Zbogom oružje

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Zbogom oružje (Serbian Cyrillic: Збогом оружје, lit. "Farewell to Arms") is the tenth studio album by Baja Mali Knindža, released late 1995, by SuperTon. At the time of its release, war in Croatia was over, and the Bosnian war had just ended. Baja would not make another war album until 1999 with "Biti il' ne biti" about the Kosovo war.

Збогом оружје
Zbogomoružje-j-card-front-RA20K.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedDecember 1995 (1995-12)
GenreNovokompovana
Length24:51
LabelSuperTon
ProducerЦветин Тодоровић
Баја Мали Книнџа chronology
Идемо даље
(1995)
Збогом оружје
(1995)
Ne dirajte njega
(1997)

The album itself is a commentary on the end of the war with direct mentions of the Dayton Accords and the fate of Krajina.

Background

In late August of 1995, after Sarajevo was attacked, American diplomat Richard Holbrooke would attempt to get all parties in Geneva for peace negotiations. After a successful attempt at getting a signed agreement of a ceasefire the following month, he, along with other international officials would host a peace conference on the 1st of November to finalize negotiations and end the war. While talks were finished on the 22nd of November, the agreement, formally titled the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, would be finalized on December 14th in Paris, France. It would be referred to as the Dayton Accords or the Dayton Agreement since the conference and the agreement took place at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.[1]

The title track, "Zbogom oružje" would be dedicated to Jovo Kalaba, who gave Baja moral support during the development of Još se ništa ne zna two years prior. The album would have a folk version of the Vatreni Poljubac song "Iz inata",[2] reworked to better fit Baja's style and the subject matter of the album and is a duet with another folk singer, Srećko Ćosić. Srećko would also provide the backing vocals in the album. While the song "Za koga sam ratovao" would have the music credits to "traditional", the tune would be from the Halid Bešlić song, "Dosta mi je tužne muzike".[3] It is unknown if there is any significance behind the use of the tune or not. Bora Čorba would work once more with Baja on the song "Ne stavljaj me so na ranu". Baja's alias in this album, "Mali Baja", omits the "Knindža" part of his moniker which is an indirect reference to the Kninja unit (to which he got his name from) effectively being dissolved as a result of the end of the war.

Release

Zbogom oružje was released late 1995, by SuperTon. While the exact date is unknown, it is one of the last albums released for that year. With mention of the peace accords with the song title "Dejton - Ohajo" and the first line of the song being "In November, '95", development of the album could have started as early as late November, when the Accords were finalized, but not yet signed or late December, some time after the 14th when the Accords were finalized and implementation of the agreement began. Furthermore, there is a performance of singer Goran Legenda covering the title track live with the recording dated as the 27th of December. Despite the relatively small time frame for development of the album, a lot of effort was put into the production with the cover and the tape labels being unique. It is also notable for the lack of filler songs with the exception of the song "Iz inata". While both his previous album and this album, Idemo dalje and Zbogom oružje respectively, are both reactionary in their contents, the ladder gives an overall impression of a passion project.

The title track would be featured in the 1998 compilation The Best Off and "Ne stavljaj me so na ranu" would be performed live in 2018.[4] In 2015, the official SuperTon YouTube channel would upload the album's songs individual albeit in poor quality and a few years later in 2021 would be reuploaded. Despite added noise reduction, the upload itself features slightly compressed vocals and slight variances in quality across the entire album, suggesting that either the master is damaged or lost. Both uploads would cut off the last few seconds of "Kraj rata" for unknown reasons.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Баја; all music is composed by Баја except where noted; all arrangements done by Жељко Јовановић.

Side A
No.TitleMusicLength
1."Жбогом оружје" 3:03
2."Дејтон - Охајо" 3:23
3."Мапе" 3:25
4."Из ината"Милић Вукашиновић2:32
Side B
No.TitleMusicLength
1."За кога сам ратовао"Традиционал3:30
2."Крај рата" 2:51
3."Не стављај ми со на рану"Бора Чорба3:15
4."Ја и народ" 2:55
Total length:24:51

Personnel

Writing

  • Мали Баја/Баја- музика и текст
  • Жељко Јовановић- аранжмани
  • Милић Вукашиновић- музика (А4)
  • Срећко Ћосић/Среле- пратећи вокали, и дует "Из ината"

Production

  • Муња- фото
  • Мерлина- избор фотке
  • Дејан- извршни продуцент
  • Цветин Тодоровић- продуцент, директор, главни и одговорни уредник
  • "Елко-принт" - Београд- Опрема и штампа
  • "Супертон"-Београд - Студио

Miscellaneous

ПЕСМА "ЗБОГОМ ОРУЖЈЕ" ПОСВЕЋЕНА ЛЕГЕНДИ ЈОВИ КАЛАБИ

МОРАЛНА ПОДРШКА • ЈОВИЦА, МИЋКО, НОВО, ЛАЗО, БАТАН, ОГИ, ТАСА, ДРАГИЦА, ДРАГАН И МЕРИ

Tape Variants

First SuperTon release
Notes:
  • First release
  • Purple labels
  • Good audio quality

References

  1. Dayton Accords. Encyclopedia Britannica. 12 September 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  2. iz Inata. Vatreni Poljubac - Topic. 30 March 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  3. Halid Beslic - Dosta mi je tuzne muzike - (Audio 1988). Halid Beslic. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  4. Baja Mali Knindza - Ne stavljaj mi so na ranu - (LIVE) - (Krajisnik 2018). BMK Official Channel. 15 December 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2023.