SemanaEconómica

Each June, upon arriving to beautiful Dubrovnik by the Adriatic Sea ( Jadransko More in Croatian ) my ritual on the first evening is always the same. I walk from the Hotel Argentina to the walled old town of these former city-state. I enter the walls by the Ploce gate and walk down to the Stradum, the main street, then make a left towards the Cathedral , passed the Rector's house. Siding the Cathedral to the rignt, there is a short street and at the end a Jazz Bar. In summer nights, the street is full of tables and chairs; a crowd of tourists and locals sit down and enjoy the Jazz show of Marko Breskovic’s band as they sip cocktails, wine and beer.                         

When Marko sees me arriving for the first time each June, he greets me aloud :  “Ricardo, welcome back to Dubrovnik”. On the first music break, Marko brings a couple of Karlovarska beers and Cuban cigars , sits down and gives me a colorful update on local developments.

This last June 15^th, it just didn’t happen. Upon reaching Troubadour , Marko was not there. I approached the piano and asked Tony, his oldest son: where is Marko? He replied: “in hospital in Zagreb, his heart exploded, but he is alive”.  I waited for the break, and Nikola, his second son, explained to me that he had a massive heart attack a month earlier and was being treated in Zagreb but the prospects for him to recover were good .                

  I did not go back to Troubadour for the rest of my stay. My pal Boris Vujcic, the Deputy Governor of the National Bank, was not keen on going either. It made us sick to the  stomach not seeing Marko there and not having a chat and a good laugh with him at closing at 1pm . (A couple of policmen usually walk around twice or three times  after midnight to forwarn that the music has to quiet down and eventually be brought to a halt.)

( With my daughter Clara and my son Santiago - both very fond of Marko - sitting at Troubadour listening to Marko's Band) 

 This June I did not see around either our common friend Davor Stern with whom, in recent years I have gathered regurlarly at Troubadour. Davor, a businessman and former government  trade minister, is also an amateur singer and first-class piano player . Whenever at Troubadour , Davor at some point joins the band ; in the picture above , he plays the timbals.

Last Monday I learnt that I will not see Marko again.

Marko was a talented Croatian musician. One of these personalities larger than life. Loyal friend, charismatic, talkative, generous, lively story and anecdote teller with a great sense of humour, and an honest and very forgiving person. I never heard  him make any demeaning remark about anyone,  even about those who  shelled Dubrovnik in 1991 and deserted the place of tourists ( the town's livelihood) for a decade. Marko always had something positive to say about every one.

In his younger years, Marko was a member of the band "Dubrovacki Trubaduri" ( Troubadours of Dubrovnik) ; the most popular music group of Yugoslavia in the 1960s and 70s . The band represented the country at the Eurovision Festival. Their tune "La musica di notte" became Yugoslavia's favorite in the 1970s and  ever since up until now. In fact, after the horrifying bloody disintegration of the country into seven independent states, the song lives on as one of the few symbols of unity. A couple of years ago, I saw the record in a supermarket in Kotor (Montenegro) not far from the Tivat airfield where the jet fighters took off to bomb Dubrovnik.

I met Marko in 1995 through Boro Skegro - then Deputy Prime Minister and the a rchitect of Croatia's impresive economic reforms - and I have seen Marko every June since then in my trips to Dubrovnik for an Economics  Conference . Our friendship grew over the years.

Those days of June 1995, the only guests of Dubrovnik were those of us attending the conference and a legion of displaced refugees that the government had lodged in the local hotels .Tourists could be counted with the fingers of one hand. At nights , Skegro and I used to sit with Marko at Troubadour Café  and talk for hours on the hardships straining the city's population and on the solidarity among the Dubrovnikers during the war.  Marko Skreb and  Bozo Prka joined in a couple of times. On the last day of the conference, the landing field of the airport was shelled by insurgents from the Bosnian enclave of Krajina.This was the bleak picture those days .

 In the late nineties, as security normalized and tourists returned, Marko performed, every night of the summer, with his Jazz Band ( together with sons Tony and Nikola ) at the terrace of his Troubadour Hard Jazz Cafe . The place is one the most charming night spots of the Adriatic coast. Five daily clasics are Sinatra's "Fly me to the moon";  Stevi Wonder's "You are the shunshine of my life";  Jobim's  "La garota de Ipanema" and latin boleros " Cumbachero" and "Besame mucho". 

Yesterday, the news came that Marko had passed away on Sunday. He was 69. My condolences to his family and friends. Marko's character lives on in each of his sons : in Vlaho, the business drive; in Nikola, the personal charm and performing  skills ; and in Tony, the musical talent. I hope they keep united around Marko Breskovic's Hard Jazz Cafe ( as I suggest they rename the place ) and the business continues to prosper to the delight of all of us.

Rest in peace, dear friend, to the sounds of La musica di notte. We will greatly miss your presence but you will live in our memories for many years to come.

  Noćna muzika (La musica di notte) - Usred tišine grada i usnule ljepote  -  Tiha se čuje gitara, "la musica di notte"   -   Ako si pošla spavat, bila ti laka noć   -   Družina našas pjesmom zakantat će ti doć  -  Otvori draga prozor, i slušaj naše no  -  O ljubavi ćemo pjevat "la musica di notte".

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Postdata.

I have received from Borislav Skegro the obituary note convening to the Homage and  Remembrance of Marko Breskovic .The ceremony took place in Zagreb on September 9th , 2010. Below is the text in Croatian :

In memoriam: Marko Brešković (1942. - 2010.)

Komemoracija u povodu smrti Marka Breškovića

Komemoracija u povodu preranog odlaska „Dubrovačkog trubadura" Marka Breškovića održati će se danas 07.09.2010. u Zagrebu, u 12h, u dvorani Hrvatskog društva skladatelja, Berislavićeva 9. Na komemoraciji o Marku govoriti će njegovi dugogodišnji suradnici i prijatelji Đelo Jusić, Tereza Kesovija, Siniša Škarica i Davor Štern.  Pozivamo sve njegove prijatelje i kolege da svojom nazočnošću uveličaju odavanje počasti dragom čovjeku i velikanu hrvatske glazbe, Marku Breškoviću.

Odlazak Marka Breškovića

Tekst: Siniša Škarica

Odlazak Marka Breškovića zapravo je odlazak Dubrovačkih trubadura, ili točnije iluzije da ćemo ikada ponovno vidjeti onu najzapamćeniju, posteurovizijsku postavu Đelo - Luči - Laci - Bobo i - Marko! Dubrovčani su u svojim živopisnim renesansnim kostimima tada već nekoliko godina gradili karijeru izvorne pop atrakcije zahvaljujući autorskom rukopisu svog gitarista i lidera Đela Jusića koji je ingeniozno pomiješao mediteranski vokalni akord, tradicijske zvuke dubrovačkog kraja, barokna intra i code i elektrificirani beat. Tako su "obične ljubavne pjesme" svijetu zazvučale kao egzotičan i nov sound, više od bilo čega što je dolazilo s ovih prostora, a nama danas, s vremenskim odmakom, razvidnije pokazuju kako su nam "Pusti da ti leut svira", "Linđo", "Dalmatinski lero", "Noćna muzika", "Luda mladost" ili "Jedan dan" jednako autentične i važne (ako ne i važnije) himne beata koliko su recimo i one kalifornijske "Surfin' USA", "Help Me Rhonda", "Barbara Ann" ili "Sloop John B.".

Opet, korak prije električarske invazije - jezgro Dubrovačkih trubadura čine Đelo i Marko krajem 50-ih - bliži su tranzicijskom zvuku Kvarteta Marina Marinija nego Beach Boysima ili Beatlesima, s kojima su inače dijelili i svjetske pozornice ili tv  ekrane. Da, ansambl Marina Marinija  koji je zabavljao i same Britance na prijelazu 50-ih u 60-e i imponirao jednom Paulu McCartneyu potaknuo je (pored sličnih napolitanskih zvuka čuvenog Renata Carosonea) nadarenu dubrovačku mladost da osnuju bend i zasviraju "La piu bella del mondo" i "Tutta in rosa". Pa ako je Đelo pokazao skladateljski dar koji će ih proslaviti, Marko je svojim širokim osmijehom bio licem dobrog duha njihove vesele družine koja je često podsjećala i na one bezvremene Držićeve što su mogle živjeti san dubrovačke ljetne noći bilo gdje na kugli zemaljskoj.

Preciznije, koliko je Đelina nota bila ishodište njihova uspjeha, prvi i drugi glas Lučija (Capursa) i Marka, njihove flauta i bas (gitara), bili si audiovizualni amblem grupe. Jer kad se maestro 1972. odlučio posve se posvetiti kompoziciji i pisati za svoju gitaru i za druge: Libertas, Mila Hrnića, Alena Slavicu, svoju kćer Dubravku, Ibricu, Franu Lasića i, naravno, prije svih Terezu, Marko i Luči su nastavili predvoditi Trubadure još čitavo desetljeće slaveći ditiramb na njihov dubrovački način.

A Marko je zapravo ostao i onda kada su se, sada već davno, Trubaduri prestali odazivati magnetskom zovu domaćih i internacionalnih pozornica. On je (p)ostao Trubadur kome su svi mogli doći. Otvorio je vrata svog mitskog kafića šireći osmijeh i toplinu putniku namjerniku. Tu je njegovao onaj trubadurski i, rekao bih, ovovremeni renesansni duh (a ne duh svjetskog glamura, kako je netko ovim tužnim povodom napisao, jer svjetski glamur ne govori o ničem dobrom!). I priču o sretnoj pjesmi. Sretnoj, jer njeni se zvuci čuju, njene se riječi pamte, trajat će i kad nas ne bude. Marin Držić naših dana, gospar Feđa Šehović napisao je upravo povodom izlaska jedne Trubadurske zbirke uspješnica: "na ovom svijetu, a posebice umjetnosti, sve što nije u stanju preživjeti vlastito vrijeme nije zapravo ni postojalo".

Zato, Marko, nismo beznadno tužni. Samo na tren, jer slušat ćemo te i gledati zajedno s ostalima iz klape, na posvećenim televizijskim slikama, na youtubu, CD kolekcijama (od kojih se jedna uzalud ne zove Zlatnom!), danas i sutra, valjda dok je vijeka i svijeta!

    
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