BIJELO DUGME

There is no one who has not heard of Bjelo Dugme, the most popular Yugoslav rock band, founded in 1973 in Sarajevo. The group was founded under the name Morning, and the new name was adopted in 1974. They released nine albums, the last one in 1989, changed several singers, Bebek, Tifa, and Alen, changed the other members of the band as well, the founder and the only permanent member was Goran Bregovic. Yes, that curly head you can meet today at concerts all over the planet while wildly directing trumpets and a huge orchestra - for weddings and funerals - with a childish smile on his face. The sounds of Kalashnikov raise the masses on their feet and people uncontrolled start playing, happy and satisfied under the Bregovic's dirigent baton, although they have no idea what the song sings because they do not understand a single word. They are driven by some crazy rhythm, like decades ago at Dugme's concerts, although it's completely different music.

At one time, one country and one nation

The core of the Bjelo Dugme is undoubtedly contained in Bregovic's character and work. The son of a Jugoslav National Army officer, a proud man from Sarajevo, has a life story that is good material for a movie. From playing guitars in a tavern at the bus station in Konjic, through a concert at Hajduk’s fountain, to the biggest concert halls all over Europe and the world, the road is long and hard, but Brega continues to walk there – the walk of fame. And everything started with Bjelo Dugme. It is a band that marked one time that passed, a country that no longer exists, and one nation - Yugoslav, which survived only in music from that time. Nine albums have produced a great number of songs that we are singing today, Da sam pekar, Top, Lipe cvatu, Tako ti je mala moja kad ljubi Bosanac, Pedicullis Pubis, Kad ostaris ... An inspiration for music has been found in life or how Brega says, you sit, you drink coffee, you watch people, music is life ... Some songs were written by Bregovic, but others also wrote…Dusko Trifunovic, Vlado Dijak ... There was also our favorite song from Dugme, Putuj Selma. The song was dedicated to Dijak’s great love, Selma Boric, who he often accompanied to the train station in Sarajevo as she travelled to her native city Zenica. He told her once not to lean out of the window. He never acknowledged her his love, but he gave us one of the most beautiful love ballads ever.

They crossed all records

They were real rock'n'roll pioneers. They were the first to make big tours, to hold big concerts before tens of thousands of people, sold records in millions, were stars from Vardar to Triglav. Some criticize them for their own version of rock, which critics say laid the foundation for the later turbo-folk success, some do not like them for this or for that. Not important. We do not have to love Bjelo Dugme, but we must respect them because, whatever we measure, it's about the largest and most well-known rock group from this area.

picture: Wikipedia