Closer to Russian gypsy ballads than to traditional folk music, the genre of so-called starogradska (old urban) music was kind of entertainment played in bars and restaurants across Central and Eastern Europe - from Prague to Vienna, Budapest and further south Belgrade, costumers would weep while fiddlers played sentimental songs about unrequited loves, separated lovers, horses, carriages and basically its all about nostalgic glorification of certain way of life that people used to live in pre-WW2 days. There is a very thin line between this and traditional folk, but this kind of music seems to have thrived in big cities between two world wars and (to my ears, at least) it has some conscious attempt to appear more sophisticated than music out there in a countryside. There is a certain poetry in it and if music is often quite simple, it demands genuine approach.
Artists like Zvonko Bogdan and Olivera Marković recorded some of the most popular songs of the genre, while classically trained Dubravka Nešović might be less remembered though she was magnificent singer in her way and vocally far more endowed than her colleagues. She had somber contralto that demanded respect, though this stately, dignified approach probably didn't sell very well - this kind of singing works very well in a small does but for duration of the whole album it might come off as little too much of a good thing. This 1973 album seems to have been compilation of previously released 1960s tracks and nicely sums her art with famous songs like "Kad Bi Ove Ruže Male", "Hladan Vetar Poljem Piri" and "Sažaljenja Mi Daj" where she is backed with various orchestras and main interest here are conductor Đorđe Karaklajić and arranger Ilija Genić who often tastefully wrapped their music in semi classical, sophisticated package that still stands the test of time. I loved their work for a long time and noticed that their names always guarantee excellent musicianship.
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