Montenegrin musician Đurđa Petrović is a Pole she started her musical journey as a child. Exploring different genres, she experienced unforgettable moments, and decided to make music her profession.
For years performing in clubs, she was a member of The Grupa, and in 2022 she dared to perform at a summer festival with her original song. Today, on her YouTube channel, Đurđa will give fans of real pop sound a new single - "Premalo", which was written for her a few years ago.
"I have always been captivated by music and have been singing since I can remember. As a girl, I performed various shows for my parents in which I acted, danced and sang. When I enrolled in the junior music school, I started singing in the choir. In high school, I was a member of the Tivat band "Rain Dogz", while at the same time I sang in the school choir and the choir of the Serbian Singing Society 'Jedinstvo'. Performances with the choir continued at the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade. I loved the performances with the choir and the orchestra. I was a member of the academic choir 'Collegium Musicum' as well as the choir 'Krsmanac' led by a professor Darinka Matić Marović. I traveled a lot with the choir and had many performances. During my studies, I also had a band in Belgrade in which my colleague played Dragan Ivanovic and together with him I also performed as a member of the ensemble Emine Jahović. After finishing my studies, I return to Kotor, start working at the Kotor Cultural Center and, together with my friends from high school (and from college), I start singing in the klapa ensemble 'Moderato cantabile' (currently 'Incanto') as a soloist. talked about his beginnings for "Vijesti" Đurđa and claims that his love for music has not waned during all these years.
"I'm just experimenting and learning from different compositions and environments. While I was working at the Cultural Center, I decided to return to the microphone and since then I have been performing in a group called 'Organic Trio'. That trio grew into a band, we played mainly foreign music and were very successful. Only later did I become a member of 'The Group'. Even today I sing with them, and I also have my own band", adds Đurđa and does not hide that she is happy to be able to present a new song to the audience.
“I'm very excited about the new single. It's a pop track that I can't fully classify as a ballad, because it starts as a ballad, but the rhythm changes, which gives it a special touch", explains the "Vijesti" interlocutor.
It was her new track "Premalo" that brought her a collaboration with Dušan Alagić and thereby fulfilled her long-standing wish.
"I met Dušan Alagić during my studies in Belgrade. I followed everything he did and knew how talented he was. When he wrote a song for Sergej Ćetković "If you would like it", I remember that many people called him at the time and told him "write me a song like Sergej", because it is so beautiful, gently written. He writes and creates with such ease and is very humble and a good friend. His lyrics are simple and life-like, and deeply emotional. The music is indescribable. When is Tijana Bogićević released my first album, then I wrote to him and said 'I have to sing your song. Write something for me'. I was with him in the studio, we talked and later the composition 'Premalo' was created. It was written just for me. I received the demo back in 2019, more precisely at the end of that year. It was love at first listen. So this song is a little older than 'Zaljubne', which the audience heard first", explains Đurđa and says that she is satisfied with how her previous single went over with the audience.
"Today is a different, 'modern' time, but still music and art never go out of fashion", she is sure.
And while many of her colleagues decide to adapt to current genres, she is faithful to the Mediterranean pop on which most, especially on the coast, grew up. He plays music out of love, and that's why there are no compromises, and about how difficult it is today to find a good song whose emotion he can experience himself and therefore it's easier to convey, he answers:
"For me, music is love. Life. I can't follow trends because I'm an emotional person and besides the music, the text plays a major role in the interpretation. I don't know when it happened that the music scene got "distorted" like this and that this new wave prevailed so much that it matched all the previous quality in a way. And the quality is in the emotion. Current trends have not 'matched' pop, because mostly young people listen to what is 'in' and what is modern. Their voice is heard the most, but it is not the only voice, and among young people there are also listeners of quality and beautiful music. There is a crisis of authorship, but we have many wonderful authors and I am lucky to collaborate with them and I hope to collaborate more in the future. There are a lot of performers who remain true to themselves, but maybe they have fallen into another plan at the moment, but something that is a trend is not a measure of quality. I must mention that the Montenegrin music scene is still beautiful and tries to maintain its quality", Petrović Poljak proudly points out.
Although she is musically educated, she has not yet embarked on the adventure of writing songs for herself.
"I have wonderful collaborators who somehow write and compose just the way I imagine. I co-authored the lyrics for the song 'Zaljubjena' and I wove a part of myself there. I might venture out in the future. We will see".
Đurđa is happy to share his musical knowledge with younger generations because he is one of the teachers at the Music School where he teaches piano. Although imparting knowledge is hard work, Đurđa enjoys it just as much.
"It's always a challenge because the little ones are all different and you have to have a different approach with everyone. It is not easy, but it is interesting, especially with the youngest. The most important thing is somehow to make them musically literate through the game. It is not easy to teach them notes because it is an entry into a completely new and different world. Music is wonderful, but without the knowledge of 'musical letters', it is more difficult to teach them to master an instrument", she concludes.
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