"Whether rock and roll is art is still only a dilemma for the deaf today," wrote one of the most important Yugoslav rock musicians, Branko Vukojević, almost four decades ago.
And that he was right was shown and proven by one of the most important musicians in the Balkans, Momčilo Bajagić Bajaga, who presented the monograph "Songs" at the Nikšić City Hall over the weekend, and then sang some of the hits that many generations have grown up with at Freedom Square.
"I worked a lot, I had role models among many rock musicians who wrote poetry, but I always tried to deal with some of my own topics. I guess that's why I remained consistent... I collected practically all the songs I wrote, both for my band Bajaga i instruktori and for other performers. There are also some unpublished songs, there are songs that are from the original notebooks, when they were first written by hand, so they were also published so that people could see what the process of creating a song looks like," Bajaga said at the promotion organized by the Public Institution "Njegoš" National Library in cooperation with the Municipality of Nikšić, the local Tourist Organization (TO), the Publishing House "Nova knjiga" and the production company "GMR".

Bajaga's book of poems, which represents a kind of monograph and a cross-section of his forty-year career, contains 160 poems and the same number of photographs from various periods of the author's career. In addition to the poems that Bajaga sings with the "Instructors", the book also contains poems that he wrote for colleagues, such as Riblja čorba and Zdravko Čolić, as well as previously unpublished poems. The introduction was written by famous music critics Peca Popović and Bojan Muščet.

"Rock music gave people the freedom to write lyrics they thought they should. We have examples in both domestic and foreign rock music of many people who have a good command of words and who have managed to turn their lyrics for the band into poetry. Perhaps that freedom, which was in rock music, has been key from the beginning for the lyrics to be like that. Examples are Cohen, Dylan, many from our region... In terms of poetry, there aren't many in jazz and modern music. Maybe there will be some, maybe not, maybe it was just for this time, we'll see how things develop in the future," said the singer-songwriter whose songs are true poetry, and when they are "painted" with the sounds of a guitar, bass guitar, drums, a unique voice... then a rock anthology is created.
According to Bajaga, only three songs were created from pure inspiration, while the rest are the product of serious work and reflection, and he honed his "craft" with Kornelij Kovač, who taught him to "respect the metrics of music."

The monograph is enriched with 160 photographs taken by professional photographers, band members and Bajaga himself, as well as those whose authors are still unknown. There are also old tickets, concert tickets, posters... a rock anthology not of a singer-songwriter and his band, but of a time.
"I've been playing rock music my whole life and I started playing at the age of 14-15 in small bands around Belgrade. I started playing professionally in 'Riblja čorba' in 1978. Last year we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the band 'Bajaga i instruktori', and I played in 'Čorba' for six years before that. Rock music has always been my life," Bajaga said during an interview with Marija Vujošević, editor at the publishing house 'Nova knjiga'.
A few hours later, the famous rock musician and his band sang with the audience hits that had long since surpassed the time in which they were created – "When You Walk", "Since I Love You", "Plavi Sapphire", "Sa druge strane jastuka", "Život je nekad siv, nekad žut", "Tamara"... And so on, hit after hit.
Video: TO Nikšić
The audience welcomed the musicians, who performed in the town under Trebjes after a break of almost ten years, back for an encore, and sent them off the stage with thunderous applause and ovations.
Video: TO Nikšić
The overture for Bajaga's performance was the Sarajevo band "Neo Stereo".
The concert, which announced the beginning of the summer festival and concert season, was organized by the Municipality of Nikšić and the TO.
Bonus video:
