How the song "Crna Goro" was created: Colt and youthful ambition, and inspiration came from hardship

In 1993, when one of the most beautiful songs dedicated to Montenegro was created, its author and performer Goran Pejović Gula he did not know that he had created a track that would be sung by generations and generations. The audience heard it for the first time at one of the most important festivals of that time - "Songs of the Mediterranean", and many remember the interesting choreography that accompanied Gula's performance. The audience will hear this timeless hit performed by Gula in the New Year's program of Television Vijesti, because almost every performance of his is unimaginable without the track "Crna Goro".

"When I made it and when I took that song to the festival in Budva, I wasn't even aware of what I had done. That happens to me even now, for a novel, when people ask me 'do you know what you wrote'. If someone had told me back then, in 1993, that I would still be singing that song almost 30 years later, that it would still live on and be listened to today, I wouldn't have believed him," says Gula in an interview with "Vijesti". , and says that although his career was marked by many songs, "Montenegro" has a special significance.

"If I were to count ten albums that brought hits like 'Prolaze godine', 'Kada ti odne odne krene', 'Jela in your eyes', however, 'Crna Goro' survived all that and is stronger than all of them", Gula proudly points out. .

And while all other patriotic songs have been used for pre-election purposes in recent decades, Gula's "Crna Goro" is the only one that could not be heard at such gatherings.

"The song starts by itself and once it starts there is no stopping it. As it was impossible to stop, I initiated legal proceedings for copyright infringement, to prevent various manipulations. Maybe I'm the only author in the world who banned his song, not because I wanted to, because the song is meant to be sung, but I didn't want it to be exploited in the wrong way", Gula explains why he didn't want this song to be performed at political promotions.

A year before the mentioned track was presented, he triumphed at the Song of the Mediterranean Slobo Kovačević with the song "Montenegro", while he beat you in 1993 Mico Vujovic with the hit "Budvo mati moja", while Gula's "Crna Goro" received an award for the arrangement, which went to Dej Božović. However, even though patriotic songs were recorded in the war years of the 90s, Gulina was created under different circumstances:

"It's a story for a movie. I had no intention of writing a patriotic song, but one of my friends from Bar was in his film and 'chased' me to make the song 'Montenegro'. I promised him, and kept saying 'okay, I will'. However, when I was younger, I hitchhiked to Sutomore from Bar, there weren't many cars then, these jeeps like today, and as he was passing by, he stopped under the handrail, got out of the car, took out a half-meter pistol (colt), and there are two meters in it, and he asks me 'have you made the first stanza', I say yes, and he says 'let me hear the first verse'. And then I say 'His land of pride' and he gets excited and that's how it all started. We were good friends, but I didn't know what was going on in anyone's head, so I told myself that I had better make a song, when I had already promised him, and that's how the hit song 'Montenegro' was born. It was not about great patriotism, nor that I was motivated from the other side. I don't know even now how that verse came to me", admits Gula.

"I was a child at the time, I was 20 years old, but that colt of his and that youthful aura was enough for inspiration to work from hardship," adds Gula.

Today, it is listened to by the young as well as by the older generation, and it is sung even by those who were not even born when it was written.

"I'm tired of being called 'king', 'legend'. It's all beautiful, it impresses me, I like to hear it, but it's not a living. I think that this country and the system should take a little more care of us who have left a mark in this Montenegrin pop-rock music. At the end of the ballad, we will have a sad end if they don't come to meet us, because years go by, new generations come, and none of us, not even me, have the same energy as when we recorded those albums. I think it's all ideal, it's a wonderful song, it's also good when they call you 'king', 'legend', but that's no use. If someone is going to tell fairy tales that I'm a star, there's nothing to it," Gula is honest, who does not hide his satisfaction that during the recording of the New Year's program TV Vijesti, the generation of Montenegrin performers who marked the beginnings of Montenegrin festivals in the 90s were gathered year.

"It's a great thing that we got together and that we will perform those songs, but it's sad that those festivals don't exist anymore. Those were the two strongest festivals in the former Yugoslavia - Song of the Mediterranean and Sunčane skale. Many remember that many stars emerged from those festivals, such as Vlada Georgiev, Sergej Ćetković, Bojan Marović, deceased Toset Proeski... These were their stepping stones and they became stars overnight. Tonight you perform, tomorrow you're mega-popular. It happened to me too with the song 'Crna Goro'. Looking at it from this point of view, I would never again wish for such popularity and fame that I had with that song. Simply, that burden, weight, recognition on the street, thank God that there wasn't this miracle of mobile phones filming us when they meet us, but it was so hard, tiring. In one period, I even had bodyguards, I couldn't appear anywhere without them", says Gula, who also recalled an interesting story:

"When Vlado Georgiev became a star, we met at the Trade Union House in Belgrade, everyone gathered around him, and we stopped and talked at the bar. However, at one point, a character "hits" me and asks, excuse me, if he can do an interview. I said to him 'do you see that the man is talking', and he replied 'not with him, but with you'. I ask him what's wrong with me, and he says that he recognized me singing 'Crna Goro' and that everyone sang that song during the big vacation when he was studying at school", Gula recalled, and he points out how precisely Montenegrin festivals were an ideal opportunity for Montenegrin musicians.

"No one from Montenegro has a great chance for a career, no matter what kind of songs they have and what kind of albums they have made. For the Beatles to come, without money and without living in a big city, it's impossible. I was in Belgrade for five years, I was completely out of that YouTube movie, and it was like I was back at the beginning. There was also a period when companies helped musicians, now no matter what song they record, they don't help", claims Gula, who hopes that the situation will change for Montenegrin musicians as well.

"I hope that at the end of my career we will not end up with a minimum pension and that the state will take account, as it does in the region. It is also necessary for those national pensions to see what was done by whom. I've dedicated my whole life to music, ten albums, so many songs, I think I should have some treatment, and not just end up on the edge of existence like some colleagues in the region. It's a little humiliating, especially for us in Montenegro to talk about how badly we live in the newspapers. I think that the Ministry of Culture should also take care of those of us who have left a mark", concludes Gula.