Zdenka Kovačićek is a Croatian rock veteran with surprisingly slim body of work behind her - seems that lifetime was spend singing backing vocals for everybody else and not much luck as solo artist. First heard in early 1960s amongst than-strong first wave of festival performers (Zagreb '63) Kovačićek pursued international touring and missed the whole rock explosion on local stage, just to return in early 1970s and find herself in high demand as a backing vocalist. Recognized for her strong, powerful and unusual voice, she was sought after in studio work but rarely was this favor returned.
This, her first LP album (actually compilation of odds and ends from various recording sessions and collaborations) shows why her career suffered so long - when they needed strong backing vocal, composers knew who to call, but rarely bothered to write a good song for her. One would expect that names like Vlado Delač, Igor Savin, Vanja Lisak and Kornelije Kovač would be guarantee for all-star songbook but it didn't end up this way. Even Goran Bregović came up with only half-baked number that might have been much better had he just given it more time and attention, instead of writing it on paper napkin. On the other hand, Tihomir Pop Asanović is just fine but song suffers from inane lyrics. Usually dependable Ivica Krajač didn't really give his best and the only good song is the one written by Maja Perfiljeva ("Neću da znam") but this is not enough to lift the album above average. Kovačićek deserved a strong guiding hand, producer or manager who would find her a top material, unfortunately seems that she was left on her own and graced other people's albums for too long. Seems like all-star musicians summit of 1970s but in reality they kept good songs for themselves.
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"Frka" (1982)
Zdenka Kovačiček caught theatre bug early in life and though her music career took her around the world stages, she never truly abandoned theatre - no wonder that hanging around actors, directors and playwrights she got introduced to a tiny book of poetry by Slavica Maras (sister of famous actress Nela Eržišnik) titled "Konstatacije jedne mačke" ("Musings of a foxy lady") with its quirky, witty and occasionally humorous love songs written from a perspective of a urban chick. I had this book long ago and remember being amused with its unusual verses and off-the-wall perspective, not to mention the titles ("I Dreamed That I Was A Tulip", "I Love You Like A Little Horse", etc).
Recorded somewhere between Kovačiček's 1970s prog-rock phase and 1990s jazz standards gigs, this album was built around kooky, unusual poetry and set to music by Kire Mitrev who was a fine composer indeed - he was leader of his own band (Kim band) that pursued pulsating, horn-driven funk and intriguing vocal harmonies. Instantly recognizable Mitrev's music signature was tailored here for Kovačiček's powerful voice, thought recording company sabotaged it with absolutely no advertisements or any support whatsoever - it languished on shelves, too eccentric for mainstream audience and its lyrics perhaps too unusual for people used to standard commercial tearjerkers. Kovačiček herself promoted one of the songs - lovely, funky "The Fuss" - on 1981. Zagreb festival and though the song got some radio play, it was too odd and unusual along other cutesy numbers performed that year. (I remember there was a slight controversy about some lyrics that had to be changed - word "ass" was not allowed imagine that.)
Update 2018:
New pop band Nipplepeople covered "Frka" and it turned into big hit, this time with previously erased word in it. It actually sound quite good but for the life of me I don't understand what ass has to do with anything (what's ass has to do, has to do with it, to paraphrase Tina Turner) - naturally it gave some media attention to original singer who seems genuinely surprised that her previously ignored project now found the new audience. Belatedly, the album has found its way to clubs, several decades after its original release, which must be very gratifying to this often neglected artist who spent the lifetime in the backing vocal chorus.
"Zdenka Kovačićek" (1998)
As opposite to so many other colleagues of her generation who pursued pop festival long after they went out of fashion, Zdenka Kovačićek got herself some strong credibility based on excursions in rock and jazz genre - she could fall easily into trap like almost everybody who performed on Zagreb festival where she debut decades ago, but Kovačićek dived bravely into mid-1970s rock/jazz fusion even when this never paid back commercially. Recognised as outstanding vocalist, she was often heard singing backing vocals to everybody though mainstream audience usually ignored her and just like her male mirror image Dado Topić she became name known only to music connoisseurs, once promising strong voice that never really bursted into front line and had no hits.
After the political turmoil that finally separated Ex Yugoslavia completely and drove neighbours apart, music market in Croatia was (at least initially) suddenly very small and doors were open to some long-forgotten artists. Without attempt to sound cynical here, I must point that Kovačićek was mainly completely ignored for quite some time and occasional Jazz gigs seemed to be her destiny - they also kept her vital and fresh vocally, so when opportunity finally knocked at her door, she was not some rusty has-been but still forceful singer with a recognisable voice, ready to expertly sing circles around any of new kids. The renaissance slowly started in early 1990s when Kovačićek was one of the many performers singing in a concert tribute to Karlo Metikoš - this live album titled "Ritam kiše" was released in 1994. and got an unexpected media attention and "Porin" nomination for singer of the year to surprised Kovačićek (I was on that concert and can recall how thrilling her performance was).
With all the media attention, audience finally seemed to embrace now 50+ singer who accepted collaboration with young composer (than in his early twenties) Marko Tomasović and this resulted in three albums that completely rejuvenated veteran artist and got her played on top charts, invited on TV shows and interviewed in the magazines. This, their first album together was fairly generic and nondescript when compared to what followed, but it must be said that Kovačićek never had melodies or lyrics carefully assembled like here - this was the very first time she got actually good material to sing and one of these titles ("Žena za sva vremena") became her best-known song. Personal favourite is "Želim samo malo biti voljena" with beautiful lyrics - so many times earlier Kovačićek was whizzing trough octaves and here she simply got herself a nice ballad for a change. Having a fresh, young team around her made a huge difference.
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