Porin is a Croatian equivalent to Grammy and it was inaugurated back in 1993, just as Croatia became independent country. Before that, we had all sorts of awards given annually but they were mainly connected with specific magazines, festivals, etc - the most memorable detail from my childhood was that sticker on LP covers that would say "golden", "silver" or "platinum" record, which marked spectacular sales and mass appeal, in hindsight this had nothing to do with quality itself. Croatians take themselves very seriously so they surely do give a lot of awards left & right, even though the music scene is actually small and it looks like same people pat themselves on the shoulders year after year. Along with the regular awards, there is also a Lifetime Achievement Porin given this year to our first lady of Rock, Josipa Lisac who has been around since 1968.
Now, this would all be fine and dandy if not for past February when Josipa made a bad decision to perform at the president's inauguration where her idiosyncratic performance of national anthem turned the enormous tide against her. If not for this, Josipa would have been going from strength to strength, selling our concerts and collecting awards at the grand age of 70, her legend firmly cemented and the respected well earned. Personally I am still not sure why there was such an outpour of strong hostility towards her - considering that all these decades she was very well known and indeed celebrated for being fiercely individual - and I am actually following all of this from a distance, so I can't say for sure but I do remember that even in the days of my earliest childhood she was a highly divisive artist so perhaps this new, modern era with its social media gave a spotlight to lots of suppressed frustrations and jealousy. It was a highly controversial subject for a while, with angry discussions and arguments raging far & wide (somebody even appealed to a court to get her fined for mocking the anthem) but what is the most important is that all her hard-won respect, dignity and status infamously crashed overnight and she became a focus of ridicule. Even her most loyal supporters must have agreed that it would have been better if she never accepted the invitation for this political circus, where unfortunately she just couldn't resist to do her schtick and to play around with the melody, but that is besides the point - if we are going to threat the artists with a jail for being creative and individual, than not only this is reflection of a very conservative society but it erases everything that all her life Josipa was striving to do.
As expected, world epidemics eventually swept that scandal away but the public anger persisted. I watched televised Porin last night, this year directed under unusual circumstances, with majority of artists participating from their living room and there were only two hosts talking in a empty TV studio. Josipa did appear herself, introduced by passionately loyal Siniša Škarica who reminded the audience that Josipa deserved her status and award ten times over but the whole affair had a sad atmosphere to it - maybe it was the empty studio with handful of people applauding, the physical distance between everybody or frail Josipa herself who did not appear strong, victorious or unrepentant but had a air of theatrical sadness about her. It actually felt as a closure of one chapter and I really regret that damn anthem from the bottom of my heart. She decided to remind the audience of gratitude and love for her late, beloved Karlo Metikoš with this poem:
"Life and its beauty
Are opening to me
When I think of your eyes
Under this fading sky.
On this clean and wet grass
You don't hear my footsteps
They don't stop birds from singing
The Fog is already coming down
In your absence and this suffering
I love you more than ever."
Update:
Lady herself appeared in TV interview, charming and witty as usual. Absolutely no trace of regret or misgivings. Firmly but politely she skipped the question about the anthem and insisted that she won't explain herself and her music. Best of all, there was a All Star video clip where lots of musicians sung her famous song - clear and obvious message of support and I love it. She is a classy, important and unique artist who enjoyed successful and long career, at this point she should be loved and celebrated instead of criticised. I just love her to bits.
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