Porin: The Music Award Stuck in Time and Space

Young Osijek singer-songwriter Mia Dimšić dominated the 25th Porin Awards on Friday, winning as many as six awards, including the most important ones for Album and Song of the Year. Unfortunately, this is also the only thing that the largest Croatian music award has managed to retain in the present, considering that there is not much difference between this year’s list of winners and that from around 1997 or 1998.

Just like twenty years ago, the veterans from Parnog valjak had a solid “harvest”, winning in the category of concert album (“Live in Pula”), production, and the farthest most nonsensical category where the best group performance with vocals is declared.

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Željko Bebek also had reasons to be satisfied (entertainment music album, vocal collaboration of the year for the duet with Oliver Dragojević), and the feeling that, while watching Porin, you find yourself in some bizarre version of the legendary comedy “Groundhog Day” was rounded off by the selection of the group Fluentes as the new performer despite the fact that they were founded 14 years ago, even much earlier considering they originated from the group Nova, active since the mid-nineties. I believe that even the members of Mayales do not consider their “Symbol for the Sun” a rock album, while the geniuses from Chui and their fantastic collaboration with the HRT Jazz Orchestra had to settle for an award in the jazz category, where, to be honest, they did not even have real competition.

As for the star of the evening, I really have nothing against her pop for the youngest, but to declare the song “Bezimeni” and the album “Život nije siv” as the highlights of Croatian music in 2017 can only be done by someone who hardly follows music at all.

This brings us to the biggest problem faced by, for lack of a better word, the urban branch of our scene, especially when it comes to performers who do not release for the largest record labels. Thanks to the complete neglect of mainstream media and insufficient reach of specialized music portals, among casual listeners, which evidently includes the voters at Porin, the impression is created that rock, electronic, hip-hop, and all other “alternative” subgenres in Croatia have long ceased to exist. This could not be further from the truth as at least a dozen exceptional albums by bands were released through various channels and formats last year, which were neither mentioned in the Spaladium Arena in Split nor in the preparations and announcements of the awards. Despite the fact that some of them easily fill spaces the size of Tvornica, sometimes even the small halls of the Sports Hall.

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Among the musical performances, it is worth highlighting the beautifully executed title song of the Mayales album and the fantastic session of Chui first with the orchestra, and then with Josipa Lisac, but the most emotional moment of the entire story was certainly the appearance of the seriously ill Oliver Dragojević who thanked via video wall for the Porin for lifetime achievement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6LM7wRrXeE

In the end, it seems that unlike all of us who follow it, Porin will never age, but will forever declare the same bands as winners in the same categories, completely unaware of the real state of Croatian music.