can’t recognise myself in all acts. That’s such a kind of enthusia- sm that it borders on fanatici- sm. When we would go to Škari- ca’s place carrying recordings to the former Jugoton, today’s Cro- atia Records, I’d have a ticket for the train for Zagreb to go home. And that was all. And when they couldn’t accommodate us on that same day, but rather in three days, then we would go to the hallway on the top floor, put car- dboard around our legs and sleep on the doormat at minus 10, mi- nus 15 degrees. That was our ho- tel” – he used these words to des- cribe the start of his career in one interview. And still exuding from Gi- bonni is the sense of obsession for a calling chosen 34 years ago. - In my case, music is psychot- herapy, and the stage is like a pla- ce of asylum where you can move away from all stressful topics. The- re you can spend an evening with the band and the audience, the pe- ople who are most similar to me – both in terms of the way they think and in an emotional sense. We are all asylees from this world. Almost everything about him is known today: that in his songs he sings about events that he him- self experienced, but also about some other people’s experiences; that he has a worldwide audience; that many consider him this regi- on’s best musician; that there is no hall he couldn’t fill... But few know that Gibonni lo- ves film as much as music; that his sons and daughter never seek advice on love from him and that he describes himself in an unu- sual way: “My soul is 15, my he- art is 19, and my brain is 120 years old. I live in chaos, like every typi- cal man”. - At the time of Romeo and Ju- liet, he was 16 and she was 15, and it’s normal that for them everyt- hing was harmonised. At 16 you have the health of a 16-year-old and the brain of a 16-year-old and you fall in love like a 16-year-old. And when you are Mick Jagger, you have the body of a 70-year-old, the fitness of 30-year-old and you fall in love like a 16-year-old. This was given to us by antibiotics... Bi- ologically you live long, but the emotional part is in chaos!
Now go home, play my son- gs and make love – this is what he usually says to the audience at his concerts. This melancholic, romantic Dalmatian in this way got, as he says, at least fourteen children, in addition to his own three. He doesn’t know exactly where his “secret skill” resides, but he does know that in Belgra- de this November he will perform another good concert. And that there will be love, because not- hing in the world makes him as angry as hatred. He is Gibonni. He planned to sing only one night at the Sava Centre, on 11 th November. However, the public rushed to buy tickets and crea- ted such a crowd that Gibonni will also sing at the same venue on both 12 th and 15 th November. - These are extremely intima- te concerts. The hall allows you to talk to people, to look into their eyes, and that’s what is particular- ly satisfying for me. –Apart from Belgrade being
memorable for great concerts, I have fond memories of this city from my bachelor days. I especia- lly remember one street. - Makedoska Street... The edi- torial department of the magazi- ne Rock was once there. The peo- ple who worked there, journalists, photographers, editors, had a gre- at influence on me. I have friend- ly relations with all of them to this day. There were also a few kafana inns in the vicinity of the newsro- om, where rock songwriters, pa- inters and bohemians gathered… That was a diverse social group that you could describe as anyt- hing but boring. Few people know that Gibonni is Zlatan Stipišić. That’s unusu- al, because he was baptised with that name. He was born in Split and joined his first band at 14, as a guitarist. He bought the instru- ment with money he saved from his birthday. After that, no one could sepa- rate him from music. “I’ve been through all sorts; I
Duša mi ima 15 godina, srce 19, a mozak 120 godina. Živim u haosu kao svaki normalan muškarac My soul is 15, my heart is 19, and my brain is 120 years old. I live in chaos, like every typical man
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