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.
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