Jutro
Encyclopedia
Jutro was a Sarajevo
-based rock
band
most notable as the immediate predecessor to Bijelo dugme
. It existed from late 1971 to the very end of 1973 when it transformed into probably the most popular rock band to come out of former Yugoslavia
– Bijelo dugme
.
Jutro was formed on the initiative by Ismet "Nuno" Arnautalić (formerly of Eho 61 and Indexi
) who came to Goran Bregović
in fall 1971 with an offer of putting together a new band. Bregović, recently back in town after gigging across Italy
for a year as part of an act called Kodeksi
that eventually transformed into Mića, Goran i Zoran before folding, gladly accepted.
, whom he hadn't spoken to in more than a year since their acrimonious split in Italy during fall 1970. Bebek was about to leave for the mandatory army stint, but accepted the offer and recorded a couple of early versions of "Patim, evo, deset dana", before going away to serve in Pirot
on February 23, 1972.
Bregović and Arnautalić were thus without a singer again. Around the same time, the duo started butting heads over the band's future direction: Arnautalić wanted them to go the route of competitive pop
schlager
festivals in order to get noticed, whereas Bregović thought live club shows were the way to go about building an audience. After much wrangling they agreed on Zlatko Hodnik as the new temporary singer. Hodnik, the winner of the Zlatni aplauz festival for singing hopefuls, was a typical festival singer, all of which Bregović detested, but Arnautalić prevailed on this issue. In turn, Bregović got to pick the rhythm section, bringing in his old buddy from Kodeksi and Italian days Zoran Redžić
on bass as well as drummer Gordan Matrak (a fellow student at Sarajevo University
's Faculty of Philosophy which Bregović attended at the time).
Jutro's first live performance took place on April 15, 1972 at the Vas šlager sezone competitive festival. They performed a song "Ostajem tebi", which would later be included on their Radio Kruševac-released single "Ostajem tebi" / "Sad te vidim". The main prize that day was won by Pro arte performing a Đorđe Novković-written song "Nemoj draga plakati".
In November 1972 Bebek got an army leave and came back to Sarajevo where he recorded tracks "Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme", "Na vrh brda vrba mrda", "Hop cup", and "U subotu, mala", before going back to serve.
In the meantime drummer Gordan Matrak left the band. For a short period Perica Stojanović became the new drummer, but after he left too, Vladimir "Šento" Borovčanin came over from Pro arte, bringing desired stability.
with a particularly strong folk
component, none of which sat well with Arnautalić who wanted to keep the status quo. Bregović won this standoff, mostly because the rest of the band (Zoran and Šento) supported his vision. Even Bebek chimed in from the army in support of Bregović's direction, and Arnautalić had no choice but to leave the band he founded.
In March 1973, Radio Kruševac released Jutro's second single "Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme" / "U subotu, mala" (two of the songs Bebek recorded during his previous army leave). Around the same time Bebek returned from the army for good, however, not being quite convinced about the band's commercial potential he also got a regular job at the municipal social administration.
Soon after Arnautalić's departure from the band, Bregović, who by now became the group's undisputed leader and driving force, set about molding it to his own preferences, which almost felt like starting over from scratch. One of his first decisions was to add a keyboard player - a spot eventually filled by the somewhat established musician Vlado Pravdić
. He had already been contributing to Jutro since the group's beginnings and was on friendly terms with all the members. Furthermore, he owned a Hammond organ
, which was an added plus.
Bregović also wanted to come up with a whole bunch of new material, and started pushing the other members hard towards that end. This created resistance, especially from Šento Borovčanin who already experienced a certain measure of fame while with Pro arte, and thus did not appreciate being bossed around by Bregović. Borovčanin's enthusiasm further dropped when the negotiations with Jugoton
regarding the release of a single fell through, and he also started swaying Zoran Redžić over to his side. The situation festered until the beginning of the summer when Bregović kicked them both out of the band following a vicious shouting match.
In order to achieve his goal of coming up with more material, Bregović met up with Pravdić (still not officially a Jutro member) in Gradac during the summer of 1973. Bregović vacationed there in his mother's house, while Pravdić played summer gigs with Indexi
in nearby Baška Voda
. They jammed a lot together in this period, creating templates for many of the future songs (most of which eventually ended up on Bijelo dugme albums).
So, after a productive working vacation, Bregović was back in Sarajevo faced with a problem of finding a new rhythm section. Borovčanin's replacement on drums became Ipe Ivandić
whom Bregović met at Skenderija Hall
, while filling the bass player spot proved to be more difficult. Bregović heavily courted Ivica Vinković of Ambasadori
who stayed behind in Sarajevo
because of university obligations while his band was touring Soviet Union
. For a while Vinković was serious about joining Jutro, however, once his Ambasadori bandmates returned from tour with pockets full of cash, he wanted no part of Jutro anymore, and immediately ended his episode with Bregović. Still, his brief stint with the band was noted on tracks "Top" and "Ove ću noći naći blues", which would also later become a part of Bijelo dugme repertoire. Jadranko Stanković became the new bassist.
As 1973 was nearing to a close, Jutro was constantly gigging but the income was low. Furthermore, with no album in sight their prospects for a sudden injection of cash were bleak.
The band also had a problem with access to recording studios in Sarajevo, which was Ismet Aranutalić's revenge to Bregović for phasing him out of the band. Ismet claimed ownership of the name "Jutro" and used the influence his older brother Esad Arnautalić wielded around Radio Sarajevo in order to place an unofficial ban on Jutro recording in their studios.
To try to get around this unfortunate situation the band enlisted its own connections as Vlado Pravdić's mother had a friend at Radio Sarajevo whom they called aunt Maca, but they didn't get anywhere until Bregović met composer Nikola Borota Radovan who happened to be contracted by Radio-Television Sarajevo and Jugoton as a music producer and youth TV programme editor. The two cut a deal whereby Bregović would help out on tracks "Hop cup" (G. Bregović) and "Kameni cvijet" (N. Borota) for singer Hamdija Ćustović in return for some studio time at the end of Ćustović's sessions. The session was officially engineered by "legendary" Antun "Tuna" Marković, one of the oldest and most experienced engineers at the time. However, for the occasion, Nikola was briefly replacing him on the mixing console, while he was having a nap in the corner of the control console.
Here's how Bregović described that bizarre event in his career: "As soon as Borota finished his recording session with Ćustović we rushed in with our equipment in order to use the remaining hour to record "Top" and "Ove ću noći naći blues". We had absolutely no permission and were particularly scared of Radio Sarajevo's producer-in-chief Milan Stupar who had a habit of entering the studios unannounced. We recorded everything in such a rush before getting our stuff out of there even quicker and disappearing down the building corridors".
These two tracks were later released on the multi-platinum Jugoton's single under the (newly formed) Bijelo Dugme banner, primarily thanks to the Borota's connections and enormous "bravery" of the local Jugoton representative Hamdija Salković.
Still, Bregović had to concede Arnautalić was a powerful figure on a Sarajevo music scene at the time and that guerilla recording wasn't going to get the band anywhere. Since the band was about to enter their third year of existence with very little to show for their musical engagement, something had to be done about the studio access.
As they were generally known by their song "Kad bi bilo bijelo dugme" and since there was also another band named Jutro operating in Ljubljana
, Bregović & co. decided to switch their name to Bijelo dugme
. The change officially took effect on the night between December 31, 1973 and January 1, 1974 when they played Skenderija Hall as Bijelo dugme
for the very first time. By some sources Damjan Babic, a composer and professor asked Bregovic if “kad bi’ bio bijelo dugme” song was his and why not to name the bend “Bijelo dugme” (White button). Bregovic didn’t have any other alternative name.
The name change took care of the studio access issue as Arnautalić finally put aside his grievances.
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
-based rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
most notable as the immediate predecessor to Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme was a highly influential former Yugoslav rock band, based in Sarajevo. Active between 1974 and 1989, it is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock...
. It existed from late 1971 to the very end of 1973 when it transformed into probably the most popular rock band to come out of former Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
– Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme was a highly influential former Yugoslav rock band, based in Sarajevo. Active between 1974 and 1989, it is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock...
.
Jutro was formed on the initiative by Ismet "Nuno" Arnautalić (formerly of Eho 61 and Indexi
Indexi
Indexi was a Bosnian rock band popular in the former Yugoslavia. It formed in 1962 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and disbanded in 2001 when singer Davorin Popović died...
) who came to Goran Bregović
Goran Bregovic
Goran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...
in fall 1971 with an offer of putting together a new band. Bregović, recently back in town after gigging across Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
for a year as part of an act called Kodeksi
Kodeksi
Kodeksi was a cover band from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia that existed from 1965 until 1971. It is most notable as one of the predecessors to Bijelo dugme, the most commercially successful band ever to come out of SFR Yugoslavia...
that eventually transformed into Mića, Goran i Zoran before folding, gladly accepted.
1972
By January 1972, Bregović already had a few of his own songs along with a vision for a band that was still missing a singer. He soon turned to old friend Željko BebekŽeljko Bebek
Želimir "Željko" Bebek is a popular Bosnian Croat singer most notable for being the lead vocalist of Bijelo dugme from 1974 to 1984....
, whom he hadn't spoken to in more than a year since their acrimonious split in Italy during fall 1970. Bebek was about to leave for the mandatory army stint, but accepted the offer and recorded a couple of early versions of "Patim, evo, deset dana", before going away to serve in Pirot
Pirot
Pirot is a town and municipality located in south-eastern Serbia. According to 2011 census, the town has a total population of 38,432, while the population of the municipality is 57,911...
on February 23, 1972.
Bregović and Arnautalić were thus without a singer again. Around the same time, the duo started butting heads over the band's future direction: Arnautalić wanted them to go the route of competitive pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
schlager
Schlager
Schlager music is a style of popular music prevalent in Central and Northern Europe and the Balkans and also in France and Poland. In Portugal, it was adapted and became pimba music...
festivals in order to get noticed, whereas Bregović thought live club shows were the way to go about building an audience. After much wrangling they agreed on Zlatko Hodnik as the new temporary singer. Hodnik, the winner of the Zlatni aplauz festival for singing hopefuls, was a typical festival singer, all of which Bregović detested, but Arnautalić prevailed on this issue. In turn, Bregović got to pick the rhythm section, bringing in his old buddy from Kodeksi and Italian days Zoran Redžić
Zoran Redžic
Zoran Redžić is a Bosnian musician, best known for playing the bass guitar in the popular Yugoslav rock band Bijelo Dugme....
on bass as well as drummer Gordan Matrak (a fellow student at Sarajevo University
University of Sarajevo
The University of Sarajevo is the first university in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was originally established in 1531 as a Madrasah or Islamic Law college, with a modern university being established and expanded on top of that in 1949. Today, with 23 faculties and around 55,000 enrolled students, it...
's Faculty of Philosophy which Bregović attended at the time).
Jutro's first live performance took place on April 15, 1972 at the Vas šlager sezone competitive festival. They performed a song "Ostajem tebi", which would later be included on their Radio Kruševac-released single "Ostajem tebi" / "Sad te vidim". The main prize that day was won by Pro arte performing a Đorđe Novković-written song "Nemoj draga plakati".
In November 1972 Bebek got an army leave and came back to Sarajevo where he recorded tracks "Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme", "Na vrh brda vrba mrda", "Hop cup", and "U subotu, mala", before going back to serve.
In the meantime drummer Gordan Matrak left the band. For a short period Perica Stojanović became the new drummer, but after he left too, Vladimir "Šento" Borovčanin came over from Pro arte, bringing desired stability.
1973
By February 1973, the band was eagerly awaiting Bebek's return from the army. However, nothing could repair the deteriorating Arnautalić-Bregović relationship and their silent war finally came to a head. Bregović wanted the band to play tight hard rockHard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
with a particularly strong folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
component, none of which sat well with Arnautalić who wanted to keep the status quo. Bregović won this standoff, mostly because the rest of the band (Zoran and Šento) supported his vision. Even Bebek chimed in from the army in support of Bregović's direction, and Arnautalić had no choice but to leave the band he founded.
In March 1973, Radio Kruševac released Jutro's second single "Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme" / "U subotu, mala" (two of the songs Bebek recorded during his previous army leave). Around the same time Bebek returned from the army for good, however, not being quite convinced about the band's commercial potential he also got a regular job at the municipal social administration.
Soon after Arnautalić's departure from the band, Bregović, who by now became the group's undisputed leader and driving force, set about molding it to his own preferences, which almost felt like starting over from scratch. One of his first decisions was to add a keyboard player - a spot eventually filled by the somewhat established musician Vlado Pravdić
Vlado Pravdic
Vlado Pravdić is a Bosnian musician most famous as the organist of the Yugoslav rock group Bijelo dugme from 1974 to 1976 and again from 1978 to 1987....
. He had already been contributing to Jutro since the group's beginnings and was on friendly terms with all the members. Furthermore, he owned a Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
, which was an added plus.
Bregović also wanted to come up with a whole bunch of new material, and started pushing the other members hard towards that end. This created resistance, especially from Šento Borovčanin who already experienced a certain measure of fame while with Pro arte, and thus did not appreciate being bossed around by Bregović. Borovčanin's enthusiasm further dropped when the negotiations with Jugoton
Jugoton
Jugoton was the largest record label and chain record store in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia based in Zagreb, Socialist Republic of Croatia. After the breakup of Yugoslavia the company continued to work in independent Republic of Croatia under the name Croatia...
regarding the release of a single fell through, and he also started swaying Zoran Redžić over to his side. The situation festered until the beginning of the summer when Bregović kicked them both out of the band following a vicious shouting match.
In order to achieve his goal of coming up with more material, Bregović met up with Pravdić (still not officially a Jutro member) in Gradac during the summer of 1973. Bregović vacationed there in his mother's house, while Pravdić played summer gigs with Indexi
Indexi
Indexi was a Bosnian rock band popular in the former Yugoslavia. It formed in 1962 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and disbanded in 2001 when singer Davorin Popović died...
in nearby Baška Voda
Baška Voda
Baška Voda , is a municipality in Croatia in the Split-Dalmatia County. It has a population of 2,924 , 95.5% which are Croats, 1.03% Serbs, etc. It is located on the Adriatic coastline of Dalmatia 10 km northwest of Makarska....
. They jammed a lot together in this period, creating templates for many of the future songs (most of which eventually ended up on Bijelo dugme albums).
So, after a productive working vacation, Bregović was back in Sarajevo faced with a problem of finding a new rhythm section. Borovčanin's replacement on drums became Ipe Ivandić
Ipe Ivandic
Goran "Ipe" Ivandić was a former Yugoslav rock drummer, famous for his work with the band Bijelo Dugme.-Early years:...
whom Bregović met at Skenderija Hall
Skenderija
Skenderija is a city center in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was constructed in 1969 as a cultural and sport center, but was later revitalized and expanded for the 1984 Winter Olympic Games. Below the structure is a shopping mall...
, while filling the bass player spot proved to be more difficult. Bregović heavily courted Ivica Vinković of Ambasadori
Ambasadori
Ambasadori were a Yugoslav pop band from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina active from 1968 until 1980. The band is most notable for representing Yugoslavia at the Eurovision Song Contest, and for having two future pop stars Zdravko Čolić and Hari Varešanović as its one time singers.Ambasadori were...
who stayed behind in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
because of university obligations while his band was touring Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. For a while Vinković was serious about joining Jutro, however, once his Ambasadori bandmates returned from tour with pockets full of cash, he wanted no part of Jutro anymore, and immediately ended his episode with Bregović. Still, his brief stint with the band was noted on tracks "Top" and "Ove ću noći naći blues", which would also later become a part of Bijelo dugme repertoire. Jadranko Stanković became the new bassist.
As 1973 was nearing to a close, Jutro was constantly gigging but the income was low. Furthermore, with no album in sight their prospects for a sudden injection of cash were bleak.
The band also had a problem with access to recording studios in Sarajevo, which was Ismet Aranutalić's revenge to Bregović for phasing him out of the band. Ismet claimed ownership of the name "Jutro" and used the influence his older brother Esad Arnautalić wielded around Radio Sarajevo in order to place an unofficial ban on Jutro recording in their studios.
To try to get around this unfortunate situation the band enlisted its own connections as Vlado Pravdić's mother had a friend at Radio Sarajevo whom they called aunt Maca, but they didn't get anywhere until Bregović met composer Nikola Borota Radovan who happened to be contracted by Radio-Television Sarajevo and Jugoton as a music producer and youth TV programme editor. The two cut a deal whereby Bregović would help out on tracks "Hop cup" (G. Bregović) and "Kameni cvijet" (N. Borota) for singer Hamdija Ćustović in return for some studio time at the end of Ćustović's sessions. The session was officially engineered by "legendary" Antun "Tuna" Marković, one of the oldest and most experienced engineers at the time. However, for the occasion, Nikola was briefly replacing him on the mixing console, while he was having a nap in the corner of the control console.
Here's how Bregović described that bizarre event in his career: "As soon as Borota finished his recording session with Ćustović we rushed in with our equipment in order to use the remaining hour to record "Top" and "Ove ću noći naći blues". We had absolutely no permission and were particularly scared of Radio Sarajevo's producer-in-chief Milan Stupar who had a habit of entering the studios unannounced. We recorded everything in such a rush before getting our stuff out of there even quicker and disappearing down the building corridors".
These two tracks were later released on the multi-platinum Jugoton's single under the (newly formed) Bijelo Dugme banner, primarily thanks to the Borota's connections and enormous "bravery" of the local Jugoton representative Hamdija Salković.
Still, Bregović had to concede Arnautalić was a powerful figure on a Sarajevo music scene at the time and that guerilla recording wasn't going to get the band anywhere. Since the band was about to enter their third year of existence with very little to show for their musical engagement, something had to be done about the studio access.
As they were generally known by their song "Kad bi bilo bijelo dugme" and since there was also another band named Jutro operating in Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
, Bregović & co. decided to switch their name to Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme was a highly influential former Yugoslav rock band, based in Sarajevo. Active between 1974 and 1989, it is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock...
. The change officially took effect on the night between December 31, 1973 and January 1, 1974 when they played Skenderija Hall as Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme was a highly influential former Yugoslav rock band, based in Sarajevo. Active between 1974 and 1989, it is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock...
for the very first time. By some sources Damjan Babic, a composer and professor asked Bregovic if “kad bi’ bio bijelo dugme” song was his and why not to name the bend “Bijelo dugme” (White button). Bregovic didn’t have any other alternative name.
The name change took care of the studio access issue as Arnautalić finally put aside his grievances.
Singles
- "Ostajem tebi" / "Sad te vidim" (Radio Kruševac, 1972)
- "U subotu mala" / "Kad bih bio bijelo dugme" (Radio Kruševac, 1973)