Bajaga for "Vijesti: I want to play for fifty years, like the Stones

Bajaga and the instructors are not yet working on the new album, the successor to last year's release "U sali lom", but there is no shortage of work. They are considered to be one of the groups that plays the most in this area, so it is not surprising that they will celebrate 35 years of work with as many as four concerts in the Sava Center at the beginning of December. For that occasion, they have prepared a special repertoire that the audience in Kotor will be able to hear, where they will play on January 1st at Trg od ojruža, together with Hladni pivo and the group Light Under the Black Mountain. Meanwhile, frontmen Momčilo Bajagić works and at the musical by Stevan Koprivica, in which his hits will be heard. The musician talked about all this for "Magazin".

How did it come to make a musical out of your songs?

I have already made a musical earlier for the Theater in Terazije, "Marriage and Marriage", and there I composed music based on the existing text and libretto, that is, new, original music. That was a little more than seven years ago when that musical was performed and it went well, and then the people from the Terazije Theater had the idea to make a musical on the occasion of their anniversary and they wanted to have music by a local author, so that it wouldn't be like "Chicago" or something licensed, but to be made as a "Mamma Mia" musical. That the music is from here, that famous hits are used, and a story that has little to do with it is written, a special story. And then they asked me if I would like it, I agreed, we chose about thirty songs, Stevo Koprivica wrote the script, Sale Sedlar will be the arranger and conductor, the music will be played live and it's a serious project. It is really a great honor for me to be chosen as an author for that anniversary. Most of the work has been brought to an end, now rehearsals, co-rehearsals with the actors, singing... We have the script, Jug Radivojević has been hired as the director. I have already collaborated with him once in the "Boško Buha" theater and we are friends and I am glad about that. Stevo Koprivica is a top screenwriter and I think he wrote a nice screenplay and I think it will be a big hit. It should be realized sometime in April according to the plan.

In what ways did you participate in the project, did you just choose the songs?

I just chose the songs and of course I participated in the sense that I read the script, there were several versions, I kind of approved that script. Although I think when it comes to Stevo Koprivica, I have nothing to complain about, because he is really a master of his craft. Sale Sedlar did the arrangements, he does it fantastically, so the theater in Terazije has a great tradition and I think it will all be great.

How much does it mean to you that they chose you and did they tell you why?

They didn't tell me why, but since some of them were already working, Bora Đorđević did a musical for the Theater in Terazije, there aren't many of our authors who have 30 songs that are hits. And I certainly have one 60, so you can choose. How can I not be glad, I am very glad, I think it is a great recognition of my work.

By the way, you often make music for films, recently you worked for Dušan Kovačević's film "It's not bad to be a man"?

That's right. It's not over yet. The shooting of the film is over, the songs have been recorded, and the film music still needs to be done, and that's my work for the winter. I believe that we will slowly bring it to an end sometime in January next year. And besides that, I also made music for a film by Miloš Biković "Hotel Beograd", where I also translated a song from Russian into Serbian. And so, there is a lot of work, and these days we are preparing, we have big concerts in the Sava center on December 5, 6, 8 and 9. Three are already sold out, there are still a few tickets left for this fourth. So there's a lot to do.

When you make music for films, what is your approach, how different is it than usual?

It's different because when you do film music you can also do some themes that are shorter than maybe three minutes or those that are longer than that. When you're doing pop music you're pretty much limited to three minutes strictly. Sometimes a 15-second topic is important, sometimes it can be seven minutes. Second, you have a ready-made story and then you fit into the story. It is especially easy and a great pleasure to work with Duško Kovačević, because he is the only one of the film authors for whom I make music who writes all his own lyrics. So, if I have, for example, two or three songs in the movie "The Professional", all those texts were written by Duško. And then I make music. And usually they ask me to write texts, but with Duško, the situation is such that it makes it a lot easier, because then I know exactly what he wants. We are also friends, neighbors, and I hope that this time it will be successful because the story of the film is very interesting, you will see, I expect it to be a very nice film.

And you used his lyrics on your albums?

Yes, the song "Noći sanjam" is on the current album. It's actually from some, I don't know which version of "Radovan Treće", a song that is not in the famous play we all know with Zoki Radmilović, but it was probably in some first version. I took it and it turned out to be a great song. We played it last year in the Arena in Belgrade.

Which of your songs could be made into a good movie?

I don't really know, there are many songs. I've made a lot of songs and it's hard for me to see them all. Let's say that I made at least 300 songs, some for myself, some for others. It is difficult to determine, which would be the best. But they call me very often lately, the copyrights have been settled a bit here and then very often people use some of my old songs, in movies and series, sometimes I'm surprised which songs they remember to use.

How are the preparations for the concerts in the Sava Center going? Is it any surprise that so many have sold out?

Yes, we were really pleasantly surprised, because last year we did a concert in the Arena and there were about 19 people and that was the Arena's record for last year, and this year we thought of making a smaller, so to speak, celebration. This is a different type of concert compared to the one in the Arena, there was only a rock concert. At these concerts there will be string players, and when there is a choir there are more than 80 people on stage. In my opinion, that would not sound good in the Arena, and the Sava Center is ideal for that. And we really scheduled one concert after another. First we scheduled the 5th, but it sold out, then the 6th, which was also sold out, and that's how we got to December 9th, and I think that all four concerts will be sold out and we won't do any more, that's it in this version.

What does that work with an orchestra look like?

It's going great, we have a lot of help from our conductor, maestro Vojkan Borisavljević, who did most of the arrangements. At the moment, we have separate rehearsals: band, strings, choir, but at some point, this is how it is done with a large orchestra and choir, a few days before the concert, we will have a few rehearsals with them and a dress rehearsal on December 4 in the Sava Center.

What philosophy guided you when choosing the songs, I know that when it comes to the concert you had on the occasion of the 10th anniversary, you regretted choosing to go chronologically?

I didn't regret the chronology, but more because we played 40 or so songs and that's too much for a concert. I think about 30 is about the right size. This time we have more than 20 songs written for full orchestra and one six, seven together with orchestra and choir. And we'll play a dozen or so songs that don't go with them. We were guided by the selection of hits from all periods of the career, but also songs that are fruitful for the orchestra, so we will certainly play "Early Spring Awakening" or the song "I still love you" which has a very pronounced theme on the cellos, so we will be able to perform it. And many more songs "Since when I love you", "What no one can do, you can do it"... There are a lot of songs that we will perform with strings, and the finale will be with the choir.

Is there a possibility to record and publish it?

Of course there is, we're shooting the next day. RTS will be filming, so we'll see. We also record sound. Somehow we chose the second day, because on the 4th we have the dress rehearsal, on the 5th of December the first concert, and if some small mistake sneaks in, I think that everything can be corrected by the 6th, so we are recording on that day and then when we see the footage we will decide what to do , but we're sure to throw something out.

How does this figure of 35 years old work for you?

Yes, it went really fast for me, probably because we are one of the bands that plays the most. And we played all those years, we didn't take any breaks and we didn't change the line-up often, it's mostly been the same team for 35 years with a couple of youngsters. But for me it went by quickly and then when I look at the Rolling Stones who celebrated their 50th anniversary three years ago, I can't believe it. I want to say that 35 years is enough even in the world, let alone in our country, because we are not a typical rock and roll country. I'm glad, when the Stones can play like this for 50 years and more, I hope it's something like them. (laughter)

Are you in Kotor for the New Year?

I like to come to Kotor, and we haven't played there for a long time. We were in Montenegro, not very often, but we were regularly in Budva, Herceg Novi and Tivat in the last two years. But in Kotor, not soon, and I'm really glad that we're coming on January 1. There we will play the same repertoire as in the Sava Center, only adapted, because we cannot take the string players outside. Everyone asks us that because on December 30th we play in Novi Sad, but when the temperature is below zero they can't tune the instruments on stage. We will certainly do everything necessary to make it a beautiful celebration in Kotor, which has a wonderful space, that square where the music is played, so I can't wait to come.