"Višnja Korbar" by Višnja Korbar (1974)

The long and frustrating story about Višnja Korbar reads like a cautionary tale - gifted with magnificent voice and attractive looks, Korbar floated trough decades without ever breaking into big time, commercial success eluded her and perhaps most important of all, she never created recognisable music personality that would distinguish her from the rest of competition. As expeditions in Jazz and chanson proved underwhelming, pop festival competitions ultimately pointless and there were no hits worth mentioning, her final destination became local folk festivals like Krapina and Slavonija that had no commercial impact whatsoever and served mostly as hang-outs for veteran performers ignored by mainstream. Korbar herself would often blame this on lack of one lucky break or combination of various outside factors (mostly on part of organisation) but there is a strong possibility that lady herself simply didn't understand the rules of business where having a hit means not a compromise but is in fact a necessity. 

When in 1974. Korbar finally got a chance to record her own solo LP album, the choice of material she selected was again too cautious: although composers involved were all heavy-hitters (Arsen Dedić, Zvonko Špišić, Hrvoje Hegedušić, Alfi Kabiljo and even Đorđe Novković) songs were all downbeat and it feels as Korbar decidedly kept away from Mammon, like having a hit would soil her reputation. There is not a single outstanding song amongst this bunch of urban chansons where protagonist weeps behind the curtains and muses about missed opportunities. Only on "Staza Jedne Ljubavi" she shows off her voice a bit, but even that is clearly imitation of her younger colleague Josipa Lisac who used similar vocalisations with far more sense and purpose. "Duga Topla Noć" was already recorded by redoubtable Lola Novaković and even that one sounds like a depressing dirge. Both "Jugoton" and "PGP RTB" passed on this project so the album was released by less visible "RTV Ljubljana" and it disappeared without a trace, leaving Korbar directionless until another album full decade later presented her in a folk costume, singing drinking songs from Krapina festival - by than, her moment had already passed on and new generations couldn't care less about a lady-who-might-have-been-star-but-she-never-made-it. Beautiful voice but I dare you to name one single song from her repertoire.