Label: ZKP RTV SLO
Release date: May 25, 2021
Production: Gaber Radojević & Rudi Bučar
Album length: 69.49 min (2LP)
Genre: Singer/Songwriter
Rating: 9.0/10
Rudi Bučar has become a pretty familiar name on the Slovenian music scene in recent years. Especially whenever the conversation turns to music that goes after middle-of-the-road accessibility and friendliness, that is, the affection of the wider music-loving public. He’s become very much in demand, sought after, we might even say popular. Pretty much every Slovenian who’s “a little better informed by the radio” knows his name. Mind you, in his chase for commercial luck and the favor of the broader public, Rudi never went all the way out to the artistic extremes of, say, a Plestenjak, so he still fits the RockLine context. Hardly a year goes by without the guy putting out an album, and he’s been a very visible presence on Slovenian stages too. Well, at least until last March.
And then comes the situation where you’re no longer allowed to play gigs. They don’t even tell you exactly why, just that you can’t, because it’s dangerous and you’ll be harshly punished if you don’t obey. Okay, there are still special conditions under which you can play, but without the physical presence of an audience. Which is a pain. Musicians miss that flow of energy between audience and performer. That’s the thing that keeps firing you up to stay firmly motivated to deliver your very best right then and there. The situation and the chemistry change instantly when the crowd isn’t physically there. The vibe does too. The whole thing ends up feeling like a basement rehearsal during prohibition. But for the kind of rehearsal captured on the album »Šelestenja«, you have to be in top form on the day. Which also means you’re recording the material for a special live album born in self-isolation. So the “rehearsal” ends up public after all, because your audience is somehow still present, just huddled around their radios, following you via live broadcast. It was a quiet pandemic November day in 2020 when Rudi took the stage with two companions. As Rudi Bučar Trio. In the Hendrix studio, which is no Hendrix mausoleum, located in the premises of Radio Koper. In short, what we have here is a live album recorded in the charm of self-isolation, during the pandemic known as Covid-19. With strict adherence to the life-saving rules, in a situation that made an exception for the physical presence of a sound engineer.
Anyone who follows Rudi and his music, albums included, will be very happy with the live achievement that is »Šelestenja«. Rudi Bučar Trio are: Rudi on vocals and guitar, Hammond and keyboard player Anže Vrabec, and Rudi’s tried-and-true companion, tuba player Goran Krmac, an old musical ally of Rudi’s going back to the Istrabend days. So we have a freshly discovered acoustic setup that to some extent evokes Istrabend, except that this time, instead of Dovč’s accordion, the crew has Vrabec on piano and organ.
The performance? A trio in great form. Rudi in great vocal form on the day, the trio playful and tightly in tune with each other, carefully and wittily watching one another’s every move, the sonic transitions of the interplay highly digestible, compact, wavy and dynamic in their contrasts. The trio put together a set list that spans Bučar’s solo career, a kind of cross-section of it. The main appeal? The crew reworked all these live numbers into strictly acoustic arrangements. The adaptation is very bold and a joy to listen to when you recall the originals from memory. Most of the attention naturally goes to Rudi and his many-faced vocals, vividly bringing to life the characters and the very essence of the message in his poetry. And not only his own, since there are also adaptations of folk songs from the Istrian tradition. Depending on the moment. Cheeky, teasing, even biting, but at times subtle and caressing. As said. With his many vocal faces, Rudi does most of what’s needed to keep the listener glued to him throughout. At every moment he deftly hops between those faces, and what really sticks in the ears are the occasional piercing yet playfully slipped-in falsetto maneuvers. This vocal chameleonism gratefully and welcomely boosts the theatrical development of this living document.
The trio doesn’t skimp on skills. Vrabec covers a huge amount of space (especially in the background) with his keyboards. He does it by weaving in playfully placed decorative “maneuvers” wherever there’s room, and often tucks those flourishes in so that they give individual songs a gentle jazzy veil. Keep in mind we’re basically talking pop and folk singer-songwriter music, which in acoustic form takes on a stronger cabaret note. Expected and very Slovenian. And flubbed notes are that much harder to hide in acoustic clothing. On »Šelestenja«, though, you can’t spot any. Which means the trio is brilliantly in sync and walked into the Hendrix studio on that November day last year in great form, and cashed it in flawlessly. Krmac’s tuba is the element in the trio’s vocabulary that keeps awakening a sense of the antique. A sentiment of distant times, which Bučar’s poetry speaks of, along with the adaptations of Istrian folk songs, strongly theatrical and often very nostalgic. From the opening Kambjale so čase, which Rudi performs solo as a warm-up for the vocal cords, all the way to the big finale with Dajte, dajte, which even makes room for a few minutes of lightning-fast improvisational play. A concert loaded with emotion, passion, and deep feeling.
Only the audience is missing. And even though they listened in on the performance only through the radio, it’s precisely because of this situation that such a document is something special. Live from the Hendrix studio. Like back in the day, some 50 years ago, in that well-known BBC series. »Šelestenja« is an album Rudi Bučar’s followers simply must have. Not just because it’s a live album, but, as said, first and foremost because of the adaptations of the originals, which speak differently, often decidedly differently, and so carry a new musical aura. An aura as translated only by Bučar’s charismatic figure, together with the tight and witty bond of two superb stage collaborators.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
LP 1.
Side A:
1. Kambjale so čase
2. Isolano
3. Kemu si dala rožice?
4. Šaltinka
Side B:
5. Dam ti jutra
6. Edina
7. Izola
8. Otroci tistega časa
LP2.
Side C:
9. Ištrijanski maraton
10. Plešem
11. Samo Ti
12. Tisti ljudje
13. Ti
Side D:
14. Dajte, dajte
15. Sen znala jes
16. Greva naprej
Line-up:
Rudi Bučar – vocals, acoustic guitar
Anže Vrabec – Hammond organ, piano
Goran Krmac – tuba, foot stomper, tambourine
