Orson Welles

Just prior to my visit to Vienna, I decided to check out the most famous movie connected to that city and that is classic 1949. thriller "The Third Man".The most interesting thing about this movie is that completely ignores typical trashy, cheesy and fluffy Vienna stuff that locals so proudly display as their cultural heritage - whatever Austrians consider original and interesting part of tourism (schnitzels, waltzes, empress Sissy and such) is not shown here at all - this is Vienna as post-WW2 hell, still in ruins and people living in cold, empty palaces, controlled by four different foreign police sectors. Joseph Cotten is  small-time writer of cheap, paperback novels who arrives here on invitation of his good friend, just to find out that his friend died in suspicious car accident day before and this is where the real story starts - unwilling to let it all go, Cotten gets entangled in all sorts of underworld twists and turns, with dark, scary and gloomy Vienna serving as perfect background for the noir story. Come to think of it, the movie is probably one of the best known examples of what today we call film noir, crime thriller of 1940s/1950s. It does look and feels very foreboding, black & white camera perfectly creating the nightmare atmosphere and there is hardly a character we can really trust, seems that everybody has some secret agenda. Even famous Viennese landmark, the spinning wheel Wiener Riesenrad gets a dangerous role in this movie, this is definitely some dark, disturbing vision of Vienna and no wonder locals were initially reserved about this apocalyptic nightmare about their beloved town. Background music by Anton Karas is perfect, as it appears first just sweet and lilting just to slowly turns disturbing and dissonant, reflecting the whole darkness of the story. Orson Welles is not only the star of the movie but also its most memorable character, although he comes in fairly late and he completely overshadows everybody else with his presence and charisma. Thinking back about the movie, its all about secrets and dark corners, how nobody is what they pretend to be. The ending is just perfect, one of the best ending in the history of cinema. Truly a classic.

"The Third Man" impressed me so much that I found myself thinking about that movie long after I saw it recently so no wonder I decided to check another of Orson Welles masterpieces - "Citizen Kane" unfortunately has such a mythical reputation as one of the greatest wonders of cinema that its almost impossible to approach it with fresh eyes and just relax enjoying it for what it is (old 1941. black & white movie) but you can't help constantly feeling like this should be some religious experience. It won't work if you constantly expecting the burning bush and life-affirming knowledge so my suggestion is, just take it easy and pretend you have never heard abut it before - before you know it, you might get swept away into the story and yes it is quite unforgettable movie, touching so many various subjects that you might find yourself remembering the little details long afterwards. Impossibly young Orson Welles, caught in that fire & inspiration so typical of the first youth, directed, produced and wrote the movie that is impossible to forget - his character is the millionaire taken as a child from his parents and raised by Bank officials who expected him to became one of them: what follows is a life wasted, millions spent, constantly surrounded with envious parasites and deep down inside private understanding that true happiness was always out of reach. You can't help but thinking he would have been better off had he stayed with his parents (who gave him away with the best intentions). There is a whole cornucopia of excellent actors playing supporting roles, including Joseph Cotton and two brilliant actresses playing wives (Ruth Warrick and Dorothy Comingore), not to mention Agnes Moorehead as Kane's mother in her small but unforgettable scene. Visually, the movie is stunning and time has not diminished it at all - its still a joy to watch all those meticulously prepared scenes and my guess is, this is one of those classic movies you can watch again and again, always finding new details in it. 

"Salt" by Mark Kurlansky

Currently reading this delightful, informative and entertaining history of civilizations trough unexpected lens of human need for salt and how that need for it affected our history. For some time now I have been curious about how food shaped our history and occasionally my reading went that way ("An Edible History of Humanity", "In the Devil's Garden") so this book was just perfect example of this food-as-history literature and it came as no surprise that with so many other choices I could make, I selected this one because I just love to find out about strange and crazy facts from history.

Mark Kurlansky had previously written two similar books - "Cod" and "The Basque History of the World" so in this, third food-as-history book he connects the dots, spreading his net much wider and going all the way trough various continents and centuries. Although modern scientists are dead set against salt as silent poison, Kurlansky say this is a nonsense - salt is absolutely necessary for humans (and animals) and as we constantly lose it trough bodily functions, it needs to be replenished otherwise we would dehydrate. There is interesting story how the domestication of wild animals probably happen because of the salt - after Ice Age, sheep and cattle followed human traces of urine and wolves followed, which eventually led to training them as dogs and helpers for domestic animals. Chinese were the first who not only explored salt mines but understood how this necessity can be taxed and controlled by state. Romans even paid their soldiers in salt, hence the word "salary". It wasn't long before people found out that salt preserves food - ancient cookbooks are full of various uses of salt, apparently one of the most popular Roman delicacies was something called "garum" which was combination of fish, herbs and salt slowly boiled until the stink burned the hole in Ozone (it eventually fell out of fashion but it probably looked very much like today's modern pesto). North of Roman empire, in the Alps, so-called barbarians used salt mines for centuries and in fact little Austrian village Hallstadt that I visited recently was one of the most famous salt mines of the old world, along with similar places in Egypt, Crete and Cyprus - whoever controlled them, had all the power. There was a huge fight over salt between Venice and Genoa as Italians came to produce famous cheese and ham that was sold all over the known world (Samuel Pepys, famous 17th century diarist, saved his Italian cheese from burning London by burying it in the backyard, Thomas Jefferson had it shipped to him in Virginia). The medieval Catholic Church prohibited the eating of meat on religious days and in medieval world those were actually almost half of the year (no sex either on those days) and under English law the penalty for eating meat on Friday was hanging! (Just imagine, being hanged for eating meat! I just ate big portion of grilled čevapčići last Friday although it was Big Friday before Easter and they were delicious not only because of the taste but also because it is something that Croatians wouldn't do nowadays.) As red meat was forbidden, fish and various combinations came handy, here is where salt came as necessity again - salted Cod from the north sea opened the completely new market for fishermen from north Europe (Basques and Vikings who sailed everywhere, probably reached America back than so in a way salt expanded our knowledge of geography. I just came to the point in the book where salt became of strategic importance because salt cod and corned beef became the rations of the British navy - its just amazing that something that nowadays we take for granted was once considered so important that wars were fought for it. We understand that salt is important but because its such easily available commodity, we don't even think about it - and for thousands of years people actually controlled the salt mines, taxed the whole countries and held the power by selling and re-selling it trough the world like its gold. Just fascinating. 

Vienna

The idea of visiting Vienna during my current vacation was brewing in my head for some time now.

Since I treated myself with nice visits to Budapest and Berlin not long ago, there is no reason why I shouldn't do it again and see for example third famous city in central Europe that once was a seat of the great empire.They say that my own Zagreb was always Vienna's little cousin and indeed we are greatly influenced by Austrian food, architecture and even occasional German expression. So I found myself B&B and was very excited and happy to arrive in Vienna and do some serious cultural pilgrimage. My happiness was immediately erased as I got in some accident with local underground attendants - my week ticket appears to have been misprinted by machine (it turns out ticket was for the next week, not starting from the day of my arrival) and although it was clear that I am a freshly arrived tourist who properly bought ticket, the guy gloated as he charged me the full fine of 100 euros for not having a ticket so this kind of spoiled my whole arrival and I had to work hard on leaving it behind and convincing myself it doesn't matter, but it did matter. I wondered why did I even came here instead of staying comfortable where I was.

Vienna is huge version of my own Zagreb, much bigger and more glamorous but basically very much the same thing on larger scale. 

To my biggest surprise it turns out there is a enormous amount of people from Balkans who moved here - Serbians, Croatians, Romanians, Bulgarians, you name it - along with Turks and such. I heard my own language on the streets much more than even German! In a way it was fine for me as I could easily ask for directions, for example, but I didn't exactly had feeling of being in a foreign place. 

Very first place I visited was famous Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History) which was magnificent palace right in the centre. It is truly a cornucopia of art and you can spend the whole day there - I was thrilled as I explored ancient Egyptian mummies, sculptures from Greece and Rome, some truly exceptional Roman cameos and treasures found from the times of great migrations, some of them are still complete mystery to archaeologists. The paintings collection is wonderful, it might be even one of the best I have seen so far - Rafael, Tizian, Canaletto, Caravaggio, Hieronymus Bosch, the whole rooms focused on Pieter Bruegel and Rubens, I even found my dear friend, deaf and mute landscape painter Hendrick Avercamp to whom I blew a delighted kiss. Both Albrecht Dürer and Hans Holbein were also included, along with famous works by Velázquez (the whole room with his portraits of Spanish royal children). There is also another part of exhibition, called Kunstkammer and it has breathtaking art in gold, stone, wood, ivory and such - mostly decorative art, some of it dating from middle ages. When I left the place my head was buzzing with excitement.

Schönbrunn Palace was also delightful peek in the famous history - it has truly stunning surrounding parks and I walked all the way behind it to famous Gloriette (where I treated myself with a nice coffee) than back to the palace itself. Once it was place where Emperor lived, surrounded by countless officials and ordinary mortals could visit only if they asked for favours , nowadays everybody can see the carefully restored rooms and gawk at emperor's WC. All these salons had various functions and though it seems luxurious, I was aware that royal family was actually hardly ever alone there and they always had people around them, so it must have been crowded. I have seen the salon where little Mozart played for Empress Maria Theresia and even private rooms of famous Empress Sissy who is now a focus of the whole tourist industry with countless souvenirs about her.

Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (Vienna Museum of Natural History) was awesome - its all about life on Earth and it starts with carefully selected collection of every single crystal and mineral on our planet, than it goes to meteorites that probably brought life to this planet, fossils, reconstructed mammals, dinosaurs, mammoths and finally first human-like creatures of the world. From there it goes on to show the artifacts from stone age, bronze age and such - my biggest thrill was to see with my own eyes the figurine Venus of Willendorf - contrary to what I expected, she was not some fat monster (even the name given to her is pejorative) but a cutest little figure that could easily fit in child's palm and she is extremely lovable and very, very carefully carved in stone. We know absolutely nothing about the artist, her purpose, was she a totem or a decoration - what I can easily tell is that someone created her with lot of care and love 29 500 years ago and its just amazing how we feel her loveliness trough this enormous amount of time, its impossible even to contemplate the thousands of years between us.

Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was to be honest, a disappointment - it is a huge palace that serves as educational institution and it advertises exhibition but in fact this exhibition turned out to be just a half of one floor so basically you just started walking and realise that's it. It is one corridor carefully designed as two, so you finish one corridor, turn back to the exit and in 10-15 minutes the whole exhibition is done. There are some nice pieces of art, notably spectacular, apocalyptic Last Judgement Triptych by Hieronymus Bosch (it was this poster that attracted me in the first place) but I left this place a bit confused, thinking is there all there is?

Mozarthaus Vienna was a thrill - I actually got the same shivering & teared up like Stendhal in Italy, it was really moving to be in the same place where Mozart used to live - naturally this has all happened centuries ago but never mind. The house itself is a very nice townhouse right in the centre, behind famous cathedral and Mozart lived with his young family on the first floor. The whole building is now a museum, starting from third floor downwards, exhibition presenting Vienna of his time, his contemporaries, friends, visitors and career. The opera "Marriage of Figaro" was composed in this house! You look trough the window, knowing this is the same window that Mozart used to look trough on the street outside. I was very happy to be there and full of impressions afterwards, the whole day was just wonderful with a walk in the park nearby and a visit to sculpture of Johann Strauss.

Hofburg Palace was interesting experience - this was the main royal palace in town (it turns out Schönbrunn was only a summer vacation place), spectacular building(s) and of curse all the tourists were there, in fact it was so busy and crowded that I found it almost unpleasant. The entrance was already crowded and each step of the way I had to wait for people to move further. The exhibition was divided in three parts: royal exhibition of kitchen silver/gold/porcelain (very large and impressive), exhibition about Empress Sissy (who was local princess Diana for Austrians) and a tour trough royal apartments. I gawked at royal porcelain sets and just at the entrance to Sissy place realised my ticket fell out of the pocket so retraced my steps back like Sherlock Holmes and found it on the floor - in all honesty her story probably appeals more to locals who are fascinated with melodrama ("she was unhappy" muttered housewives to each other as they enviously stared at her dressing gowns). Royal apartments were luxurious and on much grander scale than the ones I saw in Schönbrunn but as I mentioned, crowd was just too much and I felt slightly claustrophobic there, had to push my way trough and to leave before I fall down on some priceless piece of history. 

Belvedere Palace is divided in two - Upper and Lower Belvedere - Upper is the one you need to see because this is where the main art collection is. 

It is quite wonderful place to visit and large enough for all the visitors to roam without everybody stepping on each other feet (like in Hofburg) so I had good time wondering around and admiring the art. Although there is a lot of other things, the main attraction is Gustav Klimt and his famous "Kiss" and to my biggest surprise, nothing matches seeing the painting in real life because the piece is much larger and the vision & message is completely different when seen from visitors perspective - usually on reproductions, postcards and everywhere we see only the kissing couple, but in real life you see they are surrounded with empty universe and it is this particular moment of kiss that makes the earth under their feet blossom with the flowers. It is quite a beautiful painting. There is also a interesting exhibition of grimacing busts and several pretty panoramic paintings, medieval religious art on the ground floor. Lower palace was all about local painter Johann Peter Kraft (pretty, decorative and bland bourgeois as expected) and some cubists art that left me cold, but there were several very pretty marble halls.

"Love to Love You Baby" by Donna Summer (1975)

In hindsight, title track cleverly bridges quasi-pop-symphony format that Isaac Hayes and Barry White used to spread all over their LP albums with the music that would eventually became big in the future - although it was Summer's moaning that actually made this success, for me it is producer Giorgio Moroder who is more interesting as he masterminded the whole project and ushered new era in pop music that will not only culminate in disco but will continue to inspire and influence musicians to this day. Hypnotic, almost spacey repetitiveness will eventually became order of the day but no one could predict it back than when this was perceived as latest gimmick. 

That this unexpected collaboration between German producer and fledgling young American singer would became such seismic phenomenon was at the time overshadowed by the sheer novelty and daring eroticism of the music itself - all the radio bans in the world couldn't stop this from becoming huge worldwide hit and you just need to imagine what effect it had on the listeners unused to such unrepentant aural exhibitionism. It was scandal that probably attracted wrath from every corner but it must be said that singer gamely went along with it and no matter what she thought privately about it, it made her overnight success after years in business. Since by now we all know about the classic title track, I find the rest of the music here much more interesting - yes it was obviously just a filler but it is not a bad filler. Moroder had a vision where he needed seductive, cooing siren purring anonymously and it was his extremely good luck to find singer who could easily adopt to any of his demands ("Whispering" is a perfect example of this approach) although she could easily sing circles around most of the people and her natural, strong voice can be finally heard on the very last track ("Pandora's Box"). Summer actually opened Pandora's Box with this album and it turned her life around to the point that she later perhaps regretted it and it took her years to tone down this image and change audiences perception of her. Although there will be big hits in the future, this early chapter of her career with visionary Moroder is perhaps the most interesting because with songs like "Love to Love You Baby" and "I Feel Love" they paved the way for futuristic sound that echoes to this day in current pop music. 

Nina Spirova

Very excited by my newest discovery - these music discoveries are nothing truly new, of course, its just that I love to play around with my adventures in music archeology and occasionally there is excellent voice that was completely unknown to me and deserves to be celebrated. Nina Spirova (also known as Нина Спирова) is naturally well-known in her native Macedonia, because she was always recognized there as outstanding singer and in fact Macedonians were often sending her as their representative to than-famous pop festivals in Opatija and such - her name can be found along with any of the performers on these wonderful old LP albums. To be honest, I did noticed her on festival Opatija '62 but later she slipped off my radar and I assumed she probably stopped singing - to my surprise, there is a small but impressive discography and apparently she actually got better with time.

"Pastirica" was the title of cute, little EP released by PGP RTB where Spirova was backed with elegant, almost classical orchestra conducted by wonderful Ilija Genić, the man I remember from some other releases from early 1960s - every time you hear sophisticated arrangements on PGP RTB records it was usually Genić behind them and his orchestrations were magnificent. It might sound a little strange to today's listeners but Mexican music was very popular back than and pop singers were expected to play the game so Spirova heroically weeps trough Mexican original Pastora and emotes trough the rest very much like Italian singer Milva (so much that it could be said that Spirova was Macedonian Milva). Very much time capsule of early 1960s pop music, this is little curiosity but best is yet to come.

Again Mexican music and some romantic Latin American melodies cushioned in dreamy orchestration courtesy of excellent Ansambl Milana Kotlića and Spirova sings like a dream, this time using more intimacy and less weeping. You can't go wrong with titles like "Amor, amor, amor" and "Besame Mucho" although it does make you think that popular music of Ex Yu was seriously very much behind what was going around in the world around 1964 - this could easily have been recorded a good decade earlier. There is one original ("Pelisterske oči") very much in style of Bolero and is very good example that Macedonian composers could easily rise to occasion and be as good as anybody in bigger cities.

Spirova was well served by Belgrade's PGP RTB where they usually gave her first rate orchestras and conductors, like in this case Ansambel Mojmira Sepeta who was more known for his Jazz recordings. You would expect that this kind of backing will result with some at least step towards Jazz but apparently guys at PGP RTB were happy to present Spirova as romantic, torch singer and once you get over cover of cowboy song by Caterina Valente the rest are smoldering ballads, very much of their time and only singer's voice lifts this above usual mid-1960s production. She was really excellent singer, though.

Now we are talking - this compilation, released in 2002 has majority of now-classic Jazzy late-night recordings by wonderful Nina Spirova, previously never available on album. Judging by the orchestrations and sound of her voice, this was not 1960s Spirova but later, mature singer who was truly at the peak of her powers and had the best of Macedonian songwriters composing for her. Most of these people I never heard of (Gjoko Georgiev, Ljubomir Brandjolica, Hristo Krstevski, Dimitar Masevski) but it reminds me of all those great, sophisticated pop composers I heard behind Elda Viler in Slovenia and how impressed I was with their work, it was truly an exciting discovery and this is very much same thing but in Macedonia. Just like in the case with Viler, Spirova was simply too good for pop music and since her repertoire was not commercial one both ladies never had proper album back than. You listen this today and marvel at the level of elegance and inspiration behind these recordings, can't help but wondering how did they live amongst their commercially minded contemporaries who left them in the dust behind. Pure poetry. Respect.

Who finally released Spirova's first proper LP album but RTL from Slovenia - you couldn't get much further from her native Macedonia - and this is not a collection of her sophisticated pop but true Macedonian traditional folk. It might sound as a gimmick, but since Spirova could sing anything and everything (check her Mexican recordings from 1960s) she was talented enough to easily adopt to this genre, in fact she is brilliant. Cover photo might be a little silly with that obvious blonde wig but don't let this fool you, the music inside is beautiful and deeply soulful. Spirova is backed with two different bands and her singing is truly magnificent, you can feel that this is music close to her heart. 

By 1984 Spirova was approaching 50 and as veteran she was probably far from being relevant in current pop music, although her voice was still magnificent. Considering who were hit makers at the time, Spirova found comfort zone in traditional folk music and this album was actually released by prestigious Croatian "Jugoton" who probably saw commercial worth in going for Macedonian folk music as sung by one of the greatest Macedonian voices. There is absolutely nothing wrong with titles like "Ajde Slušaj, Slušaj, Kaleš Bre Anđo", "Zajdi, Zajdi, Jasno Sonce", "Kaži, Kaži, Libe Stano" or my favorite "Belo lice ljubam jas" except that it makes me worry why such excellent singer was not given chance to sing different type of music, since she was still in excellent voice. The interview from this time finds her singing in restaurants and such, grateful for still having offers to perform and explaining herself to bewildered journalists who found this below someone of her reputation. Gigs were still gigs and they paid the rent, claimed Spirova. Whatever circumstances were behind this album, the music is first rate traditional Macedonian folk and Spirova had nothing to be ashamed of. It is actually worthy sequel to her previous folk album. But we know that she was also singing different type of music and was brilliant in it. 

Zrinjevac park, Zagreb

"Bridge of Spies" and "Everest"

Relaxed on my vacation and with no care in the world, now I can actually enjoy some movies, apparently there were lots of movies shown while I was out there somewhere and while I didn't actually care much for "Unbroken" (surprisingly, since the book was excellent and gripping, everything that movie was not) now I have two that need to be mention.

Steven Spielberg have been world's top class movie director for majority of my life, in fact he might actually be THE best living movie director when it comes down to continuous success he had achieved trough decades. Sure, he can be sentimental and always have some kids in there but this is why we love him anyway, the only people who can criticise someone with such back catalogue are snobs who would rather prefer some starving unknown artist from Azerbaijan just for the sake of discussion - yes, Spielberg has such clout, influence and power that he can basically do whatever he pleases and he earned it, so get over with it and if you dislike big successful blockbusters go elsewhere. Every time I see new Spielberg movie I enjoy it so much and realise why we love movies, it is a magic that not everybody knows how to create. It is not just a big budget - Angelina Jolie directed "Unbroken" that had no financial limits and was based on gripping book but the final result was bland and curiously slow I couldn't help but wonder what would Spielberg do with the same subject.

"Bridge of Spies" is all about cold war and what it meant to live in post-WW2 world with their own paranoia, fear of Nuclear war, suspicion on every step and power of media that could crown or destroy you. What is very interesting here is that Spielberg really goes not for American propaganda (as some say) but for humanity in this circumstances where there are no real heroes and everybody movies in the grey areas where nothing is really moral, brave and right - there are selfish and dangerous people on both sides and there are always innocent victims who simply happened to have been in the wrong place in the wrong time. That movie is actually based on real story which is quite fascinating because we are very quick to forget what a dangerous place the world was not long ago - the whole subject of Berlin Wall was quite unforgettable. Most surprising was the role of Russian spy Rudolf Abel played by excellent Mark Rylance and my God he was excellent, towards end of the movie we are really seriously concerned about him and this is again Spielberg making us care for his characters.

"Everest" had everything - huge cast, famous stars, story based on real life tragedy, big budget, visually spectacular locations and what not, but ultimately it ends up bland, disappointing experience, which just goes to show that not every big-budgeted extravaganza actually has solid core.

On many levels, this gigantic monster falters because we are so dazzled with the nature, snow, wind, the valleys, bridges and avalanches that we fail to connect with the characters who are given 2 minutes each so when moment arrives we should care for them, we can't really tell who is who - the problem of ensemble cast - as they are all buried under that cumbersome clothes. Honestly, there is this little voice inside me telling me "nobody forced them to go there, it was just a hobby" and its difficult to feel empathy for people who leave their families and loved ones for the sake of expensive adventure kick. Movie tries very hard to suggest this was something heroic and brave but at the end it just left me with feeling of pointless sacrifices. I guess I was simply not born to be adventurous mountaineer.

p.s.

However there is a picture of me from Mont Blanc - accidental picture, taken as a souvenir from a exhibition about Mount Blanc climbing. This is as far as I would ever go.

And this is the very top of Mont Blanc. 

"The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury

Well I'll be darned, the previous book bothered me for three weeks and this one is such interesting read that is almost finished on a second day. I have written previously about my decision that this year I want to explore the genre Science Fiction (which until now I kept away from) and although I am familiar with the name of this author (after all, he was the man behind my beloved, original black & white "The Twilight Zone" TV series) and I know that he wrote classic "Fahrenheit 451" so far we never actually officially met - until now. Always cautious about Science Fiction and apprehensive that it will be something too complicated and technical, I was delighted from the first page with author's ominous tone and dark atmosphere of a dream that turns into nightmare. It actually feels like reading "The Twilight Zone".

It is a collection of brilliant, connected short stories about Human colonisation of Mars - from his 1950. perspective author placed this in a distant future (which is actually our present time, alas it did not happen yet) - besides being obviously Science Fiction with spaceships and such, its a clever allegory about how Humans destroy the new worlds. As one of the characters said, "we Earth Men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things" and although this delightful new planet appears empty, there are traces of previous civilisation that have expired because of some innocent bacteria Humans have brought with them (just like disease killed Native Americans after Europeans arrived) but most of Humans are not concerned with this at all and simply want to drill, dig and explore this strange new world. They are almost without exception quite selfish and only occasionally someone stops to think about consequences and reasons, majority simply wants to escape the Earth and start a new life here no matter the cost. At this point Earth seems to be overpopulated and already beyond help. What I found so brilliant, besides obvious talent Bradbury has as a writer is the way he nicely waves interesting thoughts and even philosophy in all of this, almost every story has a little touch that stops you dead in the tracks and you start to think about what is he saying between the lines. Since I suffered trough the previous book for so long, it came as a surprise that my current choice flows so easily, just as it should be. This is not a chore, this is pure pleasure.

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Out of curiosity I have checked little bit about the author and found out that as a young man, Bradbury had no money for college education. "Libraries have raised me" he often explained and often trough his later life he was financially helping public libraries that were in danger of closure. I truly love this and it has a personal connection with me, as I also was a child passionately in love with libraries - often I think that I should have become librarian - both Bradbury and me believe that colleges and universities are just a formality accepted in society that basically dislike originality and expects uniformity instead. I still remember my university days where instead of fresh, bright ideas I was surrounded with mediocrity and patronisation. In all honesty I see my school days as time wasted (except for social life and friendships) because everything I know, I learnt by myself trough my interests, explorations and hobbies, it is something nobody can teach you and you need to have natural curiosity to continuously grow. 

"Exercises in Style" by Raymond Queneau

This was such a lovely evening in theatre, at once a pleasure of seeing a living, breathing monument of Croatian theatre (this play is continuously showing for already 48 years and its officially in Guiness World Record as longest ever theatre play) and a joy of sharing this with my dear friends, something that because of my constant travels is extremely rare occasion. 

"Exercises in Style" (Stilske vježbe in Croatian) has only two actors on a very simple stage - they both explain a very banal, everyday story in a variety of styles that are mind-boggling in virtuosity and its all done in a conversational style so it never gets boring, in fact we were all spellbound and constantly laughing and enjoying these, well, exercises in style. Same story was told as a monologue of a politician, mathematician, retired old man, spoiled city prima donna or a man-hating frustrated lady and it just went on like this for one hour until we were all in stitches. Sure, the original play by Queneau was probably slightly changed and adapted for our audiences because names of local streets and locations were used. Two actors who constantly play this from 1970 are Pero Kvrgić and Lela Margitić, both institutions of Croatian theatre. Younger of the two (Lela Margitić, 75) commanded more attention and occasionally corrected her 89 year old partner who was wonderful but we were simultaneously admiring his energy and wondering is he acting senile or is perhaps already there. The play lasted only an hour and that was just enough to shower them with warm applause and exit happy and satisfied. Again, what stays the most with me is the feeling of having a wonderful evening together with friends, something to remember and cherish most of all.

"Forbidden history" by J.Douglas Kenyon

This is something that seemed just right & fitting after Zecharia Stichin but instead of occupying me, it kind of slowed me down because instead of finishing it in a week (roughly a time I need to read the book, even when I'm very busy and having time to read before going to sleep) this one keep dragging on for three weeks and its surprising because the book is actually very interesting once you get into it but apparently I had some issues with concentration.

It is a collection of 42 essays previously published in magazine Atlantis rising by world foremost alternative thinkers and authors who support unusual theories & ideas about history, ancient civilisations, beginnings of human race, universe and such. Contrary to what I expected, it wasn't a cacophony of weirdos who talk about UFO abductions but clever, enjoyable and well-presented suggestions that what we take for granted as scientific proven facts most of the times are in fact simply deliberately false informations taught in schools for various reasons, mostly because people are either lazy to think, unwilling to accept alternative ideas or simply the humanity suffers from traumatic amnesia (suggested by Immanuel Velikovsky who studied psychoanalysis). Personally I don't think its too bad, because today people are actually far more curious and open to new suggestions than previously when religion held everything in a firm, strong claw and heretics were burned on a stake - with the books like this one and works by Stichin, Hancock and such, there is a healthy interest in not only New Age but also a curiosity about possible alternatives. As this book shows, everything from Darwin to Universe, planets, stars and our ancient history can be explained differently and I am first who would question everything and is always ready to find out about latest archaeological discoveries that clash with official story. It makes much more sense to me than anything suggested by religion and I have absolutely no doubts that religions grew up from astronomy. Personally I found the theories about great pyramids of Giza and stories that connect Atlantis with great Floods the most interesting - finished the book last night with my head buzzing from informations (did you know that not one single mummy was ever discovered in what was supposed to have been royal tombs in Giza pyramid?) and it was actually far better read than I expected. 

"Balada iz predgrađa" (1974) by Hrvoje Hegedušić

Recently I treated myself with a wonderful, relaxed evening (they call it "quality time") sitting by open fire and watching TV documentary "Takvim sjajem može sjati" while my dog snored nearby. Documentary was about a specific phenomenon called Zagrebačka škola šansone/Zagreb's school of chanson, a curious music genre that local musicians created inspired by famous French artists and in their way it was a rebellion against mindless pop music that ruled radio waves in 1960s and 1970s - even though chanson never really caught up with mainstream, it was highly respected by urban audiences who still support this kind of poetry-in-music to this day. Basically, whenever songs had some story with beginning and end, or a certain lyrical substance that clearly separated them from usual pop fluff, that was chanson and it seems that at certain point in early 1960s there was explosion of great talents who all soaked in famous poets and re-interpreted their words in music. Its amazing how many of these songs still live and are considered classics today. (And equally amazing that younger, literate talents are not interested to continue this tradition, probably because its not a commercially visible genre).

Who knows is it because of the TV documentary or my recent newly re-discovered love for poetry (or am I simply getting old) but all of this inspired me to turn my attention to almost forgotten LP album released in 1974. by one of the leaders of Croatian chanson, Hrvoje Hegedušić who at that time was very busy man indeed - at the peak of his inspiration and powers, Hegedušić had not one but two careers, where he composed super hits for countless pop artists but for himself he would find inspiration in famous poetry and set it into music. Because Zagreb's school of chanson had so many talents involved back than (and a giant shadow of Arsen Dedić eclipsed almost everybody else) Hegedušić somehow escaped my attention until now, but time has come I gave him a proper listening.

What a wonderful album! The two sides of vinyl are separated thematically between poets classic and new but they fit like a glove next to each other, truly inspired selection and nicely orchestrated as well - Hegedušić might not had that peculiar, individual singing voice like Dedić or Zvonko 

Špišić (two of his brothers-in-arms) but as a singer he was just fine, gentle and sophisticated enough to hold your attention and perhaps he was the most accessible of the three because there is a very likable gentleness, intimacy and sincerity in his approach. Almost like listening to a good friend singing in your living room. Except that my friends would not know all these fabulous poets and selection of poetry is fascinating indeed - Antun Gustav Matoš, Tin Ujević, Miroslav Krleža and basically who is who of Croatian poets, most famous of these being "Balada iz predgrađa" by Dobriša Cesarić, the song that became surprising radio hit and I believe placed young songwriter in spotlight back than. Everybody talks about beginning of Rock and how it affected our society but there was another alternative that appealed to urban, literate audiences and this beautiful album proves that there were always people who cherished poetry. It deserves to be re-released on CD and kids in the schools should listen this to find out that our own national poets are actually true treasure and not just a boring school subject. 

"Mnoge smo i mnogo voljeli" (1986) by Rade Šerbedžija

Rade Šerbedžija is famous theatre actor who somehow got himself a best-selling LP album of poetry in mid-1970s, which was than (as it is now) quite a phenomenon because it clashed with everything we would expect a commercially successful album have to be: on that album he recited poems written by various authors and had special guests singing wordless vocalises behind him. It became a cult album that was sold forever and is still in print, a feat that to my knowledge nobody repeated after him. It is still a thing of beauty, a classic combination of music and poetry that lost absolutely nothing with time.

Arsen Dedić wrote the title song of that classic, previous album and he is behind this one as well - it took a decade for Šerbedžija to come up with a sequel and although is no less interesting than the debut, perhaps the cultural atmosphere had changed because it didn't break any record this time around. The selection of poetry is as expected inspired (Miroslav Krleža, Vjekoslav Majer, Zvonimir Golob, Antun Šoljan) and actor is still charismatic as ever, maybe it was too much to expect to achieve the same excitement previous album had created and its not really a commercial project in the first place. As I am listening this album today, some 30 years after its initial release (its still in print on CD), for the first time seriously listening it from the beginning to the end, I am impressed how well it all sound - the main difference between the debut and the sequel is that this time around it was multi talented Dedić who arranged and conducted the music so naturally it sounds very much like any of his 1980s albums. It does feel very melancholic and full of Weltschmerz so listen with caution because it might bring you down with all those poems about suicides, heartbreak and sadness but strangely this is exactly why it appears timeless at the same time. Kind of album you would listen alone with yourself. 

Amira Medunjanin

Not long ago I wrote about Sevdah and Bosnian folk group that cherishes and continues to promote this ancient music tradition - the biggest names associated with Sevdah are mostly long gone singers who recorded during last 50 years but there is one fantastic singer who still sings this old music exactly the way it was supposed to be performed and her name is Amira Medunjanin. Her voice is so beautiful and soulful that she definitely belongs to a class with any of her predecessors. Pictured above is Medunjanin in conversation with Croatian rock goddess Josipa Lisac and it is a great picture because its like a clash of titans, two completely different music genres together. I love them both.

"Rosa" by Amira Medunjanin (2004)

This to my knowledge was the very first recording by young Bosnian singer and no wonder she eventually built a large cult following - not only that she cherishes and continues ancient tradition of music genre that is soaked in national history and culture, but she does it with such grace and style that results are quite irresistible. In a stark contrast with current singers who often over-sing and show off, Medunjanin singing style is very simple - she is gifted with naturally beautiful voice and uses it with great sincerity, making a point that this kind of music does not need histrionics but real emotions. The whole album is filled with famous folk songs from bygone era and is probably her most successful in a sense that is closest to its roots - later albums might have bigger production and better promotion, but with time her backing musicians would somehow insist to jazz up their playing which did not appeal to me anymore. Medunjanin will continue to sing like a dream (she reminds me of young Jadranka Stojaković very much) though the later music direction moved too far for me so I still stick with this, her very first album.