Probably the all-time biggest Serbian pop pioneer Đorđe Marjanović just died from Corona virus at the age of 89. It is fair to say that at the time of his death he was already a little forgotten, considering that his peak of popularity happened back in the 1960s. Marjanović was the first post-WW2 pop star in Ex Yu and apparently he was important because he broke with tradition of standing like a statue in front of the microphone - whatever he lacked as a vocalist (he was really, just average singer) he substituted with showmanship and was enormously popular in his time. When in the 1960s Yugoslavia started sending music artists on the tours in Soviet Union, Marjanović left a huge impression on Russian audiences and indeed he was a genuine superstar of the first order there.
The reader must forgive me if I thought that Marjanović had already died - he really belongs to some other time and important as he was, he is always mentioned in the context of birth of pop music in Ex Yu. His first LP album was also a very first album released by than-young recording company PGP RTB and the adulation and frenzy on his 1960s concerts matches later Beatlemania. Tried as I might, I have never warmed to Marjanović as a singer - here I belong to the group that criticised him at the start as not a particularly gifted or individual vocalist - there was apparently a big public discussion about it and two opposite opinions polarised the public. Although I understand he was a showman, I have always find his voice far less interesting than some of his contemporaries and the stories about how he rolled on the floor, would fall on his knees and throwing the jacket in the audience make me shiver with embarrassment - clearly, he knew how to work the audience but this does not appeal to me.
"A Život Teče Dalje ..." was late in the game LP album released curiously not by PGP RTB but by Zagreb-based Jugoton. Like so many artists of his generation, Marjanović was used to sing international covers so the majority of the material here were already hits for other people - the overall effect is of someone covering anything on the current pop chart, without giving much thought to logic or reason. It might have worked well on Soviet Union tours where he would introduce international hits to audience starving for all things foreign but since I never cared much for him as a singer, I would rather go for originals. Amongst other, here are covers by Hot Chocolate, Bryan Ferry (covering Bob Dylan), Demis Roussos, Mino Reitano, Nicola Di Bari. Here I do must mention that I had occasionally met middle aged Russians who would ask me where I am from and than starry-eyed proclaimed their everlasting love for Đorđe Marjanović, so obviously he had left a big impression on them.
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