Muzika Nena Belana it resists the test of time because its hits, which are several decades old, are still adored by the generations that grew up with them, but it is also receptive to younger people. It is not surprising that he, along with his band Fiumensi, is a frequent guest of the festival.
She confirmed that hits like "Sunny Day", "Touch Me With Your Lips", "River of Dreams", "Wine of the Night", "Is There No More Us", "Bambina", "Stojim na Kantunu", "Long Warm Summer" have no expiration date is once again a colorful audience at Tjentište, which recently sang in unison with Nena.
Today, when he sees "kids" who weren't even born when some of the mentioned tracks were "burning and burning" the charts at ex-Yu venues, Belan admits in an interview for "Vijesti" that he feels proud.
Melodic and soft music
He is also pleased by the fact that he still has the opportunity to perform in the most diverse places, and that his music is equally suited to indoor as well as open spaces.
"During our career, we 'tried' all possible spaces - open, closed, large, small. We tried what electric concerts sound like, but we also know how acoustic ones sound, as well as those with a large orchestra. In February, I had an equally excellent concert at the Split Theater with a brass band. That was also fantastic. Our music is fluid, melodic, soft, so it can be shaped according to needs in one way or another", says Belan, but what is most important to him even today is to move the audience.
"We have a lot of songs to dance to, to go crazy, it's important that the audience relaxes and has fun at the same time," notes Belan, who will celebrate four decades on the stage next year, and will, of course, celebrate this jubilee with concerts.
A spectacular concert for the jubilee
"We decided to make a big spectacular concert in the Zagreb Arena, which will last, believe it or not, four hours. Of course, we will have numerous guests, there will also be many musicians on stage, additional string players, brass players... What I am especially proud of is that even today I have an audience that has been following me since the 80s, that grew with my songs, and now they come to the performances with their children because they have passed this love for my music on to them. That's why I have XNUMX-year-olds among my audience. I'm happy to last, because my music is not trendy. So, time can't do anything to her. On the contrary, it seems to me that the older she is, the more powerful she is," he boasted. As a recipe for long-lasting music, he recommends:
"It is music that is made from the soul, in the right, original, musical way. Through my songs, I get emotions out of me. And people recognize and feel that. That's why these songs last. They are not made as instant hits that last two, three, four, five months, so that everyone forgets them afterwards. These songs were written many years ago, and they are still sung," he said.
Bucking trends kills music
As a musician with a decades-long career, but also a producer for numerous colleagues and festivals, he does not blame musicians who live up to the audience and current trends, although we must all be aware that this is precisely what "kills music".
"Unfortunately, today's music is quite industrialized. It all sounds fantastic, because today we have top studios and productions. With so many advances in technology, anyone can sound great. However, this does not mean that the songs will last. Let's list the songs in the last ten years, which are left, and which are older than three years. They pass quickly. So, they are actually ready-made songs. I call it "music to play at McDonald's". I belong to old school musicians, what would be called the 'old guard'. And I think that the golden age of real music has passed, and that now it is only the industry that is being marketed," notes Belan.
As someone who often visits the concerts of other colleagues, especially foreign stars, he points out that they are also industrialized.
"I've been watching a few big stars, I won't reveal who they are, but they're at the top of the charts and half the stuff is backing tracks. For those who don't know what that is, let me explain - already recorded backing vocals are played, and there are also rhythms that no one plays. It's a kind of half playback, that's how I would describe it. Not to mention all these possibilities that we have thanks to artificial intelligence. But today's modern music is mostly made so that it has to be performed with matrices, or backing tracks. A friend of mine told me at one such concert that he can't wait to go to some small blues festival where the performer will make a three tone mistake, which is completely human. That humanity has been lost, everything is too perfect and too sterile," claims Belan.
Collaborated with Montenegrin musicians
The Croatian singer-songwriter spent his childhood in Tivat, but that is not his only link with Montenegro. Namely, he had the opportunity to collaborate with Montenegrin musicians - first he did the production for Perper's album "Iz dana u dan", and then for the project "Džep s tajname" Momcila Zeković Zeko sang the "Silk song". He also collaborated with the band "MP Trio" from Podgorica, who covered his song "Bambina".
"This cooperation is very interesting. They play jazz and they called me one day and asked if I would let them cover my song. Of course I agreed, why not. Let the song live in a hundred ways, if need be. Especially since they are a quality band and I enjoyed working with them, as well as with Zeko who is my friend, see each other, hang out. I was also at his house. These are some 'side trips' that I enjoy", confirmed Belan.
The musical "Bambina" is the crowning achievement of his career
The interlocutor of "Vijesti" has tried his hand at many genres, and in recent years he has been increasingly engaged in applied music. He has his own studio, so in his opinion it is logical that his opus should be diverse when it comes to music.
"I like to explore other genres through my work as a producer. I've done musicals for children and adults, music for the theater, so in addition to my standard career, this comes as a refresher," admits Belan and does not hide that working on applied art is different from the music he makes for his album.
"When you're working on a musical, you have to somehow underline and bold the scenes with that melody. When they called me for the first time, it was in 2010, I was honest and told them that I didn't know how I would do it because I had no previous experience in applied music. However, they were persistent, believed in me and taught me some more tricks, and it turned out fantastic. There were three children's musicals - 'Buratino', 'Matilda' and 'The Wizard of Oz', and the audience was delighted. After that, they called me to do the music for a drama called "The Return of Filip Latinović", and it was more instrumental, even semi-orchestral music. And finally, the crown of his career in applied music is the musical 'Bambina', which was played four years ago in JNK 'Split'. It's something different, we call it a jukebox musical, like the one 'Mamma mia', because based on my old songs they made a story, i.e. a real musical. I even played in a musical with the band, we were accompanied by the orchestra", recalls Belan, as well as that after that came the corona and the lockdown, so everything stopped.
"Now we all hope that we will renew that project again, because it is a really attractive show", the musician does not hide his expectations, who in today's time, when music is watched more than listened to, and when concerts last an hour and a half, will prepare a concert on the occasion of the 40 years that will last as long as four hours. He believes that the audience will endure, and that they will watch every minute of the concert with enthusiasm.
A new record for the Zagreb concert
"A year and a half ago, we had a concert in Zagreb that lasted three hours and 35 minutes. And again, the audience couldn't get enough, they called us for an encore. So we went back on stage and played two more songs for a total of three hours and 45 minutes. This concert will be only 15 minutes longer, and we decided that we have to set a new record. What I also have to emphasize is that it wasn't three hours and 45 minutes when the audience was waiting for some three songs, and the rest of the time they were 'yawning', but people were dancing and singing from the first song. Such an atmosphere also prevailed at Tjentište, because the audience more or less knows all these songs. Thus, I have no problems when compiling the set list. I certainly have a large and rich repertoire that is well known, and we will also have guests," promises Belan.
During his career, the interlocutor of "Vijesti" wrote over 250 songs, and claims that, although the concert will last four hours, he will again deprive the audience of some songs they like to hear.
"Of the 250 officially published songs, there will be 40 of them at the concert, which means that we have to 'reject' 210 songs. Okay, I'm also aware of the fact that not all 250 are well-known, but I obviously have 50-60 songs that are certainly very well-known," he emphasizes.
Belan hopes that his audience from the other ex-Yugoslav republics will watch the live concert, but also that the celebration of 40 years of his career will not end with just that one performance.
"It no longer depends only on me, but on the organizers and managers. However, Zagreb is not at the end of the world. And it will be a weekend, another women's day... Today we also have cheap flights from many cities, so why not treat yourself and come to Zagreb for two days - walk around, go to a concert, have fun and return home. That's great for me. Well, I also go to concerts like that. Concerts are still my favorite form of entertainment. It's an opportunity for me to travel around Europe a bit when I'm interested in a performer. I have a ticket for Gilmora in Rome, I'm also going to a concert On McCartney, and this year I also watched Rod Stewart, Simple Minds, Leni Kravica Waterfall ... Well, since I go to musicians' concerts, I think that the audience from all over the Balkans can also come to mine," concludes Belan.
Music for children must be intelligent
Programs intended for the youngest have also succumbed to trends and commercialization, but Belan notes from his experience how such projects should be done:
"Real music for children must also be for adults. So, you have to be cunning and then introduce to the children what they understand so that they are happy, laugh and rejoice, and get them interested, and it has to be intelligent music. And if intelligent music is for children, then adults will like it too. Let's say, just such a project was 'Matilda', which was really great. I just noticed, looking at the audience, how adults laugh at some jokes, but children don't, and vice versa. Children laughed more at gags and jokes like that, and when there is a clever sentence, adults laugh. I believe that this is also the reason why this was a hit show", Belan explains the difference.
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