The Bajaga Case: Karlovac Bans Performance of Milošević Regime Opponent

I will not go to the ‘Beer Days’ in Karlovac, but I could see and hear Bajaga in Pula. Fortunately, we live in a pluralistic society, so the ban on the concert of Momčilo Bajagić in Karlovac does not apply to the entire country.

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It is legitimate for the organizer to engage an artist that suits them. So why should a Serbian rocker perform in Karlovac, especially when he has already been there twice after the war?

But the mechanism and timing of the ban are interesting. First, the position of the High Misdemeanor Court was announced, stating that any public ‘for the homeland’ is a misdemeanor. Immediately, a response came from the right, a fabrication – today we would call it ‘fake news’ – from the Karlovac veterans’ SUBNOR that Bajaga sang Chetnik songs in Knin in 1993, and therefore should not perform in Karlovac. And the populist government does not care about the facts.

Thus, we have come to one of the greater entertainment-political absurdities. A man who has never said a word against Croatia has become a collateral victim of the right-wing strategy and the persistent equalization of guilt for everything and anything. If Thompson is not allowed to shout ‘for the homeland’ – even though it is tolerated – neither will Bajaga perform.

The Karlovac veteran is not concerned that Momčilo Bajagić was a fierce opponent of Slobodan Milošević. He composed music for the unforgettable film ‘The Professional’ (based on the text by Dušan Kovačević) and is the author and performer of the legendary song from that film ‘Falling Vlada’, dedicated precisely to Milošević’s regime.

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The fact is that Bajaga has performed in Knin and Banja Luka. However, the Karlovac regime is more rigid than the communist one after World War II, which tolerated performances during the Ustaše rule and Beli Krleža, and even Lovro von Matačić and Branko Gavella, who conducted or directed state events in honor of the NDH.

And Bajaga in Pula? It was a beautiful return to the past, a collective nostalgic journey into youth. And that nostalgia, which has nothing to do with Yugonostalgia, cannot be taken away from me by all the ‘guards of the revolution.’