OTHERS ABOUT ZRINKO
BRANKO VUKŠIĆ
Returning to the Roots
How does the phrase sound to you: SINGER-SONGWRITER FROM BANJA LUKA?
To many - exotic. Unreal.
A singer-songwriter from Banja Luka?!
It sounds - distant. Impossible. Or at least; past. Lost to someone who, as a child in Banja Luka, played on the keys, and now lives close by but in reality far away. Someone has irreversibly lost their Nedelišće, someone Slavonia, someone Imotski, and Zrinko Banja Luka. Because it no longer exists. Not like that. Not Zrinko's. Those regions, places, habitats, and destinations have remained only within us. They can be felt. Not touched. It's the same with places as it is with dear people we have lost. We carry them within us, they are with us every moment, we feel closeness, they are there but still, we cannot embrace them and whisper to them - for them to hear - those two words that are so difficult to utter when it is most needed.
Zrinko can only embrace his Banja Luka in memories. Because his own, real to him, is irretrievably lost. Just like we lose, yet they always remain within us, our first and/or great loves. In reality, only people with their respective names remain. I have often selfishly absorbed and learned from three exceptionally strong and great individuals, three artists with whom I have often enjoyed long conversations. Great Šovo (Fabijan Šovagović), great professor Ranko (Marinković), and great sir Tonči (Antun Vrdoljak) spoke about what they had lost. What defined them, directed them, or drove them into art. Ranko lost the Mediterranean so passionately (por)trayed in almost all of his dramas, short stories, and novels. Šovo lost Slavonia, to which he returned so many times, and prematurely left us due to its not so distant tragedy. Tonči, on the other hand, though seemingly the strongest, tough and immune to sentiments of that kind, lost his (Imotski) region. Although they have written, embodied, created, contemplated, and given more from their origins than they received, despite their success and greatness, these great individuals occasionally felt a void due to their (forever) severed roots.
In the sketch of Zrinko, whose intellectual, creative, and, most importantly, human vastness I have been trying to penetrate and, as much as possible, enjoy for two decades, I did not randomly incorporate my professors Ranko, Šovu, and Tonča. The singer-songwriter from Banja Luka is one of the rare thinkers of music. Unconventional, yet music that distinctly deviates from the conventional, or, as Zrinko puts it, entertaining music. Zrinko is somewhat similar, in some aspects, to Šovu, Ranko, and Tonča. In what way is he similar (partly) to Šovu? He is dishevelled. Unconventional. He wants to delve into the essence of both the technical and artistic aspects of music. And in everything he does, or others do, he seeks context. He can be painfully direct. In what way is he (at least a little bit) like professor Ranko? In intellectual breadth. Cynicism. Sarcasm. Precision. Thoroughness. Like Tonča, Zrinko does not hesitate to call things by their true names. Such individuals are not popular. But, truth be told, they are respected.
They would challenge the unpopular with talent, but a small detail hinders them. Their work. It is impossible to deny the two Golden Arenas that Zrinko received for music in the films "Putovanje tamnom polutkom" and "Kad mrtvi zapjevaju." Even if he had only written "Moja domovina," "Za milijun godina," or "Zlatne godine," he would deserve a place in the musical anthology. Zrinko, with his boundary-pushing songs, projects, whether they are in films, theatre, entertainment, or unconventional, is expanding horizons. Carefully listening to his rich, broad, diverse in theme and genre opus, it seems that Zrinko's jingles for HRT shows are the pinnacle of sonic identity among all public televisions in Europe. Even the renowned BBC. Tutić created music for show openings with character, and perhaps that is why they are not being played on HRT for a while. Despite characteristically, intellectually, and creatively touching on aspects of the three aforementioned greats, Zrinko is his own. Different. Colourful. Original. Importantly, upright. And like great actors, he has a thousand faces. Which one is real? All of them. Because they are all his. They are all him. They reflect in his entertaining music. But also in the melancholic music, behind which hide some other, unknown to the public faces of Zrinko. Alongside the great hits or boundary-pushing songs, of which there is a considerable number, Zrinko also writes anthems (Moja domovina), parodies (in the outstanding performance of J. Zlokić), tavern songs (with the legendary tavern and vocal guru Bebek), socially engaged songs (early, singer-songwriter works), occasional songs (for weddings and to a far greater extent - for separations), love songs (are there any unloving ones?!), teenage songs (the unmatched Tajči), trendy and existential songs that came to his mind after reading the following Goethe verses:
"Artist! To enrich yourself,
you must boast modestly.
Let them praise you today, curse you tomorrow,
but always make sure they pay you well!"
Talent is to see what others don't see, imagine what others can't imagine, express feelings through song, something that the vast majority cannot do; talent is to recognise and then choose. From the very beginning, dating back to the seventies of the last century, he knew how to recognise and choose. First, himself. Bold but unerring. After all, who could sing "Doris," "U tebi je nešto od ljubavi veće," or "Putovanje tamnom polutkom" more characteristically and impressively than him?! He then proved infallible in choosing Doris Dragović for "Željo moja," young Gibonni for "Zlatne godine," Tajči for "Hajde da ludujemo," "Bube su u glavi," "Ti nemaš prava na mene," (masterful) Maja Blagdan for "Bijele ruže," "Sveta ljubav," "E, moj mali," "Na putu u raj," Bebek for "A da je sreće bilo," "Sinoć sam pola kafane popio," "Ošini po prašini" (with the legendary Begić brothers), Severina for "Dalmatinka," "Trava zelena," "Poželi me," "Prva djevojka," "Još nas veže tanka nit," Mišo Kovač for "Kralju nebeski," Karan for "Bijele zastave," to which, at least momentarily, he returned to his singer-songwriter roots...
At the time he wrote "Dal´ itko zna", the highest, now almost unimaginable standard of popular (almost extinct) music, in the outstanding performance by Ksenija Erker.
Tutić's entertaining music caresses and delights. It stirs patriotic feelings in a hymnal way. The singer-songwriter's instinct for freedom and rebellion and reflection on individuality. Cinematic passion and a sense of importance in TV show tunes.
And the story at the beginning is important too, the story of a search for what is lost. Which Zrinko Tutić can, and due to his commitment to all his admirers and - must, narrate in a way that returns to his roots. In a singer-songwriter style.
Branko Vukšić
Zaglav (Cres), May 2008.