you feel the best? Feeling the best is not determined by a place. It is more about the openness or closed nature of attention which requires both effort and happiness. Women and the feelings they pro- voke appear as a theme in many of your songs. How do you view the is- sue of gender equality – do you con- sider women as the gentler, weak- er, more beautiful sex? What do you think is the role of women in contem- porary society? Women and men have the same signif- icance, but their roles in work, family and posterity are different. In our circle of civilisa- tion, women have struggled for equal rights and opportunities in traditionally male ac- tivities, such as the judiciary, sciences, poli- ticsorgovernment.That’sgoodforeveryone when it’s done well. But men and women are there to complement each other, not to equalise. For that it is necessary for each of them to cultivate their specificity, with equal respect. In the name of the Eros, the source of life. You play with a lot of young musi- cians. How do you feel in their com- pany? What is your professional and life advice to them from the perspec- tive of someone who has endured on the scene? In the band Apocalypso Now, four members are younger than thirty, or some- where thereabouts. It’s great for me to be in their company, but not because they are young, rather because they are great peo- ple, and that isn’t spoiled by their youth. On the contrary. I don’t offer them advice, be- cause we are in a similar position of taking on challenges and being fascinated with music and muses. This can simultaneous- ly be interpreted as advice, because when dealing with music and poetry there is a search for wonder. What advice have you given to your son? Not to take things for granted, but rath- er to constantly reexamine them in search of the truth. And to listen to his conscience. In one of your newer songs you deal with the topic of aging. How do you handle the years? Is it possible to age with dignity? How do you see yourself in that perspective? I’m in good shape, so aging still doesn’t bother me. I somehow have the feeling that it hasn’t been written that I will have a long, slow demise. In these times of scattered families, that’s really not easy. And, finally, how do you know when you’ve made a good song? When my body starts moving, my heart opens and my mind awakens.
It is not about the environment but about the mystery of life that is in the en- vironment. When I momentarily move away from the hypnosis of everyday life, I feel awe and gratitude towards the whole of which I am part. My own unconscious terrifies me first, then the brutal and me- chanical attitude of people towards oth- er beings, which automatically translates to relationships between people. The industrial production of food through the destruction of forests, and the massive breeding of animals, especially coes for dairy and meat, which has a significant im- pact on increasing the greenhouse effect and climate change, destroying the balance of in- terconnected relations between plants, ani- mals,soilandclimate.Theseunconscious,nar- row-minded and blind actions lead to a series of natural disasters (desertification, drought, floods, sea-level rises) and thus social catastro- phes (hunger, migration, wars, epidemics). And we don’t even need to mention rela- tions towards these animals and the condi- tions in which they live and die. Mass con- sumer culture is a camouflaged variation of the same principle. The hill of garbage, made of unnecessary plastic packaging, fossil fu- els and industrial production, a load of un- necessary things that exhaust raw materials andconsumeenormousamountsofenergy. Then you have to talk about the waste dispos- al and the automation that separates peo- ple from work... not to list anything further, they are part of our gallop towards self-de- struction. How can we not talk about them? The creation of music stems from com- passion for the theme, other musicians and the audience, so both engagements come from the same source. You often say that it is not neces- sary to change the system, rather to change the way of life. Does that still apply? What does that look like in your practise? It’s applicable. It seems difficult and scary to change habits, but if that change brings satisfaction, it’s easier. Sanda [Darko’s wife] bakes bread from organic flour every day, a good portion of the vegetables we eat comes from our garden, while the rest is from organic producers who we often know, and we haven’t eaten meat for years. We don’t use plastic bags and, as much as possible, we avoid packaging, plastic bot- tles and the like. Organic waste goes into the compost – in Paris it goes into a collec- tive composting pile, and in Zagreb there’s a box that we use for this purpose in front of the house, while in Brač there’s a worm farm with California worms in the garden... After years of living on the road be- tween Zagreb, Paris and Brač, where is your place under the sun; where do
Znam da sam napisao dobru pesmu ako mi ona pokreće telo, otvara srce i razbuđuje um I know I’ve made a good song when my body starts moving, my heart
A merry time of anxiety, fear, mass hypno- sis and madness. The end of the second phase and the re- alisation of the album fell into the post-apoc- alyptic period when we questioned what was really real and worth living for when all the masks and beliefs fell away. This sec- ond period is similar to today’s, but the view into the abyss back then was more direct, and the reexamination was somehow more important existentially, tougher. Today, the internet, social networks and smartphones dull the edges of anger and joy. The body is separate. Only a confused head wonders. Today I’m afraid that climate change will cause the mass migration of people, the silent rule of the majority, and the immi- nent collapse of the system, with the wars and destruction that go along with that. I am made playful by the rhythm, beauty, humour and intimacy that are there even when we do not recognise them. You devote increasingly more time to social engagement and various pro- jects for the preservation of the en- vironment. How did it come to that? Does that also inspire you to create music?
opens and my mind awakens
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