The long twilight of Višnja Korbar (1942 - 2022)

Sadly, the very first news I read this morning was about the passing of Višnja Korbar, who was one of my all-time favourite voices in Croatian pop music. I wrote about Višnja several times in the past, inspired by the handful of her rare recordings and certain mystery around an artist who ended up eclipsed and forgotten, despite magnificent voice and very attractive looks. You see, Korbar belongs to that very first generation of young, post WW2 pop singers who basically created our homegrown local pop music - veteran Ivo Robić was there first, naturally and right after him, suddenly there was a whole explosion of new, young talents who toured pop festivals in Opatija, Zagreb, Split and Belgrade, recorded for "Jugoton" and "PGP RTB", their faces on the magazine covers and family TV shows. Arsen was there, Ivica Šerfezi, Vice Vukov, Tereza, Gabi, Zvonko Špišić, Marko Novosel, both Zdenka's (Vučković and Kovačiček), Ana Štefok and her good friend Višnja Korbar. Nowadays we call them "stars of 1960s" but in reality there was a little glamour in their working conditions, since they were actually breaking the ice and mapping the territory where future generations will later follow with much bigger production, better managements and definitely more financial gain. 

From outside it might have been looking like show business but in reality it was constant touring and most of these artists ploughed trough 1960s fulled by the force of sheer enthusiasm and excitement. Hence all those ubiquitous little EP recordings with covers of international hits - the local homegrown pop music was simply not so established yet and business was still new. From time to time, all these international tours trough Soviet Union or France paid off - Ivo Robić famously broke into German market and Tereza made splash in France, but these tempting invitations were not for everybody - no less than Bruno Coquatrix who owned legendary concert hall Olympia in Paris (and who made star out of Dalida) was impressed with Višnja Korbar and offered her to try new career there, which she refused and returned home. This strange reaction - its not as she was extremely big or successful in homeland - haunted her for the rest of her life, specially as no other big offer ever came and the rest of her career went nowhere. 

As the new decade dawned, most of artists of her generation faced the tide of Rock music that would eventually swept them away to the background - it wasn't immediately obvious but veterans would end up annually performing on the same festivals, year in, year out, with diminishing interest of audiences who clamoured for new faces. While some, like Arsen or Tereza somehow adapted or created strong following, Višnja unfortunately never found her place in the modern times - I suspect that in her heart she was a genuine chanson singer and perhaps she would have been stunning in albums with movie or musical themes, but misguided step in direction of small, regional festivals forever marked her as a folk singer and there was never any invitation to return to pop. So when people talk about "good, old times" and "old stars" the reality is that later generations genuinely benefited from the ice breakers who were there first but Višnja herself never had any hits and one single LP album disappeared without a trace. Trough the years I noticed that lazy journalism endlessly repeated story about Bruno Coquatrix and Olympia, simply because there was nothing else really to mention - like Korbar was cursed to regret her decision ad nauseam. Mind you, personally I don't think that going international is the pinnacle of anybody's life and for example Gabi Novak refused German offers and made perfectly fine career at home instead - its just that neglected, forgotten and overshadowed, Korbar lived quietly the rest of her days with that magnificent voice known only to handful of cult fans. The proverbial "man on the street" would be hard pressed to name at least one of her songs. For me she was one of the best voices we ever had and I cherish her rare discography.