Bora Drljača

Bora Drljača
Birth name	Borislav Drljača
Born	(1941-08-29)29 August 1941 Donja Suvaja, Independent State of Croatia
Died	11 October 2020(2020-10-11) (aged 79) Belgrade, Serbia
Genres	Novokompovana
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	1967-2020
Labels	PGP-RTB, Jugoton, Diskoton, Jugodisk, Master, Nina Trade, ZaM, Grand

Borislav "Bora" Drljača (Serbian Cyrillic: Борислав "Бора" Дрљача; 29th August 1941-11th October 2020), was one of the most prominent folk singers in the former Yugoslavia. Over the course of his 53-year career, Bora's releases would sell about 5 million copies cumulatively before his passing in 2020. While some of his songs focus on being from Krajina, a majority of his work are love songs.

Early Life

Bora was born in Donji Suvaja, Independent State of Croatia on the 29th of August 1941. His parents were economists and his father owned a shop. In 1943 when Bora was two, his mother was attacked killed by the Ustaša while being held in her arms. His father, now a Partisan and the family would temporarily resettle in Grmeč for the rest of the war. When the war ended, the family's house was destroyed and his father built a hut. He would remarry, though did not save any pictures of Bora's mother.

Bora grew up in poverty and was put in a home. Orphaned as a result of the war, he was on his own and had to walk long distances to get to the local school. The school lacked resources and when Bora was to enroll in the fifth grade, it was cancelled due to a teacher shortage.

In 1958 after finishing primary school, he would go live with his uncle in Bačka Topola. Bora attended an agricultural secondary school where he would excel in his studies. Upon graduating, he would move to Belgrade where he would sing in the army and in clubs while studying agriculture at the University of Belgrade in the agricultural center in Zemun. He would once again excel in his studies, although he never graduated.

Career

During his time at university, Bora auditioned at Radio Belgrade. He was accepted and became a singer instead of finishing school; a decision he never regretted. Bora first released EP records for PGP-RTB. He would achieve mainstream success following the releases of Za ljubav tvoju and Ti si sve što želim which went gold and silver respectively. His fame let him perform for the President of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito. Tito would sing with Drljača and was his hunting partner.

Career during the Yugoslav wars

When the war broke out, Serb broadcast networks refused to play his songs because he was from Bosnia and Bosnian television banned his work because he was of Serb origin. During the war, Bora only made two patriotic albums of which only 13 songs are patriotic. The 1993 album Nedam Krajine features a cover of the Baja Mali Knindža song, "Ne dam Krajine" and the 1994 album Krajino Krajino features a cover of "Krajino, krvava haljino".

In 1995, Bora would perform another Baja song, "Nema raja bez rodnog kraja". While he was not the first to perform the song, his rendition would become the most popular version.

Post-war activity

In 1996, Bora released his only studio album published by Nina Trejd, Krajišnik sam ja. He would receive an award from Nina Trejd CEO Željko Grujić at Hala Borik Banja Luka for the album the following year.

In 1998, he would try to get another album published by PGP RTS. When presenting a song for this potential album, however, the executives were uninterested. The self-titled album would be released under ZaM and the song which was also written by Baja, "Plači mala, plači" would become the biggest hit in Bora's 53-year career.

Death and legacy

On 11 October 2020, Bora Drljača would pass away from colon cancer at the age of 79. The funeral was attended by prominent folk figures like Baja Mali Knindža, Goca Lazarević, and Stanojka "Ćana" Mitrović. He would have a prolific career producing 26 albums and performing in parts of Western Europe, Australia, America, and to the Serbian diaspora around the world.

Discography

Many albums are self-titled. They are generally distinguished by the name of the first track.

• Borislav Drljača (Verenica) (1973)
• Borislav Drljača (Za ljubav tvoju) (1974)
• Krajišnici, gde ćemo na prelo(1975)
• Borislav Drljača i ansambl Toše Elezovića (1975)
• Ti si sve što želim (1976)
• Borislav Drljača (Pjevaj mi, pjevaj sokole) (1978)
• Bora Drljača (Još uvek te volim) (1981)
• Jugosloven (1982)
• Nas dvoje veže ljubav (1984)
• Čovjek sam iz naroda (1985)
• Pjevaj, srce (1986)
• Teraj mala ovce preko brega (1987)
• Alal vera, majstore (1988)
• Ko će da te čuva (1989)
• Ko te uze, zlato moje (1990)
• Ja sam čovek za tebe (1991)
• Nedam Krajine (1993)
• Krajino Krajino (1994)
• Nema raja bez svog zavičaja (1995)
• Krajišnik sam ja (1996)
• Bora Drljača (Sine, sine) (1998)
• Rača 2 (1999)
• Car ostaje car (2002)
• Stari vuk (2004)
• Bora Drljača (Brbljivica) (2007)
• Idem dalje, ne odustajem (2010)