stamp of personality that it might have been written by him.

Since I lived with this album for many years and know it by heart now,I noticed that Dedić never limited himself on usual love song stuff - just like in his own songs ("Djevojka za jedan dan"/"The Girl for one day" - single from 1970.) on several occasions here he refers at loving a girl who is a prostitute. There are few songs on this album that obviously appeal to Dedić,where protagonist falls head over heals for a girl who does not belong to him or anybody. It is very interesting because it's not like he loves a whore,he is overjoyed and excited about a girl who laughs at him,who basically don't love him but his heart burst nevertheless - the more I listen this songs,the more I find nuances and different meanings - it could also be a song about man growing older and girl being young and beautiful and unavailable.In this case,the way it was written,the girl is described as a prostitute but she is simply a symbol for Dedić's deep yearning for that girl forever out of our reach,she does not and never will be his.

Fritz Wunderlich: Wunderlich in Wien (1966)

Wunderlich goes Tauber - sweet voiced german singer could apparently sing anything and was always waving magic,be it Mozart,Bach or lieder.

On this 1966 album Wunderlich visits famous operetta arias and as usual he approaches them with same seriousness as anything he has ever recorded,making a point that good music has no limits - if he was great in sacral or operatic music,well,he could as well shine in operetta and why not?

Lesser known fact is that Wunderlich actually studied early music (Monteverdi) while singing and playing popular music on the side,to make a living,so this early period obviously shaped his personality in a way that he was able to simply live and breathe music no matter what style,he was simply great singer who could do anything.

This particular recording is delightful in a very much same way Elizabeth Schwarzkopf's operetta album - sparkling like champagne,creamy as any austrian cake, or at least what we imagine Austria is - sweet melodies,very romantic and certainly very hummable,this is light-hearted music for a sunny day (no dark shadows here) and if massive orchestra and wordless choir perhaps makes everything a bit too much like Disney movie, never mind,the idea was to match world-class singer with a seductive,easy listening material and it was done with perfection,in fact I think if Wunderlich was alive today,it could probably not have been done any better - just look at any classical singer recording popular music (traditional folk songs or something like that,yes we are looking at you Bryn Terfel) and no matter what kind of voice they have,the production is more or less very similar to this 1966.recording, except that instead of Vienna Volksoper Choir today's releases would probably add some celebrity duet as extra attraction.

Easy-listening Austrian bon-bon with one of the best voices in the business.

"Millenium Trilogy" by Stieg Larsson

Strangely enough - or perhaps not,considering that I always stay away from "current trends" - I kept away from Stieg Larsson's trilogy until a colleague recommended "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". It's funny because I am the book addict and my colleague was never ever sharing my passion for reading, but apparently crossing over from Europe to South Africa was so slow and boring that even he felt compelled to check the book from his own shop and he read it at work,sitting there for hours with nobody around.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was on my shelf for a long,long time - having it there was enough for me,while other books got my attention and I was happy buying and choosing something else from local bookshops in Durban. Have I mentioned that bookshops in South Africa have little coffee shops inside,so people meet friends and sip coffee while reading newspapers,it is a very cute little invention in my opinion.

Finally,after I finished everything else,one evening I decided to give it a try - it was a little slow to start and swedish names were a bit difficult to remember but I was determined and something in there kept me going until I got hooked on a story and really enjoyed it - it turned into a gripping tale with completely fascinating twists and turns,nothing was what I expected it to be and to my biggest surprise two characters finally emerged as memorable and interesting as anything in classic literature. What started as court defeat of a famous journalist,turned into his research into long forgotten,unsolved crime mystery and from that point the story just kept going more and more interesting until everything lead to even more mysteries,crimes and nail-biting chapters where I had to control myself from peeking at the end of the book.

By some strange coincidence,another colleague was reading a sequel "The Girl who played with fire" but I couldn't wait until he finished,so when my ship docked in Cape town I bought two sequels,knowing I will devour them during my long crossing to Europe. "The Girl who played with fire" had both characters working on the same murder case separately and again I used every spare moment enjoying my book,reading it not only long into the night but also on my short afternoon breaks,actually stealing time from afternoon rest and getting lost in the story instead of having a nap (after all,we are working whole day from morning to night here).

Now I started the third and final book "The Girl who kicked the Hornets' Nest" and it started very good - I have no doubts it will be as enjoyable as the first two,it looks like everything is happening on a much larger scale because media is involved and if the first book had a certain winter feeling (very first crime research was happening in snow covered little village) the current story is spread all over TV and newspapers,so I am curious how will our beloved little heroine keep her head above the water with the whole world watching - specially as media already presented her as maniacal mass murderess and now the real truth have to be explained.

My ship has finally docked - after 6 agonizing days of sailing - and instead of going out in Dakar (dirty and depressing place) I will stay on the ship and guess what,reading my book.

Atlantic crossing

Finally crossing over to Europe - can't believe that I am sailing and working so long,I actually embarked at beginning of July LAST YEAR and than somehow continued on another ship,than another and instead of working typical 6 months it turned into 12 - no wonder I feel exhausted,after all it is 7 days a week work with no breaks except if one gets sick.

I enjoyed Europe very much - Baltic or the Med it is the same beauty of cities,interesting streets,architecture,shops,food,variety of culture and one easily gets lost in sheer abundance of everything. South Africa unfortunately is very limited in this,or should I say it was my ports that were uninteresting (see previous post) so now I'm really looking forward to arrival in Europe,the moment I step outside in Tenerife this is already Spain and exciting.

So how does it work on a crossing? For the start,we do have passengers and these are people who have chosen slow sailing over quick plane flight. Why would anybody do this is not easy to explain,because I myself would certainly prefer just to get over with it fast,but these (mostly elderly) passengers are not in a hurry and apparently satisfied with sitting around,playing cards,reading their books and looking around the shops (without really buying anything because as I said,they are not in a hurry).

It gave me chance to count all the inventories and dust everything around and than some more. But unfortunately it also means I had to go through 6 agonizingly slow days of sailing,when the shops had to be opened non-stop "just in case" if anybody decide to shop,which of course never happens. So I stood there for 6 days,from morning to night (with a little break in afternoon) counting,dusting,counting,dusting,looking through the window at the sea that changed color from depressing grey into beautiful deep blue (we finally crossed over into Atlantic ocean) and checked the calendar to see how much longer this can last. Four more days until Canary Islands,which is already part of Spain,thanks God.

Today the very first land - Dakar,Senegal - but it is such dirty and depressing place that I decided not to even bother to go out. I saw it last year and was appalled with everything,never mind Dakar. I have no interest in exotic african (or any,come to think) place with flies and beggars everywhere. Instead of going out and suffering people on the streets pulling my sleeves and following me everywhere,I will rest on the ship,have a coffee,read my book and give a break to my tired legs,after all I am standing for 14-16 hours daily so for a change I can just lie down and listen some classical music.

Than again,two more "sea days" and finally Tenerife,can't wait. Just the change of scenery will be enough to cheer me up and bring some excitement.