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.
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