First Concert in Serbia

The band Frajle. Pic from their website.

About a week ago, I had the privilege of seeing the band Frajle in concert in Subotica, Serbia. If you have not heard of this Serbian singing ensemble, then I'm sure you're wondering what in the world "Frajle" means. I asked my Serbian friends the same question, and this is the answer that I got: Frajle is the Serbian pronunciation of the German word "Fraulein" which loosely translates to "young, unmarried woman." Fitting it seems - since the group is made up of four, lovely (unmarried?), Serbian women from the Serbian, university town of Novi Sad.

Technically, it wasn't really my FIRST concert in Serbia considering I saw Lepa Brena belt out a few tunes in Belgrade during a taping of Zvezda Granda. But Mrs. Lepa was a surprise appearance, where as with Frajle, I bought a ticket, dressed up a bit, packed my camera and joined my friends for a night out on the town. 

Pose!

Packed auditorium! Standing room only if you didn't arrive early.

It was a fun and entertaining evening! The girls were incredibly talented and they performed a few covers in English, French, and Spanish along with several Serbian and Croatian hits. The concert opened with a cover of Lady Gaga's Poker Face (click here to see the YouTube performance), and the crowd loved it! They transitioned into a song by Adele and then a clever arrangement of "Hit the Road Jack."

If you watch any Frajle videos on YouTube, you'll get an idea of how animated the girls are, and they are exactly the same way in person. If I thought the crowd enjoyed the songs in English, then I had another thing coming once Frajle started belting out well known Serbian hits. The crowd went wild; jumping out of their seats, flailing their arms all over the place, giving each other hugs and high fives, and dancing in the aisles. I didn't understand most of the songs in Serbian, but I loved the outward display of emotion and familiarity in the people sitting around me. It's a part of the Serbian people that you don't experience simply walking down the streets; here, every stranger became a friend - they were united in their memories of better times. It was as if the 500-person auditorium had morphed into a room full of family and friends. I loved being in the middle of it!

She is the Frajle Diva. 

If you live in Serbia, go see Frajle in person. I think you will really like it. Even if you don't enjoy their music or the covers that they perform, you'll enjoy the lively atmosphere. 

Zvezde Granda - Belgrade, Serbia

 Zvezde Granda - You go Find that Rising Star!

It's not exactly American Idol, but perhaps you could say it's sort of like "Serbia's Village Idol." The show is your typical singing show where contestants perform some variation of pop or pop-folk song, the judges do their judging thing, and then viewer text-votes ultimately determine the destiny of each performer. 

Zvevde Granda literally means "Grand Star" and "Grand Production" is the Serbian record label and production company co-owned by non other than Serbia's own Lepa Brena! 

(Seeing her in concert is on my Serbian "bucket list.")

Another fun-fact-to-know-and-tell is that Sasa Popovic, The Ryan Seacrest character on Zvezde Granda, used to be the accordion player in Lepa Brena's first 80's band. He looks super nerdy, but apparently ol-boy is quite the savvy business man. You go Sasa!

Okay, so why in the world am I giving you an overview of Zvezda Granda? 

Because I was in the crowd last weekend cheering on Subotica's own Daniela Petrik! How is that for a random, blog worthy experience?! It was a blast!

This is Daniela, greeting her fans before the show, and posing for a few pictures. Naturally! 

When Chris and I first moved to Serbia, we were shocked by how stunning ALL of the girls were. They all have long, super blonde or super dark hair, and the stores only sell once size, small and skinny, because they all have to be on the same diet. Did I mention that all of the girls seem incredibly tall?! Legs, legs, legs everywhere you look! Daniela has 6-inch heals on that definitely give her a little extra height, but even if she is not naturally the tallest of the bunch, she is no exception to the Serbian-beauty-queen-stereotype. She has the look that Zvezde Granda is scouting for. Her dress also reminded me of the white swan in the recent Natalie Portman flick, Black Swan. 

The rest of the contestants. 

Daniela flair.

More flair. GO DANIELA!

Darko - thanks for the invite! Ohhhh, and thanks for being Daniela's cousin! 

OMG - LEPA BRENA!

So, I knew that Lepa Brena was co-producer of Zvezde Granda, but I really didn't expect her to show up! I think I screamed the loudest when she walked up to the judging table. Our seats were directly behind her, and the whole time I contemplated greeting her in English . . . after all, she had lived in Florida for 8 years. I didn't do it though, and I am kicking myself for it now. The only people brave enough to ask the Serbian pop idol for her picture where the 10-year-old girls. 

One thing off my Serbian "bucket list."

Daniela's performance. 

Had to take a picture because her outfit was horrendous. I don't care who you are, that is bad!

This is the last picture I took because I thought it was so fitting. In this picture you can see a lot of excited fans cheering for that dark haired beauty, and in the middle, a distinguished elderly couple. They just smiled the whole time. No clapping, no screaming or waving of t-shirts or posters. They just smiled. They reminded me of my grandparents who were honest, gentle, simple, hard working farmers in Canada. 

It looks like the entire village came out to support their little rising star, and baba and deda put on their Sunday best for the occasion. Just thought it was cute.

In the end, Daniela did not pass. Sad. To be quite honest, I did not recognize or even understand any of the songs, so I thought she did as well as any of the other girls. Of course I am a little biased, but it seemed that the judges were slightly biased as well. For instance, that horrendous butterfly outfit received almost the same score from the "stylist judge" that Daniela received for her styling. Does that make any sense to you? Me either.  

Seeing Zvezde Granda live was totally an experience, and although she did not pass, I wish Daniela the best in her future career. Keep singing girl! 

Famous Lepa Brena

". . . . the most popular singer of the former Yugoslavia." - Wikipedia 

Found on Novinite.com - probably a picture from around 2004. 

A month after arriving in Serbia, I remember seeing massive billboards announcing a concert by some short-spiky-haired-blond named Lepa Brena. Then a little later, in October, I heard that this Lepa Brena sold out the Belgrade arena on not one night, but two nights in a row! That means that for two nights, 40,000-ish people were screaming her name and just dying to get their posters signed after the show.  Didn't "lepa" mean "pretty" in Serbian? 

So who was this "Pretty Brena" woman anyway? 

Found on Wikipedia - picture from her 2011 Belgrage show. 

I got really interested in this former Yugoslavian pop-star-sensation, so of course, I went straight to Wikipedia. 
Where else?

According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, Fahreta Jahić Živojinović (her given name), was born in 1960 and by the time she was 22, she released her first album called, Cacak, named after her home city. Her second album title translates to "Mile Likes Disko," and when my friends were trying to explain this pop sensation to me, "Mile Voli Disko" was the first song they had me listen to. Click on the link if you want to hear it for yourself. 

By 1991, she had released 13 albums, become an undisputed sex symbol, traveled through the Balkans performing to sold out audiences, acted in a few movies, and even managed to become a symbol of a united Yugoslavia. She married a Serbian tennis player named Slobodan Živojinović in 1991, and they moved to the States.  In 2000, she released a 14th album that was not very well received; so as a result, she retired for 8 years. Apparently she has a few homes in Florida, an apartment in Monte Carlo, and of course a home in Belgrade, Serbia, so it seemed that her and her family lived a good life in "retirement." Of course there is a lot more to her story, but those are just a few highlights. 

She returned to the music scene in 2008 and has since released two hit albums. She celebrated her 51st birthday by performing two sold out shows in the Belgrade Arena. Those where the shows that got me interested in this 51-year-old-pop-star-sensation.

She has loads of songs that can be found on YouTube, but this song just cracks me up. The translation is most likely skewed, but regardless, the theme of the song is pretty hilarious. 

Lyrics to Uske Pantalone (Tight Pants):

I love her as tight pants
these carry only the prima donna,
I love her as tight pants
these carry only prima donna ...
From alley to alley in the ...
all the sighs of the guys in the ...
What is sweeter than sugar candies,
tight pants, tight pants
what it adorns my white grandmother,
tight pants, tight pants
Guys say I'm fine material
I am girl which is rarely found,
I tell guys that's fine material
that girl as I rarely find ...
From alley to alley in the u. ..
all the sighs of the guys in the ...

Found in a Google search - Has to be from the 80's!

Thanks Balkanmedia.com for letting me use your pic. This is sort of what she looks like now. 

I decided that while I am not a fan of her music style (not to mention I cannot understand a word of it without Google Translate), I wanted to see Lepa Brena in concert before I left Serbia. 

Stay tuned for the next blog!