When in 1993. Croatian music establishment initiated annual awards "Porin" to celebrate most important projects of the year, one of the very first awarded artists was our own Rock goddess Josipa Lisac - veteran from 1960s and still very active performer, in the meantime Lisac gathered more "Porins" than any other female singer and just recently won the latest accolade in 2018, at the age of sixty eight. This is not just any wreath given for past accomplishments but a genuine recognition to still relevant artist who dares to push the envelope and surprise, even though her music legend was cemented decades before "Porin" came along - after all, Lisac was our only female Rock singer when her current colleagues and collaborators were not even born and TV was still black and white.
Trough her long and important career Lisac faced two main obstacles - lack of any serious competition (she was the only girl amongst the guys) and criticism from the music press who objected to her constant excursions in various music genres. From 1960s pop festival schlagers to jazz, pop, rock, disco, chanson, traditional folk music, fado and even salsa, her music adventures always had their share of detractors, but now when the dust settles it seems that this constant curiosity (along with charisma and recognisable vocal identity) might exactly be the main reason why she lasted so long. If majority of her classic oeuvre was tailored specifically for her by Karlo Metikoš (himself important architect of Rock in Croatia), since his passing in 1991 Lisac accepted collaborations with young musicians who lovingly kept her at the top of the charts with duets and guest appearances. What might have been hard work initially trough decades of misunderstanding, eventually paid off trough respect and reverence by generations of young artists who grew up idolising her voice, music and courage.
Long overdue, "Posve Slobodna" (Completely Free) is two disc compilation of this intriguing voice in collaboration with other artists trough decades. The selection is idiosyncratic and it doesn't have absolutely everything (as enthusiastic fan, I could add a dozen more recordings) but it serves in neatly presenting what is Lisac capable of, outside of Metikoš songbook. First CD collects guest performances with some of the biggest names in business, from Bajaga, Dino Dvornik, Gibonni (not the celebrated live recording from "Baloon"), Neno Belan and Cubismo to her obvious support to fledging bands like Flyer and Quasarr and even interesting poetry piece by wonderful Vesna Parun, Lisac unleashes that powerful voice with a passion that has no competition whatsoever. Second CD (titled ethno) might be even more interesting as it presents singer trough selection of folk music, where she dipped her toes from time to time. Known mainly as a Rock artist (she worked hard to dissociate herself from schlager beginnings) Lisac showed surprising competence in ethnic sound, be it sevdah standard "Omer Beže" (that she soaked as a little girl trough recording by Nada Mamula), Gypsy songs or Macedonian traditional folk - legendary Rock artist Johnny Štulić even claimed that Lisac wasted her considerable talent on Rock, when she could have been our greatest Folk singer (astute judgement that might have some truth in it) - this second CD really celebrates Lisac as artist of unprecedented stature and constant willingness to branch into dizzying range of various music. Personally I dare to say that nobody on music scene of Croatia (and even wider, what was known as Yugoslavia) comes close to Lisac in artistic integrity - almost everybody else had their own little comfort zone - and even the fact that she sticks to her recognisable vocal mannerisms in spite of commercial appeal shows that this is someone who values individuality above anything. Literary only one amongst her contemporaries, Lisac still thrives and inspires serious assessment . Long may she rule.
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