INTERVIEW Nikčević and Bulatović: Doing art in Montenegro is a greater art than art itself

Darko Nikcevic was born in Nikšić in 1971.

He is a composer, flamenco guitarist and master of audio technology. He works at the Academy of Music in Cetinje as the head of the electro-acoustic laboratory and lecturer in the Music Technology course. He is the author of the first album of instrumental music in Montenegro, "Flamenco", published by the Music Production of Radio-television of Montenegro. He participated in a large number of music shows, concerts and videos of many radio and TV stations in Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Spain. He is a member of the Association of Composers of Montenegro. Srđan Bulatović was born in Podgorica in 1972.

He has a doctor of performing arts in the field of classical guitar. He is the first graduate guitarist and master of guitar in Montenegro. In addition to his active concert activities as a soloist, together with flamenco guitarist Darko Nikčević, he founded a guitar duo in 1991. Through this duet, he will get to know the music of other genres such as flamenco, film, ethnic and jazz music, which, in correlation with classical, will have a strong influence on his further pursuit of music. As a soloist, he released the CD "Guitar", which is also the first CD of classical music recorded and released in Montenegro, and "Live in Belgrade".

He is one of the founders and lecturers at the "Bar guitar fest" and the artistic director of the "GitarArt Summer Festival" in Herceg Novi. Together they released albums: "Duo", "Nostalgija, "Dodir Crne Gore", "Sinergija", "Ritmico", "The Best of Montenegro", "Balkan, Mediterranean, Orient", "The Sea", "Peninsula". Nikčević and Bulatović were awarded the most prestigious state award, the Thirteenth of July Award, by Montenegro. This summer, the music program of the Grad Teatar festival was also marked by their concert called "Mediterranean Guitars", during which they played 20 original compositions.

What were the beginnings like, and how do you look at the past three decades of joint work today?

Nikcevic: The beginning was accidental, we met in 1991 and very quickly decided to play a concert together. Our first concert was in Dom omladine (today KIC "Budo Tomović") and the hall was full, the reaction of the audience was great. There weren't many concerts at that time, it was the beginning of the nineties after all. The audience was small at that time, people had no interest and no one even decided to do concerts. We have that energy at the first concert, then the support of the audience and the feeling we had on stage when you give music to someone and he gives it back to you in a different way, that exchange of communications, all that keeps us going to this day. It was a difficult time.

Not long after, you had a concert at the Grad Theater in 1993?

Nikcevic: I remember it was terrible weather and we played on Poets' Square. Sanctions, millions of problems in the lives of all of us at that time, but Poets' Square was crowded. We played a concert to remember then, and that somehow encouraged us to continue working. Back then, we played other people's compositions, classical music, flamenco, jazz, the most diverse musical genres. Then, in 1995, we had another concert at Trg pjesnika, and the rest is the history of our joint work and the Grad Teatar festival. The meaning and manner of our work today is that we only play our own music. All that we played in Budva on August 2nd on the stage between the churches were our compositions, some of which were inspired by traditional Montenegrin music, but also by various things such as the sea, winds, emotions. The essence is presenting our music. We don't hide behind great composers, but present ourselves as what we are. We think it's good and it's brought us to big music scenes and labels. We are proud to have presented our compositions twice at Carnegie Hall and to have released three compact discs with exclusively original music for one of the largest classical music publishers in the world. That's a total of 56 compositions and I think that all of that is the result of presenting your own music and giving yourself to the audience, it's about honesty.

Apple Music has also included you in its playlists. How did it come about?

Bulatovic: It is the largest music internet platform in the world where the biggest publishers of various artistic genres send their latest releases and Apple music selectors choose which ones to put on their playlists. On those playlists, and on the previous album, there were our compositions, now also on the new album. One of those compositions "Evening at home" had over 135 thousand listens in just three months, which is an extremely big deal for art music.

Our music is mostly listened to in America, Asia and the whole world. In addition, there are playlists with videos on Apple music. We didn't know it until the publisher told us that they were interested in our videos, we sent them to Naxos records, they sent it to Apple music and their music selectors selected nine videos, six of which are on "Classical Live" video playlists. Next to us are today's greatest orchestras, today's greatest composers and performers. To find ourselves in such a company from small Montenegro with our original music is really a great honor for us.

How do you view music streaming and all existing music platforms?

Nikcevic: In the last fifteen years, and especially in the last seven since the start of streaming services like Deezer, Spotify, Apple Music and the like, the music industry has changed drastically. We are present on each of the platforms, so we follow what is happening. When the gramophone record appeared, people thought then that there would be no need for concerts anymore, that didn't happen. Likewise the compact disc in the mid-eighties when it appeared with digital dubbing capabilities and now with the advent of streaming services, everything is available.

However, we cannot say that it is either good or bad. As musicians, we are glad that we are currently available all over the world, once you had to produce a CD, put it on a market, and then someone had to buy it. For me, as a user of those platforms, it's really a big deal that for a few dollars a month I have all the music in the world at the touch of my phone. On the other hand, we, as musicians, as much as it bothers us or we are afraid of those changes, I think we have to adapt to it. It won't ruin the music.

What is your opinion on today's popular music?

Nikcevic: It's about banalization, especially in popular music. It is something that is temporary. Big people in the music business follow what the audience wants and market it to them, that's marketing. Give the people what they want, but that's the way it is right now. Movies have become dumber, more pointless and full of effects. Today, we don't watch stories in movies, but effects. Music has become pure ear-tickling and something that should get you grooving. I think it's the moment and it's not the fault of any of these music platforms, it's just the moment. Platforms are, in my opinion, a good thing. Only we must not be traditionalists or conservatives, but must be more modern. In music especially, if we create something, we have to be more modern in marketing what we create.

You recently returned from Italy. How much is high-quality classical music appreciated in the world, and how much in Montenegro? Yours is, you have been recognized and received important awards and the Thirteenth of July Award last year, but what are the conditions in which musicians create in Montenegro, and what is the situation in the world?

Bulatovic: I can tell you how foreigners react to our music. Wherever we've played so far, we've really had wonderful reactions and great feedback. People really like what we do. When we compare a small country with a big one, it is clear that in a small country the possibilities are much more modest, you don't have a market, you don't have much that can serve you to further promote music, and the fact is that you have to aim for bigger countries.

In a bigger country, there are more opportunities, and if you don't succeed somewhere, you have a chance at second, third, fifth place. Therefore, it is much easier for people who are in larger environments to possess the quality and "x factor" that is necessary in art, I think that in a larger country it is much easier and nicer to engage in music and make a living from it. Doing art in Montenegro is a greater art than art itself.

Your last album "Feel the moment" was released in April this year. What are the reactions and what are the next plans?

Bulatovic: In addition to the release for Naxos, which is one of the largest publishers of classical music in the world, we also released sheet music and signed a publishing contract. It was a challenge to get into it all. The works are heard the most in America, Asia and the whole world, but certainly the least in the Balkans.

What makes you think that is so?

Bulatovic: I think we are currently poisoned by some strange kind of music. I'm a musician and I've been doing it all my life, but today's kind of music... I couldn't call it a direction, a style, and I wonder if it's music at all. I often ask myself if I were a boy now and I listened to today's music, would I ever want to do music and the answer is no. My choice would not be music. When I started playing music, there were big names, there was also a big country where quality was known, who sang well and who played well.

Let's just remember Zdravko Čolić, Kemal Monten, Arsen Dedić, Oliver Dragojević and many others, these are all artistic sizes. When you listen to that kind of music, it's only natural that you want to engage with it. That was my first contact with music, it was not classical music. I often listen to interviews where musicians say that they first fell in love with classical music, and besides the music I mentioned, it's hard to fall in love with classical music first. It was music that hits you directly and you immediately have an emotion. I remember the songs of Dragojević and Čolić, as a boy I used to listen to them for hours and days. The first chords on the guitar were those. When I was at the crossroads of what to do, classical or popular music, I almost chose popular music. Maybe I would have sung later if I had gone that way. But I don't regret the path I chose because I'm proud of everything we've done, especially in the last couple of years. It is something that makes me happy, that I am most proud of, and that will remain forever.

Concert dedicated to Dragoljub Đuričić: "He was a monster in music"

You dedicated the concert in Budva to Dragoljub Đuričić? What is it that we should remember him for and why is he important for not only Montenegrin, but also world music?

Nikcevic: Dragoljub was a monster in music. We started working with him in 2012, also by accident. We had a concert in Novi Sad and the thought crossed our minds why not do it with a percussionist. Dragoljub, direct and witty as he was, full of inexhaustible energy, agreed. He is a big name, he left behind countless albums, enriched the rock and pop music scene of ex-Yugoslavia. We weren't even aware of it until we started hanging out with him, so through the story we came to know that he played concerts for almost every big name in the eighties and nineties. "Bread and Salt" is just one of the bands in which he played.

When we analyzed a little, we saw that you can hear Dragoljub Đuričić in a huge number of songs. That's the hardest thing in music, to be authentic, unique and recognizable. Whoever succeeds has touched the sky. He had touched it much earlier, unfortunately, with his untimely death. I think he left a lot, but I regret that he didn't live another year to leave even more because he could. The only thing we could do for this occasion was to remember that great man. Nobody mentions him anymore, he's not in the media, nobody talks about him anymore, and he really left a treasure behind.

Bulatovic: This is a man who deserved to be talked about more because he made a great contribution to Montenegro, he remained a Montenegrin until the end, he promoted this country and its values. I am especially grateful to him for introducing so many novelties into music and enriching it with rhythm. With his drums, he sounded more like a melodic instrument than a rhythmic one. He is one of the few artists who knew how to make a melody out of rhythm. Only Dragoljub Đuričić could do that and he will be remembered, above all, for that. We had a wonderful collaboration, several extraordinary years with him, as well as a joint CD we recorded with him, which was released for RTCG, and is entitled "Ritmiko".

Nikcevic: He was a musician who, in rhythm, managed to say a lot with a little. You have drummers and percussionists who say a bunch of "words" but they don't make any sense. The most difficult thing in any artistic direction is to say a lot with a little and that is its greatness. He was able to say a lot, but one should know how to say a lot with few tones.