Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / RTV Sovenija (Studio 14) / Slovenia
Concert date: 10/13/2012
Attendance: 150
Ticket price: €0.00 (free admission)
If anyone stands out from the general Slovenian apathy in this gloomy autumn October of 2012, it’s undoubtedly the sharp-witted Slovenian singer-songwriter and incorrigible intellectual Boštjan Narat! Many of you also know Boštjan Narat as a true citizen of the world, with roles that include being the mastermind of the band Katalena, a lecturer, the host of the show Panoptikum,… For Narat, inspiration lives in the gutter! And in a year when everybody’s whining and crying! Well, his freshly released studio album »Konec sveta vedno pride nenapovedano« couldn’t sum up any better the state of the little guy in today’s evolution of 21st-century civilized society! This poet, sharpened to a fine edge by black humor, brought along his backing crew, who also played on the second studio album. So welcome to the famous »rehearsal« rooms of the RTV Slovenija Big Band.
A solid turnout, though the room wasn’t packed to the rafters! At eight o’clock, editor Jane Veber introduced Boštjan Narat to the crowd in a short, introspective chat. That’s the usual protocol for this kind of event at Studio 14. After the singer-songwriter got through a brief »interrogation«, he settled onto a bar stool and, as expected, started scratching at his guitar strings, kicking off an hour-and-a-half-long concert evening with a song from his debut »Strah je odveč« (2010), called Ženske, ki ljubijo pse. The intimate vibe, where the stage is almost as spacious as the rest of the seated auditorium, suits Narat’s approach more than perfectly. In a musical setting like this, there’s no room for superficiality. What’s more, there’s no room for a lack of commitment. During the first song you could feel Boštjan looking for contact with people, watching the crowd’s first reactions — it would have been dreadful if anyone had nodded off. But that wasn’t possible this time, since these were big supporters of the singer-songwriter, mostly friends and select visitors who are especially drawn to this kind of music and poetry. Once the backing band joins him, the concert quickly moves up a gear. In a totally relaxed manner.
The guy played the fresh studio album »Konec sveta vedno pride nenapovedano« in its entirety. Right before the song »Tisti, ki zna in ona ki ve«, joining Boštjan on stage for the occasion were Matevž Kolenc (arrangements, electric guitar, bass guitar, sound effects), who played the xylophone on this song, then Narat’s longtime bandmate in Katalena Polona Janežič (keyboards), Jelena Ždrale (viola) and Blaž Celarec (drums, percussion, clarinet). A well-established and finely calibrated backing crew, with whom Narat also performed on the stages of Kino Šiška when his new studio album set sail in mid-May (RockLine report HERE).
Narat’s poetry shone in full again, against a completely organic sonic backdrop, through which sparkled a heartfelt, genuine, honest confession that draws on Boštjan Narat’s unsuspected musical talent. The listeners were properly chilled a few times by all the realistic sarcasm, let’s call it Narat’s true-blue black humor, especially when Egon came up, or Romeo julija at the close. This time Narat performed the song Jutra without the duet with Mina Špiler. That gorgeously delicate song was followed by the no less delicate »Zdi se«, and the lovely melody of the jazz-seasoned »Tistim,ki ne vedo« definitely belongs in that category of concert highlights too. This is where the sensitive, sophisticated side of Narat’s interpretation sparkles, leading the listener ever so successfully into a rich backdrop of created atmosphere, infused with a mood of real life.
Woven into these fragile, sensitively emphasized moments were dark and almost frightening numbers like Režem ovinke, Konec sveta vedno pride nenapovedano and the big closing rondo with Kako končati to pesem?, where Narat was properly out of breath from rattling off words in the verses at speed. With that kind of true-to-life interpretation, it wasn’t hard to completely enchant and spellbind the crowd. Mission accomplished!
Before the performance of »Če padeš po tleh« we learned that Boštjan’s chemistry teacher was a huge »die hard« fan of his voice and kept pushing him for so long to become a radio »speaker« that Narat actually did it, but supposedly bombed »at the audition«. And who still believes these days that the owner of a charming voice actually gets a job like that? It’s clear that only connections and acquaintances decide there. And that wasn’t the only entertaining revelation Narat shared with us that evening.. We also got to learn what a frustrated system is. It’s never boring with Boštjan Narat. Maybe someone has already hinted to the guy that he’d shine as a stand-up comedian too!
Another one-of-a-kind musical evening in the company of Narat and his colleagues, the kind that takes you to a place where you keep functioning under the strong impressions of what you experienced long after the concert, came to a sudden close. Let’s hope the singer-songwriter holds on to the inspiration he’s currently riding at full gallop on a giant wave of creativity, and that ideas for a new studio album are already brewing.
Setlist
1. Ženske, ki ljubijo pse
2. Tisti, ki zna in ona, ki ve
3. Egon
4. Režem ovinke
5. Tistim, ki ne vedo
6. Konec sveta vedno pride nenapovedano
7. Dvajset let
8. Jutra
9. Zdi se
10. Če padeš na glavo
11. Star mož
12. Strah je odveč
13. Kako končati to pesem?
14. Romeo julija
—-encore—
15. The One I Love
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