Janez Bončina – Benč Smashes the “Old Fogey” Stereotypes His Own Way!

It was a night for people with a very particular taste in music. An experience for music gourmets, for lovers of long-life-packaged vintage rock tunes, and definitely for the extremists whose threadbare hair, after decades of intensive tropical overgrowth, now serves only as a training ground for insects’ pre-Olympic warm-ups. Good thing years don’t matter. Tonight only heart and soul count, that irreplaceable combination of plain old rocker mentality that, over a warm May evening, held some four hundred people at Ljubljana’s Cvetličarna in a tight grip of blues, soul, funk and jazz for a good two hours.

 
We’re talking, of course, about Thursday’s dance with the great Janez Bončina – Benč, a legend of the Slovenian and, without a doubt, Yugoslav music scene, who after a pile of gigs at more-or-less unenviable locations finally worked up the nerve for a landing in Ljubljana. And Ljubljana welcomed him with open arms! Lucky for us, because after a flood of all sorts of tribute experiments we finally got a proper rock feast, one that will surely stay in every attendee’s memory for a long time. And even though Bončina’s show was by no means one of his best performances, let alone anywhere near the spectacular reunions we’ve been witnessing for a few years now, the elder statesman of rock & roll still managed to wake up in us that spirit of thrilling unpredictability and vagabondage, so alien to the monotony of today’s music scene. In conditions like these, you quickly get hit by a kind of déjà vu, as the startling realization comes out of the blue of just how much the legacy of Benč’s life’s work has become everybody’s property over the years. Just think of the roaring chant of Ta noč je moja, which was still booming from the mouths of the thrilled crowd a good ten minutes after Janez had left the Cvetličarna stage, or the heartfelt cheering for every gesture, address or vocal line of the singer in some Benč-ological evergreen.

For the big occasion, Janez Bončina actually gathered the usual crew of protagonists, true rock natives who over the years have been closely tied, one way or another, to his artistic wanderings. From the obligatory Marijan Malikovič and Jadran Ogrin, through Nelfi Depanger and Zdenko Cotić, all the way to the somewhat fresher recruits, saxophonist Tjaša and the well-known rap duo Murat and Jose. The latter two carried the status of special guests of the evening, which after the recent triumph of the song Nazaj is, after all, perfectly understandable. Then there was another story altogether around the excellent saxophonist Tjaša Perigoj (we initially couldn’t make out her surname from Janez’s incomprehensible mumbling, even after half a dozen attempts). The girl stunned everyone present by proudly showing off her lung capacity. With better rehearsedness and a slightly more substantial sound setup, her wind-instrument excursions would surely have added a bit more sexiness to songs like, say, the poisonous funky favorite Mr. Soul, but that still falls into the category of totally negligible nuances.

With the aforementioned recruiting of young blood, the so-called airing out of Janez Bončina’s musical repertoire comes to an end. And in fantastic style, too, which celebrated Benč and friends on all fronts on Thursday night. The band, with a few rare slip-ups that were mostly the product of an electrified atmosphere, delighted with an exceptionally high-spirited show, full of playful improvisation in the old rocker manner, meaning not the slightest bit nitpicky or tightly wound, but above all carefree and relaxed. Everyone from the old guard impressed with their performance, except maybe, in terms of vitality, the extremely predictable Nelfi, in whose place I personally would rather have seen “Izola’s” Tulio. Malikovič and Cotić proved to be an excellent tandem. The jazzy refinement of the former and the more bluesy-leaning interpretation of the latter create an exciting musical balance. A combination that, with an in-the-groove Jadran accompanying it and armed with Benč’s ever-overflowing charm and charisma, simply can’t disappoint.

 
The rest, or rather most of Benč’s menu, of course remains well known. There’s the heartfelt Gvendolina, the springtime-arranged Na noge, the dreaminess of Zlata obala, backed up yet again by excellent backing vocals, which together with the gems of Miss Maja also led to the expected outburst of nostalgic emotion, and for fans of grittier rhythms, the old September gems Kolo and Domovino moja, during which Janez slowly started to overdo it with the details from his, I have no doubt, rich reader of anecdotes and stories. Luckily, this time they didn’t test the patience of the gathered audience too much, which still doesn’t mean Janez held back from launching into his trademark vocal-instrumental banter, this time understandably aimed at his young protégée Tjaša. She wasn’t convinced by his emotional entanglement in endless haggling, but that of course didn’t dampen Benč’s drive. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, after all. Or, as Mr. Benč would put it: “A kid or a tampon is no obstacle!”

 
Words: Daniel Pavlica
Photos: Mojca Perdih