"Odlazi Cirkus" (Side A) - An American's Guide to Balašević Part 6

[@DJORDJEBALASEVICOFFICIAL]

Bravo ♥️

[@BoraZivkovic]

My impression when the Vasa Ladacki song came out, and still today, is that Vasa's family was actually quite poor. It is Vojvodina - the "bread basket of Europe" - where everyone at least has plenty of food as it is so easy to grow. Remember the ham and bacon from Snasa song? Food is everywhere. Yet, they only had a couple of acres of land and, on the table, just enough bread for seven hungry mouths. This hints at quite dire poverty for that region. So in a way, Vasa was trying to escape the poverty and dreamed of being rich, although he didn't really have a good idea what that entails, and what rich people need to know in order to manage their properties. As a horse person (back then and now), I always noticed something specific about Vasa's list of wishes. People who love horses want to have horses, of course. But in the horse world, people who choose horses to buy according to their color are looked at as ignorant and superficial. "Never buy a horse for his color!" You need to look for other attributes - conformation, movement, soundness, temperament, athletic ability etc, and never color. Yet Vasa dreams of BLACK horses playing in the fields, and a fancy black carriage pulled by WHITE horses. This also shows Vasa's superficiality in his dreams - looking just for symbols of wealth, not anything guided by actual knowledge or need. He was too poor to actually know anything about horses, he just knew that rich people have them, and they look pretty. That is another indication he grew up in utmost poverty. As much as he uses archaic or local words or pronounciations (e..g, voles for volis), I would, back when I sang his songs at parties, do it even more. For example I'd say 'sat sa zlatnim lancOm' instead of lancEm. BTW, one of the few things that I inherited from my father, and what he in turn inherited from his father, is a pocket watch with a gold chain. Definitely a symbol of wealth. Nadri-kriticar is the equivalent of and probably invented by Balasevic out of the word nadri-lekar. Quack-doctor becomes a quack-critic. Doe is also a shy, easily frightened animal that will quickly run away when seen by a human. A flighty animal. That fits best with his use of the word in the lyrics. Looking forward to side B and your view of Mirka, who many dismiss as silly and superficial yet is incredibly multi-layered and sophisticated, uniting many of the themes of this album, and his opus as a whole.

[@biserkasertic1208]

Very good comment! I agree with your oppinion about "Mirka" 👍

[@BoraZivkovic]

I think that overpopulation of deer in North America due to the extermination of natural predators (wolves, mountain lions) and the generally negative view on hunting, has made Americans very likely to see deer and does quite frequently on the roads. So they may not think of them as shy. But they are, very much so. Balasevic mentions the animal in a couple of other songs, e.g., : "K'o srna me je gledala" (she looked at me like a doe) indicates she was frozen in fear, or at least momentarily paralyzed weighing her options ('deer in the headlights' is the English phrase related to this). "Oni ce smelo poci u sumu crnu, sami na krvolocnu srnu" (they will bravely go into the black forest, alone against the bloodthirsty doe), was a satire - there is no more fearful animal than a doe.

[@BoraZivkovic]

Now go back to your very first video, about Pub. Remember how you kinda dissed Lepa Protina Kci? Now think of it in this Romantic frame... the one true love, soulmate, when unrequited leads to becoming a rambling, wandering, drinking, ageing sadness, etc....and why it is one of his most loved songs...

[@biserkasertic1208]

Vasa Ladački wasn't destroyed by his dream, but by the inner conflict between desire to be a wealthy man, and to spent his life with his true love who was a poor girl.He reggrets his decision to be in the luxury marriage with a woman he doesn't love, and this leads him to become hopeless alcoholic and finally dies in the pub with his last words:"It's all in vain (horses, fuitfull lands etc) when I'm not with one I rully love..." This song is not personall, it's universal message with some Faust motive in the background.

[@BoraZivkovic]

How about a controversial counter-hypothesis - that people from the Balkans actually are romantics and that they loved Balasevic songs because they understood them as romantic songs, not as critiques of romanticism? Yes, we were kids and teenagers, falling in love really strongly and not being able to imagine that anyone else is a possible mate. His songs talked to us straight, not as subtle criticism or mocking of romanticism. Also, this part of the world has been flattened many many times by big powers, from the Roman empire to Russia, Ottoman empire, Austro-Hungary, Germany....there were wars in which huge proportion of the population was killed. In WWI the entire male population walked out of Serbia, over Albanian mountains to Greece, island of Korfu, to recover, get clothed, armed and trained by the French, then walked back north, pushing the Austro-Hungarians out, liberating countries that eventually became parts of Yugoslavia (Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia) - they got all the way to Vienna. Then they came home heroes. They spent the rest of their lives drinking and talking about their war triumphs, drowning their PTSD in wine and beer and slivovitz. In the meantime, while they were gone for a few years, the country - local government, farms, institutions, families - were all run by women. When the men came back and spent their lives in taverns celebrating their heroism, women continued running things. To this day, there is a kind of parallel patriarchy and matriarchy in Serbia. Loudmouths are shouting from TVs as big bosses, but they are all scared of their wives at home, the strong women who actually run things and are perfectly capable of saying No as an answer. All of this just to say that there is a sort of fatalism there, leading to a lot of real romanticism among the people, real belief in "one true love", and fighting against reality. I wish some Serbian anthropologists would chime in here....

[@mookie_fan_84]

I’m with you on this, I think Balasevic’s success is mostly due to the more surface level understanding of his lyrics by the audience. Having generations grow up under threat of death and destruction doesn’t leave much time for a people/culture to emotionally mature.

[@professorskye]

Very interesting hypothesis. I see that my co-writer and wife agrees. 😀

[@LiveInZombietown]

It's Balašević time again 👍❤️

[@anelkokozaric6333]

As a longtime fan of Đorđe, I have never even thought about looking at "Odlazi Cirkus" through the lense of Romanticism (the literary sense, not romantic love stuff) and that's frankly a brilliant observation that I don't think I would ever have made on my own. I think that might be due to the language barrier - that is - I don't conciously think about the deeper meaning of Balašević's lyrics, only the baseline and also enjoy the instrumental part of his music. Whilst you can take a step back after listening to him and take a closer look at the underlining themes of each album and neutrally analyse each one. Another job well-done Skye and can't wait for the B side.

[@daliborperkovic3918]

Great video, great analysis, but I'm afraid you missed the ball completely on the "romanticism cautionary tale" bit. I'm pretty sure Balašević doesn't "warn" of the dangers of being a romanticist nor the characters in his songs succumb to their fate because of their choice of succumbing to the romanticist ideals. Hell, Vasa Ladački himself goes down because he did NOT give in to the ideal of perfect love, because he made a rational, not a romantic decision. Actually, all Balašević's stories are about people not consciously deciding to go one way or another, but either because not being able to fight their urges or simply because they were put into a situation they can not escape. You should view this much more through the prism of Russian literature (that is very often referred to in Balašević's songs) that tells stories about the suffering and the tragedy of life in itself, whether we make good or bad decisions or we make them at all. Instead, you seem to be looking at this from the anglo-american protestant view where the main idea is living a fulfilling and productive life, coming to an intelectual satisfaction, while the Balkan/Slavic way is fulfilling your wishes and coming to an emotional satisfaction. As always, true happiness lies somewhere in between, with Balašević's characters being unable to find this middle ground. But other than that, a great on-depth analysis of the motifs and characters. Eagerly awaiting for more :)

[@vorinac]

A movie that Balašević made is actually about a story behind the song. Like the real life story (which is neither tragic or sad) vs romanticism in the lyrics. It is worth watching if you ever get a chance. Keep up the great work, love your videos!

[@lestry7878]

Wow, I'm actually learning Serbian right now so I'll check out this whole guide. Haven't heard of this artist so I'll gladly learn more about him. Hvala puno!

[@professorskye]

He is probably the most important single artist you could study to appreciate Serbian culture. Check out my other videos on other Yugoslavian rock for other good points of reference.

[@lestry7878]

​@@professorskye Some of my best friends are Serbian and since I'm Polish, the culture in not so foreign to me but for some reason I've never been able to really get into the music. I listen to some Serbian rap and recently I discovered Partybrejkers, but other than that there isn't much that I'm familiar with. I appreciate your answer and your recommendation. I'll check all of it out :)

[@MacakPodSIjemom]

@@lestry7878 Well, if you are into Serbian language and culture, then you should know that Balašević is surely among 5 most appreciated pop-music artists, although it is hard to put him exactly in a single genre. Because he was a poet, a composer, a singer, a writer... His lyrics are really unique, and you could do much worse than engaging in his art as a student of Serbian.

[@lestry7878]

@@MacakPodSIjemom Hvala puno. Cu slusati njegovu muziku skoro :) Nadam se da cu nauciti puno novih reci :P

[@MacakPodSIjemom]

@@lestry7878 Ispravka: slušaću (ili "ja ću slušati") njegovu muziku uskoro. The best way you could do is to watch Professor Skye's videos about Balašević's albums, and you can find his music on his official channel: kzbin.info/door/VKLEYQN_Zq7r65hZVxz0bQ

[@ThePanchofar]

so amazed by accent from your wife, in 99,99% of cases i can tell if someone speaking english is from ex yug but i wouldnt be able to do it in this case. great work btw, keep discovering djole, you are in for a treat

[@natasagajic1061]

Oh, it's that time of the year again! 🥰 This was such a joy to watch! 🥰 And while it's gonna take a while, I'm looking forward to hearing your breakdowns of some of my favorite songs that have the most powerful lyrics that I have ever heard, like "Sale Nadj" and "Ljubav ne pobedjuje"

[@sarabrenko5943]

Damn, that's a good line "he's free, but he's free from happiness" This gets the gist of it

[@matthewbrown7572]

Hey, you put a graphic in your video. Nice. Great discussion of Romanticism. Oh, you put lots of graphics and cuts in your video. I like it. Is this a change in direction ? Ah, Casper David Friedrich. I must admit, one of my favorite 19th century painters.Romantic , but also the first modernist landscape painter.Really enjoyed this video.The content and commentary where real good and I think the edits helped keep it interesting even though it was one of your longest.

[@professorskye]

No, not a new direction, just for occasional videos like this with larger scope. To edit and to enhance the videos would drastically change the nature of the show.

[@matthewbrown7572]

@@professorskye That makes sense.It works well in this context.Keep up the great work. Happy Holidays to you and your family.

[@nevenamaksimovic647]

Dear Professor Sky! I'm thrilled by your analysis of his songs, again! You do understand Balašević's music and lyrics more than most of the natives. Thank you so much for this video. And please, say hi to your wife for me. I envy her so much ❤

[@alenrahmanovic7506]

Wow i never look on this album from that perspective of "romance" and "realizam".You really did open something for me...and made me think about it.Thanks. Greetings for you and Pozdrav for your wife!♥️

[@majabkelly]

I love this so much! I COMPLETELY agree with your wife. Vasa Ladacki isn't one of my favorites either! As a hard-core Balasevic fan there are MANY other songs that are so much more important to me :D Happy New Year to you both!

[@Cijevni1]

We are waiting for part 7 professor Skye :) Also, please please please watch and review some of the live concetrs that are on the KZbin... For example on the official site there is concert in SNP on 25.1.2005.! I would love to hear your toughts about it because the music is much different/more modern vs what is on this old albums :) perfection for ears if you ask me :)

[@MacakPodSIjemom]

15:20 - those background guitar tones, in my opinion, are meant to imitate the style of cimbalom, a very characteristic instrument for Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. The style had significant impact in Vojvodina's romantic "old-town" songs. This is one of his typical Vojvodina songs, where he gives stories, themes and atmosphere of old Vojvodina, before WWII or even before WWI. Even the name of the guy "Vasa Ladački" is 100% Vojvodinian, intently. About Vasa's romantic dream, well, no. His "dream", is not his dream. It is just a common list of things from that period of history that everybody would list as a mark of his richness. So, he basically wanted to be rich, that was beyond love for him, at the beginning. Only later he understood that he made the wrong choice between wealth and love. And, of course, it was too late then, because at that time there was no divorce (not easily), and his first love was very possibly already married. I think that's one of the reasons B. likes to put stories like this in old eras, when things were more straightforward, and you could hardly correct your mistakes. 50:00 - I totally agree, this song had to be on this album, it fits perfectly with the whole atmosphere. And, "pučina" is wide, open see, where you can't see anything but sea around. It is the line were sky meats the sea only if you watch it from the shore, then you can say "I look at the "pučina"". I'll just copy my attempt at translating this song that I posted on your previous video: Life is an ocean, deep blue sea, which takes down those that sail . My heart is not a frightened deer, and the high sea doesn't scare me. Waves are crushing me, streams trying to take me, tide takes the happiness, and comes back with the sorrow, the sky lashes me with a thunder whip, but I'm still there, and I'm still big. Old days' sorrows come to frighten me in the dawn, dim memories, like a dream or a lie, I still hope, I still struggle, but hands that pull me down are stronger and stronger. Maybe, some day, a woman the one with silky thighs that offers me her hands, will give a new wind to my sails, and carry me to the next harbor and another woman. Life is an ocean... 57:00 - we have separate word for hands (šake) and foot (stopalo), but in common phrases and idioms where you say "hand" or "foot" - we say "arm" (ruka) or "leg" (noga). You say "šaka" or "stopalo" only if you want to specify that you mean exactly about those parts. For example, we say "pružiti ruku" - give hand, "upucao sam se u nogu" - "I shot myself in the foot" - but if you are asked "where exactly?" - gde tačno? than you can say "u stopalo" - in the feet.

[@sarabrenko5943]

I think you might at times overthink how complicated our language is. Doe is an animal that is a prey to many predators, so in this context she exemplifies someone who is afraid. In english you'd maybe say "a fearful mouse". There are some shades of difference where mouse also means being small and afraid, and doe has the fragility your wife mentioned, but it's basically a similar thing. I didn't know that English speakers would be so surprised by this metaphor

[@sarabrenko5943]

Vasa's whole problem was that he chose wealth over the woman he loved, which is the opposite of your theory about romanticism. He chose not to be romantic, but to be a realist and he "lost his soul" in the process. It is true not much is said about the woman he loved (except that she was beautiful and poor), but that is because it was beside the point. He didn't fall in love with her during the song like you suggest, he was already loving her when the song started so it was a part of the status quo. It wasn't a new element that happened. The song was about his decision to leave her and his past to become rich. I also don't see the quest for money as a romantic quest - the things he wanted aren't foolish or lofty, they are manifestation of wealth to someone who is a farmer in that time (property, horses, vineyards) , and he gets them in a very pragmatic way through a marriage. I think they sound lofty to you today but these things were the symbols of wealth for the place and time he is describing (like if today he said he got a penthouse in the city, a Tesla in a garage and stocks...) . He might show some ignorance or superficiality in a way he goes about them, e.g. the black horses playing in the meadow... but that is because he never had these things, he doesn't know more than that superficial idea at that point. And he got them in the least "romantic" way, without any personal ambition or quest, he just married into them. He abandoned romance for material goods, and it sucked. The line you didn't like is "you love once in your life, whether they are rich or poor is not the choice the mind makes, but the heart" . I actually like the idea behind loving once in your life when taken with more nuance but I won't get into that now, but by leaving the middle part of the line you missed that the point was more "you love who you love, and sometimes that person isn't the key to the life you want to lead", basically, love is not a practical decision, a choice to make to further your other goals. You love a person, it is it's own goal.

[@theimpaler5034]

He is a legend around Vojvodina and rest of serbia

[@ilijavujanovic5742]

Bravo profesore..Balasevic grejtist of ol tajm Forevr😊

[@mtlmns8167]

Thank you so much for another great video! In the "Mojoj mami" video you had mentioned that a special announcement about Balasevic would be coming, but I seem to have missed it? Any clarification would be great!

[@professorskye]

Soon!

[@mtlmns8167]

@@professorskye Merci! Looking forward to it.

[@mtlmns8167]

When are we getting side B, please? 🙏

[@daliborperkovic3918]

Dude! Where's Side B?

[@biserkasertic1208]

Guitarist on the picture is not Josip Boček, but Vedran Božić.Balašević recorded "Priča o Vasi Ladačkom" (Story of Vasa Ladacky) one more time on the album "Kao rani mraz" after 2000.This version is in my oppinion even more epic.

[@professorskye]

Oh no! That is embarrassing. I'll pin this comment so that other people know that I was mistaken! *Edit* I'll put it in the description.

[@biserkasertic1208]

@@professorskye Only when you first time spoke of Boček.Later pictures are correct.

[@sasas5193]

Hand = šaka, Arm = ruka 😊

[@markopetrovic3491]

Pozdrav iz Bora!☺

[@MathTravels]

I googled "bovarizam" and we actually have this term: " bijeg od stvarnosti, karakteristično nezadovoljstvo vlastitim stanjem u mladih žena kao i želja za nečim što prelazi njihove mogućnosti"-- slghtly sexist definition (from Hrvatski Jezicni Portal- but it is also on Serbian portals).

[@stanojevicpedja]

" Остаће округли траг на месту шатре... "

[@karasu9]

Your wife seems cool, Skye

[@pompombuuum3182]

"Rani miraz"... 😆

[@daliborperkovic3918]

Oh, another note on pronunciation. I don't know what's with you Americans when you can't pronounce simple names such as "Hrvoje" or "Škrljevo", but it becomes very simple if you split it into syllables. Ladački: La-dač-ki.

[@DarkoMilo]

D-mol the best!??!