Author: Urban Bolta
Venue: Orto Bar / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 02.07.2012
Attendance: 200
Ticket price: 10€
After three years off the live circuit, Momčilo Bajagić – Bajaga – is back on the scene, the man who made his name as a teenager as the guitarist of the now-legendary Riblja Čorba. After leaving the band he sailed off toward a solo career, made it, and even outdid Čorba’s success, becoming one of the most popular pop / rock acts in the former Yugoslavia. Bajaga is also one of the few musicians who, unburdened by political games even after the fratricidal war, keep bringing feuding peoples together, and who can play with a clear conscience in Belgrade just as in Zenica, Sarajevo or Zagreb and get a warm welcome from the crowds everywhere.
After a series of concerts in Slovenia in 2008, Bajaga played a few one-off shows the following year and then took a longer break. The fruit of that break popped up a few weeks ago, when he released the album »Dim, daljina i prašina«. It’s an album loaded with sentimental value, and this time its deep musical vocabulary is set squarely in the waters of easygoing rock, with none of the flirting with other genres that was so typical of Bajaga on his albums from the eighties. In the spring, the label Dallas also reissued the first four albums as two-disc sets, setting the stage nicely for a fresh assault by Bajaga and Instruktorji on the Slovenian and Croatian music market. That assault kicked off in May in Portorož, followed by a show at Rock Otočac, and two days after that Bajaga played for the assembled press and music-scene cream in the intimate setting of Ljubljana’s Orto Bar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYLZqAw08Yk
The main purpose of the mini concert in Ljubljana was to introduce those present to the current album »Dim, daljina i prašina«, still hot off the press, so this class-period-long stroll with Bajaga was entirely devoted to the newer material. Only toward the end of the promo gig did fans of Bajaga’s old tales get their share too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8J1nIAiUZc
Shortly before 9:30 in the evening, the little band of Instruktorji spread out across the Orto Bar stage. Despite how cramped it was, everybody managed to find their spot in the sun – and how could they not, considering Orto Bar has hosted eight- and nine-piece lineups in the past. Momčilo was the last to march out, and he kicked off the get-together with the song Suza. Keyboardist Saša Lokner took care of the orchestral atmosphere, also covering the missing trumpet and sax sounds. Within the first minutes of the show Orto Bar was already packed to the brim, and the crush, together with the brutally hot evening temperatures, made for a proper sauna vibe. The easygoing rock evening rolled on with the song Stari put za Novi Sad, with acoustic passages from Žika Milenković and a slight touch of blues from Bajaga’s guitar work. The new material got a roaring response and pushed Instruktorji on stage to keep serving up the current tunes. The superb ballad Ako treba da je kraj went straight to the ears and convinced from the first listen that it’s one of Bajaga’s best ballads ever, and the title track Daljina, dim i prašina left just as positive an impression. The deep involvement of the keyboards in the new compositions gave these mostly sensual songs a touch of old-school confession, so approval from the band’s longtime followers was pretty much expected. Next, surprisingly, came the song Badem i so (»Šou počinje u ponoć«, 2005), before the set came to an end (too soon) with Ti se ljubiš (na tako dobar način), the only song of the night from Bajaga’s golden mid-eighties era. Completely drenched in sweat, Instruktorji, with Bajaga at the helm, proved ahead of a grueling rest of the year that they’re a strong, extremely tight collective of seasoned musicians, and judging by what’s heard on the album »Daljina, dim i prašina«, they haven’t said their last word yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xE5-iY18J4
The short promo concert did its job and successfully made the point that Bajaga and his Instruktorji are still with us. Not only that, based on what we saw, we can already look forward to the fall, when Bajaga is supposed to play one of Ljubljana’s bigger venues. Whether it’ll be Križanke or maybe even Arena Stožice isn’t known yet.
Setlist
01.Suza
02.Stari put za Novi Sad
03.Mala uska haljina
04.Ako treba da je kraj
05.Daljina dim i prašina
06.Badem i so
07.Ti se ljubiš na tako dobar način
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