How strange, I honestly don't remember any pop music being recorded or released at this time, right in the middle of civil war - after all, I was there, right in the middle of it and yes, there was anti-war music and occasional battle call ("Čavoglave", anyone?), anthems and prayers, TV video clips with burning cities, Croatian Band Aid with the song that was always played during air raids, Tomislav Ivčić with his "Stop the war in Croatia" but in general entertainment was not priority at that time and music was either used to uplift the spirits of people hiding in the basements or to reflect national sentiment that was focused on local tradition - it was time of sudden revival of ancient instrument tamburitza.
But here it is, full blown pop album recorded in early 1990s just as we were all either packing away to the front or returning from it. For a singer who had built her career on folk-pop, this was a very slippery territory as suddenly anything that even hinted at eastern neighbours had to be changed - I clearly remember working at the radio at the time and Serbian artists were strictly forbidden - ever capable composer Zrinko Tutić quickly adapted to new situation and served singer with more pronounced sound of Dalmatia, previous Serbian lyrics writer was out, Gibonni came with politically correct title song and there was even very pretty, old fashioned tamburitza ballad. This was actually welcome change for singer Doris Dragović - whatever the political situation might have been, whatever reality she had to face in her everyday life, it is true that her work recently showed signs of repetition and when compared to her previous albums, this one comes as a breath of fresh air. The music is conventional Dalmatian melodic fare where singer sounds comfortable and her own tamburitza song "Ti si moja ljubav stara" is actually very beautiful indeed. Greek and Italian covers were added towards the end, almost as afterthought but I guess nobody could find fault with Manos Hadjidakis or "La Riva Bianca, La Riva Nera". Good job, Mr. Tutić.
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