Bijelo Dugme
Sta Bi Dao Da Si Na Mom Mjestu

An album with at least two interesting reasons surrounding it. First: because it was the band led by Goran Bregovic, a famous composer of traditional Balkan music known worldwide for his soundtracks for Emir Kusturica's films. Second: because it’s not easy to listen to predominantly Anglophone music in Serbian; but these are two factors not necessarily negative, though they will definitely leave the listener pleasantly surprised.

The record begins with the intriguing "Tako Ti Je Mala Moja Kad Ljubi Bosanac," a very substantial Hard 'n Heavy piece and quite pioneering if you will. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ritchie Blackmore knew them back then, as you can find Rainbow-like sounds that would soon emerge. The singer’s voice, who seemed to come out of a Frank Zappa look-alike contest, gave an almost liturgical sense of Greek Orthodox with his voice. It moves on to the second song, "Hop-Cup," a very danceable Hard Rock piece that strongly recalls the traditional Eastern beat: Jon Lord-style organ, usual Greek Orthodox voice, and the party around the fire begins. "Došao Sam Da Ti Kažem Da Odlazim" is a very pastoral ballad reminiscent in a certain way of Vangelis's Aphrodite’s Child, with an intense solo by Bregovic included in the package. It transitions to "Ne Gledaj Me Tako I Ne Ljubi Me Više", a pure Hard Rock piece with a lot of atmosphere, well blended with distorted organ... It seems like something out of Deep Purple's "Burn," in which the Greek Orthodox Frank Zappa - ah, the real name was Željko Bebek eheheh - delivers a vocal performance very close to the David Coverdale of that era.

There’s room for "Požurite Konji Moji", perhaps the album's best track, which reaches truly interesting peaks of epicness, and very Blackmore-like in sound. With the remaining songs, the album follows this same trend. A unique band: they are considered absolute stars in their homeland. In 1989 they broke up, and Bregovic indeed achieved worldwide success as a soundtrack composer, while there was a farewell reunion in 2005 which was incredibly successful in their region.