Baja Mali Knindža

Baja Mali Knindža Баја Мали Книнџа
Background information
Birth name	Mirko Pajčin
Born	(1966-10-13) October 13, 1966 Gubin, SFR Yugoslavia
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Years active	1989–present

Mirko Pajčin (Serbian Cyrillic: Мирко Пајчин,* 13 October 1966), better known by his stage name Baja Mali Knindža (Serbian Cyrillic: Баја Мали Книнџа), is a Bosnian Serb folk singer and poet. He is most known for his wartime music and is still one of the most popular artists in Serbia.

Early life

Baja was born on 13 October 1966 in the village of Gubin, which is in current day Bosnia and Herzegovina.

While attending school, Baja claims that his Serbian language teacher Milan Poparić influenced him heavily and introduced him to poetry. He started writing songs, reciting acting and singing at a young age.

He attended high school in Bačka Palanka and ended up moving to Belgrade two years later.

After graduating from high school he started working at the IMT tractor factory in Belgrade, then briefly worked at the then "Tito" shipyard before finishing his mandatory military service in Livno. At the end of his military service, he started working at the Belgrade airport.

Baja became interested in singing when his friend from Surčin held a celebration, to which Baja was invited, and he was offered a microphone to sing as part of the event. His performance would earn him a tip that was five times greater than his airport salary, saying to himself "Baja, you won't wake up early anymore".

Career

Baja would soon perform in cities like Sarajevo at the restaurant "Holidej" in Čengić vila, which was owned by a cousin of Lepi Mića, sharing the stage with artists like Ljubiša Vasiljević.

1989 would be the year he contributed to writing the Tromeđa album "Izvorne pjesme Dalmacije, Like i Krajine", which included the now legendary song "Nema raja bez rodnoga kraja". Later in the year Baja wanted to compete in the music competition "Prvi glas Livna", but was denied when the judges found out that the song "Nema raja" was already a on an album and that Baja was a professional musician. Nonetheless he was allowed to perform it together with his song "Nemoj me lagati mila", just not enter the competition.

When the breakup of Yugoslavia started, Baja's songs turned patriotic. He managed to gather just enough money to record his own first album, but somehow lost it all on the way to the studio. Now in debt and in search of a record label to take him, he eventually found Jugodisk after being rejected by PGP RTS. Finally published in early 1992, "Ne dam Krajine" would become a huge hit that catapulted Baja to fame.

His second album, "Stan'te paše i Ustaše", released by Nina Trejd in mid-1992, featured the songs "Božić je", "Morem plovi jedna mala barka" and "Pevaj Srbijo", which would turn into his most popular and most recognizable songs.

Despite this success, Baja had a strained relationship with the media. His 1992 Poselo performance of "Pevaj Srbijo" was cut from TV broadcasting and only ever had a few select appearances on radio and TV.

In February 1993 Baja would release his best selling album, "Živeće ovaj Narod", which would go on to sell 700,000 copies and carry popular but also controversial songs like "Ne volim te Alija".

1993 would also have Baja's first release of a live performance entitled "Sve za Srpstvo, Srpstvo nizašta".

Around September of 1993 Baja would appear in interviews and start touring for his upcoming album "Još se ništa ne zna". Baja's duet with Bora Đorđević, "Ćuti ćuti ujko", as well as "Vratiće se Novak", a song about his brother Novak Pajčin, are some of the songs featured on the album. Još se ništa ne zna became one of Baja's most popular albums and would be the start of his work with SuperTon.

Shortly after, Baja's first VHS, "Najveći hitovi" would be released featuring his more popular songs in music video form. Notably, a second music video for the song Ne dam Krajine, aswell as a SRTV Knin video for Vrati se Vojvodo can be found on the VHS.

Baja also wrote many songs for other singers of this genre. "Koridor slobode" by Gordan Krajišnik and "Ne daj se Srbijo moja", among others, both have Baja lyric and music credits.

With 1993 coming to an end, he would release two albums, "Rat i mir" and "Kockar bez sreće".

Rat i mir contains arguably Baja's most popular and controversial song in the western community, "Tata". Kockar bez sreće would, however, be a diversion from Baja's usual patriotic songs, instead gathering older material and creating an album with love songs, similar in style to his mid 80s work.

With the beginning of 1994, Baja would aid in writing the lyrics and music for Gordan Krajišnik's second album, "Život damo Krajine ne damo" and Rade Tešić's "Samotnjak", but also form a band with his brother Novak Pajčin and friend Lujan with the name "Braća sa Dinare".

After their first self-titled album "Braća sa Dinare" in 1994, the second Baja VHS would release, called "Rat i mir". It would feature Baja songs from the last two albums, aswell as "Loš učenik" from the Braća sa Dinare album.

In late 1994 Baja released the album "Pobediće istina", containing the songs "Pravoslavac" and "Lepo nam je reko Sveti Sava".

Early 1995 sees the release of "Igraju se delije" and Braća sa Dinare's second album "Bila jednom jedna zemlja" in January, together with more writing contributions. "Nema laži, nema prevare" and "Desilo se čudo / idemo do kraja" both have contributions by Baja.

Shortly before the fall of Krajina in August 1995, Baja released the album "Idemo dalje", featuring the well-known songs "Oj, Alija nisi više glavni" and "Ponosan što sam Srbin".

After the release of Idemo dalje, Baja would work with his friend Đole on one of the rarest and mysterious releases of the war, "Seobe". With heavy emphasis on the fall of Krajina, Seobe has mostly very sad lyrics, with the exception of a few songs, and also lacks in production quality, reusing instrumentals of previous songs and feels overall rushed.

With the Yugoslav Wars coming to an end, Baja recorded the album "Zbogom oružje". It included songs critical of the war and the politics of the time like "Dejton-Ohajo" and "Za koga sam ratovao".

January 1996 saw the release of "Svrati posle snegova" in a collaboration with Obrad Vukovljak Ogi and mid-1996 the third album of Braća sa Dinare, titled "Plači voljena zemljo". The latter also including songs about the fall of Krajina.

A year later in 1997 Baja released the album "Ne dirajte njega" for Lazarević Produktion and Estrada Shop.

In the same year the fourth Braća sa Dinare album "Ja se svoga, ne odričem do groba" got released by Nina Trejd, carrying on the theme of Krajina and what once was.

1997 also saw the Serbian general elections. Baja was asked by the controversial politician Vojislav Šešelj to produce a cassette with songs dedicated to the Serbian Radical Party. "Srpskim radikalima" released with three songs dedicated to the party, with the rest being reused material from other albums.