The capital of Montenegrin tourism - Budva has been sung in many songs. Most of them were created thanks to the Song of the Mediterranean festival, for which this city was recognized for decades, and the mention of Budva was a "sure" ticket for one of the awards. Some, however, were created thanks to frequent elections in Montenegro as a sign of "love and support".
Today, Budva got another song, which does not glorify this favorite place of tourists in summer days. Namely, the author of the same is a Montenegrin musician Branko Žerajić through his verses, which were first created as poetry, he reflected on how Budva looks today and as a citizen of this coastal town he knows best what challenges he is fighting. Although many will perceive it as an "anti-anthem", Žerajić described it out of great love for it, how concretization, but also economic growth and development, destroyed its "Thousand colors", which he remembers with longing.
The song was released under the auspices of the publishing house Multimedia Music, and as a rocker and rebel, Žerajić considers the track "A Thousand Colors" to be his most mature song, and about the new single, Budva talks to Vijesti...
Branko, how did the song "A Thousand Colors" evolve from poetry about Budva to a universal message about global events, and were any specific events an inspiration for it?
The song was written as poetry and the text itself was a little different. After one melody that I sang through the chorus, everything changed. In cooperation with Bolet Martinović a whole arrangement was made and the poetry got a pulse, i.e. it became a song. All instruments except the lead guitar that I play and the bass guitar that he plays Enes Zejnilović is the work of Bolet's hands. The problems that surround us in Budva can be recognized all around us. Big capital grinds everything in front of it, and Budva is somehow the first to be hit, and from its example you can read a lot of what will become the fate of many cities in what we modern call the region, once known as Yugoslavia. Consumerism and empty contents are unfortunately something that becomes a way of satisfying desires that are implanted in people through marketing and presented as needs. A thousand colors can still be seen at dawn or in the course of sunset, but fewer and fewer eyes enjoy it. Gray concrete color and various types of paint have become colors that most people enjoy. Coincidentally or not, the studio where the song was recorded is called "Bole i lakovi" (laughs).
We all perceive Budva differently - some associate it with summer and the beach, some with the city of culture, and some again with the city of kitsch, considering the music that prevails in the summer period, especially on the promenade. How difficult was it to describe all that in a song and how do you see Budva, how much has it changed?
This question is a wonderful continuation of the story that started. I'm not a pessimist. On the contrary. However, Budva has turned from, so to speak, a tourist fishing village into a large tourist place, but we cannot call it a city. The city as such must have the necessary infrastructure and the level of awareness, education and training of what we will call the "average resident". Economic growth and development, apart from this component that we can express in money and other material goods, also has another no less important component that is of a qualitative nature. Budva does not follow what is happening on the material level, and because of these things, we can hardly talk about Budva as a city of culture. Unfortunately, this was recognized by those who decided when Skopje won that election.
The song was written before the war in Ukraine, and we know that many Ukrainians who fled the war ended up in Budva. How much did not only them, but everyone who came in recent years, because Budva is growing as a city, change what it used to be, because everyone brings their own culture and non-culture with them?
I came to Budva because of the war, from Sarajevo, and from that side I understand very well the situation of people who have moved to our "small town" in large numbers. However, they still come to a different speaking area and have visible cultural differences compared to us. There are also Turks in large numbers and we all live together in fairly ghettoized societies. So, we have at least three cities in one. It is necessary for inclusion to take place on a much higher level in order to use all that energy, knowledge and skills in the best possible way and to turn the sea of diversity into a city that we can all really enjoy and feel like our own, regardless of where we are in they came to him.
Usually, when a song is said to be "inspired by current events", the first thing that comes to mind is that it is a socially engaged song. As an artist, and art is also there to warn, criticize, how hard is it sometimes not to look back at everything that happens to us?
Artist is a word used a lot, there is even that coin - "entertainer" that really degrades such a noble thing, which, with a little inclusion on the spot, is called experience in Russian. Sometimes some of our concepts become much clearer to us when we cross them with such a related language as Russian. Not looking back at what surrounds you makes you exactly what we mentioned in the previous questions and for those reasons we are where we are. True, beautiful and good are the three key things that characterize art, and the very aspiration of the artist is for the whole world around him to be like that. Unfortunately, inspiration is often the opposite.
The video was shot in Belgrade. How difficult was it to tell the story and convey the message of the song through the video?
The idea of the video itself is mine and it was realized in cooperation with Jakov Simović. To my particular satisfaction, she masterfully played the main role in the video Marija Žeravica and on this occasion I would like to thank everyone who participated in the creation of this film story, namely Milutin Kazic i Ivan Jovanovic with her husband Masha, as well as my friend Zoran Malinović. It is an attempt to show exactly that circle of life and that we cannot escape from ourselves no matter where we go and no matter what we do. The changes lie within us and if we do not become aware of them, someone else will always be to blame and progress in every sense of the word will be unattainable. The work of creating a music video is very exciting and I would love to do it all my life, but I can't (laughs).
The song will be released for the Belgrade company Multimedia Music Serbia. How much does this open doors for you when it comes to the region, given that some of your and your band's earlier songs ended up on the regional charts?
Cooperation with Multimedia Music Serbia was established precisely for these reasons, so that the song would have a life outside of Montenegro. The idea is to try to get the song played on as many radio stations as possible in the so-called region better known as Yugoslavia. Some of my earlier songs shined on the charts, and "Hijadu boja" seems to me to be my most mature song so far. I hope that the feeling is not deceiving and that everyone will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it.
Bonus video:
