Vlada i Bajka ( sr-Cyrl, Влада и Бајка; trans. Vlada and Bajka) were a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

n and

former Yugoslav Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

acoustic music Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. While all music was once acoustic, the retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the adven ...

duo from

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, consisting of Vladimir Marković "Vlada" and Dragutin Balaban "Bajka".

History

Early history (1968-1975)

The duo Vlada i Bajka was formed in 1968 by the childhood friends Vladimir Marković "Vlada" and Dragutin Balaban "Bajka", both playing acoustic guitars and singing lead and backing vocals, after becoming members of the AKUD (Serbian for ''amateur cultural-artistic society'') Branko Krsmanović, being one of the pioneers of the Serbian acoustic rock scene. Three years later, in 1971, with the AKUD Branko Krsmanović, the two went on a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

tour, simultaneously performing as a duo in university clubs the material consisting of cover versions of

Simon & Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of " ...

songs. Having returned from the USA, the two recorded a cover version of the Simon & Garfunkel song " The Sound of Silence", with lyrics in

Serbian language Serbian (, ) is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina and co-official in Montenegro and Kos ...

entitled "Zvuk tišine" ("The Sound of Silence"), and with the song recording they won the competition on the ''Studio VI vam pruža šansu'' (''Studio VI Gives You a Chance'') radio show, getting the opportunity to release a single. Their debut single, released by

PGP-RTB PGP-RTB (abbreviation for sr, Produkcija gramofonskih ploča Radio televizije Beograd) was a major state-owned record label and chain record store in the former SFR Yugoslavia, based in Belgrade, Socialist Republic of Serbia. After the breaku ...

in 1971, featured "Zvuk tišine" as the single B-side, whereas the A-side was yet another Simon & Garfunkel cover version, "

Cecilia Cecilia is a personal name originating in the name of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music. The name has been popularly used in Europe (particularly the United Kingdom and Italy, where in 2018 it was the 43rd most popular name for girls born ...

". At the time, they had also established a good relationship with

Radio Belgrade Radio Belgrade ( sr, Радио Београд, ) is a state-owned and operated radio station in Belgrade, Serbia. It has four different programs (Radio Belgrade 1, Radio Belgrade 2, Radio Belgrade 3, and Radio Belgrade 202), a precious archive o ...

, often performing live in the studio during the evening program, as well as the television shows ''Serija koje nema'' (''A Series that is Gone'') and ''Pozdravite sve kod kuće'' (''Say Hello to Everyone at Home''). With Marković's songs, the duo also appeared at the major Yugoslav popular music festivals: the 1973

Opatija Opatija (; it, Abbazia; german: Sankt Jakobi) is a town and a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The traditional seaside resort on the Kvarner Gulf is known for its Mediterranean climate and its historic buildings r ...

festival, with the song "Dok te gledam" ("While I am Looking at You"), the 1973

Festival Omladina Festival Omladina (English: ''Youth Festival''), also known as Omladinski Festival, is a music festival held in Subotica, Serbia. The festival was founded in 1961 as a competition of young composers of popular music. Their compositions were ini ...

, with the song "Lutanja" ("Wanderings") and the 1974 Belgrade Spring festival, with the song "Novi svet" ("New World"). Following the release of a four track EP ''Dok te gledam'', the songs "Lutanja" and "Novi svet" were released on single by PGP-RTB in 1973. With the release of the single "Oblak" ("A Cloud"), with "Za koju noć" ("In a Few Nights") as the B-side, featuring the lyrics from a poem by

Dobriša Cesarić Dobriša Cesarić (; 10 January 1902 – 18 December 1980) was a Croatian poet and translator born in Požega. Cesarić is considered one of the greatest Croatian poets of the 20th century. After the Vlada i Bajka disbandment, both Marković and Balaban joined the Radio Television Belgrade choir. Marković finished the Belgrade Music academy and started working as a producer at the Radio Belgrade Studio VI, and Balaban graduated at the Belgrade Faculty of Dramatic Arts organizing sector and became a marketing agent for

Radio Television of Serbia Radio Television of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, Радио-телевизија Србије, sr-Lat, Radio-televizija Srbije, italics=yes; abbr. RTS/PTC) is Serbia's public broadcaster. It broadcasts and produces news, drama, and sports programming thro ...

and in the 1990s he became the editor of the Belgrade Radio 101.

Reformation (1993-1995)

In 1993, the duo was reformed and from November until June of the following year, the two were recording material for their first full-length album, ''Ja nisam ja'' (''I am not I''), released by

PGP-RTS PGP-RTS ( sr, Produkcija gramofonskih ploča Radio televizije Srbije) is a major record label based in Belgrade, Serbia. It is a successor of PGP-RTB which was established in 1959 in Belgrade, then capital of Socialist Republic of Serbia and So ...

in 1994. The recording sessions featured numerous guest musicians and the song "Beograd" ("Belgrade") featured guest appearances by singers

Bora Đorđević Borisav "Bora" Đorđević ( sr-cyr, Борисав, Бора Ђорђевић; born 1 November 1952), also known as Bora Čorba ( sr-cyr, Бора Чорба), is a Serbian singer, songwriter, and poet. He is best known as the frontman of the ...

and

Dušan Prelević Dušan Prelević "Prele" (Serbian Cyrillic: Душан Прелевић Преле; November 11, 1948 – July 28, 2007) was a Serbian singer, journalist, and writer. During his career Prelević released three solo albums and a large number of 7 ...

, and actors

Dragan Nikolić Dragoslav "Dragan" Nikolić ( sr-cyr, Драгослав Драган Николић, ; 20 August 1943 – 11 March 2016) was a Yugoslav and later, Serbian actor. Nikolić studied at Dramatic Arts Academy in Belgrade. In 1967 he starred in the ...

Nikola Kojo Nikola Kojo (; born 5 September 1967) is a Serbian actor and film director. Biography Nikola was named after his great-grandfather, who was an protoiereus in Mostar. He made his acting debut before he turned 13, with the role of the boy Ivan in ...

and

Dragan Bjelogrlić Dragan Bjelogrlić "Bjela" ( sr, Драган Бјелогрлић, ; born 10 October 1963) is a Serbian actor, director and producer. Career Bjelogrlić made his acting debut as a 15-year old, playing Sava Jovanović Sirogojno in ''Boško Buha'' ...

. The album featured fourteen songs, including a rerecorded version of "Oblak", with Marković, Balaban and producer

Enco Lesić Enco may refer to: *Enco River in Chile *Enco (brand) Enco (an acronym for 'ENergy COmpany') was a secondary retail brand name for products of the Humble Oil Corporation (who had been acquired by the Standard Oil of New Jersey in 1959) in certa ...

signed as music authors whereas the song lyrics featured quotations from

Branko Radičević Aleksije "Branko" Radičević ( sr-Cyrl, Алексије Бранко Радичевић, ; 28 March 1824 – 1 July 1853) was a Serbian poet who wrote in the period of Romanticism. Biography Branko Radičević was born in Slavonski Brod on 1 ...

's poetry, and lyrics by

Dušan Kovačević Dušan Kovačević ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Ковачевић, ; born 12 July 1948) is a Serbian playwright, scriptwriter, film director and academic best known for his theatre plays and movie scripts. He also served as the ambassador of Serbia in L ...

, Ratko Adamović and Petar Lazić. At the same time, the song "Oblak" appeared on Komuna compilation album '' Sve smo mogli mi: Akustičarska muzika'' (''We Could Have Done All: Acoustic Music''), which featured songs by Yugoslav acoustic rock acts. After the album release, the band organized a live promotion of the album with a concert ''Odbrana Beograda'' (''Defending Belgrade''), on April 5, 1995, alluding on the growing popularity of

turbo folk In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

music in Serbia. Songs recorded at the concert were released, along with three studio tracks, "Beograd", "Duga zlatna nit" ("A Long Golden Thread") and "Oj Devojko, Dušo Moja" ("O, Girl, My Darling"), on a

compact cassette The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...

live album ''Moj Beograd - Live'' by Jugoton Beograd during the same year, after which the duo disbanded once again. From 2001 until 2006 Marković was the general manager of

, and in the meantime, in 2004, he wrote the music for the

Dragan Marinković Dragan Marinković "Maca" (born 17 March 1968) is a Bosnian actor and TV personality. Widely known by his nickname Maca, though trained as an actor, Marinković is most notable for his outrageous personality showcased during his stints on reali ...

movie '' Take a Deep Breath''.

Reunion (2011)

In April 2011, the two reunited in order to participate the ''Band aid for Japan'' project organized

as a support for the people of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

after the

Great East Japan earthquake Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

. The single, for which a promotional video had also been recorded, "Kokoro ni ai o" ("Smile Instead of Tears"), beside the duo also featured

Lena Kovačević Lena Kovačević ( sr-cyr, Лена Ковачевић, born on 25 February 1982) is a Serbian singer. She is the daughter of Dušan Kovačević. Kovačević debuted in her father's 2003 movie '' The Professional'', where she performed the song ...

Bilja Krstić Biljana "Bilja" Krstić (Serbian Cyrillic: Биљана "Биља" Крстић, Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: ǐʎana bǐːʎa kř̩ːstitɕ born 9 November 1955) is a Serbian singer. She was born in 1955 in Niš and brought up on the folk t ...

, Ana Milovanović,

Ljuba Ninković Ljuba may refer to: * Ljuba (given name), a Slavic given name * Ljuba, Serbia, a village in Syrmia, Vojvodina * 1062 Ljuba, an asteroid See also * Ljubav (disambiguation) {{disambig, geo, given name ...

, Duda Bezuha and the Radio Television of Serbia children choir. During the same year, on December 10, the duo appeared at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Festival Omladina, performing the song "Oblak".

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Ja nisam ja'' (1994)

Live albums

* ''Moj Beograd - Live'' (1995)

Extended plays

* ''Dok te gledam'' (1973)

Singles

* "Cecilia" (1971) * "Novi svet" (1973) * "Oblak" (1975)

References

* ''EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006'', Janjatović Petar;

Notes

External links

Vlada i Bajka
at

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Vlada i Bajka
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Vlada i Bajka
at

Rateyourmusic Rate Your Music (often abbreviated to RYM) is an online collaborative database of music releases and films. Users can catalog items from their personal collection, review them, and assign ratings in a five-star rating system. The site also fea ...

Vlada i Bajka
at

Last.fm Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Using a music recommender system called "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of the tracks the user listens to, e ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vlada i Bajka Serbian rock music groups Serbian pop rock music groups Yugoslav rock music groups Musical groups from Belgrade Musical groups established in 1968