Not long ago I wrote here about the intense negative reaction to our Croatian rock legend Josipa Lisac performing national anthem on the inauguration of the new president - online discussions and hatred were fanned by constant media surveys and it was just so bizarre that suddenly the most subversive person in the country turned out to be a 70 year old lady. Mind you - there was absolutely nothing disrespectful or wrong with her interpretation, its simply that we always heard that melody as a bombastic chorus so perhaps people were taken aback that someone had jazzed it up. Lots of people took it personally and some even claimed Lisac mocked our national anthem - it was a huge scandal and for a while the main subject of discussions online, until Covid pandemic swept everything away.
Since Lisac was always my all-time favourite singer, I was alarmed with all of this and even wondered how will she continue after this but continued she did - in fact, being one of the biggest stars in the country, she just kept on going. She was amongst the rare musicians creating online virtual concert for the paying audience and later continued with touring for her ever-faithful audiences. She declined competing anymore for the annual national Porin award, saying that she won enough awards in her lifetime and it they might be more necessary for younger, not yet established musicians. As the concert activity and live performances eventually continued, it became clear that those who loved and supported her trough all these years continued to do so, while those who never liked and understand her, continued to mock and criticise her. Its just that internet gave them soapbox to spew their hatred and frustration.
This year marks exactly 50th anniversary of her debut album "Dnevnik jedne ljubavi" (The Diary of one love) released in 1973. Accidentally it was also the year when our biggest concert hall Vatroslav Lisinski was open so it was only naturally that the concert celebrating this anniversary will happen there - while online hatred continued, tickets were sold out immediately and because of the huge interest, extra concert date was added. By all accounts, the concert nr.1 was a huge success and people loved it but there was some concern when lady came on the stage with a walking stick - a very stylish walking stick, but still apparently unexpected. It turned out, our ageless rock lady who always refuses to accept years and claims to be forever young inside actually developed sciatica which is a extremely painful condition usually connected with ageing process - now I remember that she was already seen with a walking stick onstage during performance on Porin awards in 2010. but back than nobody paid any attention to it. So it might be that she quietly worked with sciatica for years, until now it became unbearable. The latest news is that the concert nr.2 has been cancelled and postponed for now, since lady can't perform - to be honest, she is 73 now and perhaps this is a sign that she should just slow down.
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