Ambasadori (The Ambassadors) were a Yugoslav schlager pop band from Sarajevo, active from 1968 until 1980.
The band is most notable for their 1975 hit single , as well as for representing Yugoslavia at the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with "Ne mogu skriti svoju bol"âÂÂboth times with on vocals. They are further notable for the 1977 hit single "DoÃÂi u pet do pet", this time with Jasna Gospiàas the vocalist. Additionally, the band gained retroactive notability for having two of their lead singersâÂÂZdravko ÃÂolià(sang with the band from 1969 until 1971) and Hari Vareà ¡anovià(from 1979 until 1980)âÂÂlater go on to Yugoslav pop stardom in their respective solo careers.
Ambasadori were founded in Sarajevo in 1968 by two military brass band musiciansâÂÂkeyboardist Robert Ivanoviàand trombonist SrÃÂan StefanoviÃÂâÂÂboth holding military rank as active officers of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). In fact, Ivanoviàhad arrived in Sarajevo shortly prior via being reassigned (prekomanda) from a JNA unit in Belgrade. At the time of the band's launch, both Ivanoviàand Stefanoviàwere additionally participating in the Sarajevo military orchestra.
They soon brought in guitarist , a Fojnica-born and Sarajevo-raised hobbyist musician who had simultaneously been pursuing mechanical engineering studies at the University of Sarajevo. In-between his university obligations, VujoviÃÂ often hung around Dom Milicije (Police House) that provided free on-site instruments for the musically-inclined youth, which is where IvanoviÃÂ and StefanoviÃÂ met him and got him to join their group.
Ambasadori obtained their first instruments and sound equipment by purchasing them from a travelling Bulgarian ensemble that had been performing at Sarajevo's Hotel Evropa. Still mostly a cover band at this stage, their repertoire centered around the 1960s rhythm & blues covers (Chicago, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, etc.) along with more covers of obligatory Yugoslav hits of the day and years past, and finally even a few original numbers written by the band members thrown into the mix.
Their very first performance took place in May 1969 in Sarajevo's Dom JNA (Yugoslav People's Army House) with local singer Miroslav Balta on vocals.
Soon after their debut performance, eighteen-year-old Zdravko ÃÂoliàjoined Ambasadori as their new vocalist. Though he had already been singing with the local band Mladi i lijepi, the fresh high school graduate saw Ambasadori as more established, auditioning for them at Dom JNA by performing Wilson Pickett's "Deborah". Keyboardist Ivanoviàreportedly hired the teenager mid-song as soon as he completed the chorus line. Impressed with ÃÂoliÃÂ's vocal range, clean intonation, and the overall ease of singing, the band decided to immediately start looking for as many live performance opportunities as possible. With young ÃÂoliàon vocals, Vujoviàon guitar, Ivanoviàon keyboards, Ivica SindiÃÂiàon saxophone, SrÃÂan Stefanoviàon trombone, Slobodan Jerkoviàon bass guitar, Vlatko Ankoviàon trumpet, and Tihomir DoloÃÂek on drums, they gigged around town in SarajevoâÂÂin clubs like Trasa, FIS, and Sloga as well as the odd appearance in recently opened Dom Mladih (Youth House), part of the newly-built Skenderija complex. Most of these appearances were booked and arranged through local music enthusiast and promoter à ½elimir "ÃÂiÃÂak" Altarac who practically became the band's unofficial manager. Over time, the group started getting more gig offers, which presented a problem since band leaders Ivanoviàand Stefanoviàas well as saxophonist SindiÃÂiàand drummer DoloÃÂek, all of whom were also JNA officers, weren't available for many of them due to their army obligations, and those offers had to be declined.
By 1970, seeing their business opportunities limited by the strange setup within the band and further discouraged by the band's founders IvanoviÃÂ and StefanoviÃÂ enrolling in the Sarajevo Music Academy that took up a lot of their time and focus, VujoviÃÂ and ÃÂoliÃÂ decided to step out and form a new group, Novi Ambasadori (New Ambassadors), bringing in drummer , organist Vlado PravdiÃÂ, saxophonist Andrej "Lale" StefanoviÃÂ, and bassist Zlatko Hold. With VujoviÃÂ now firmly established as the band's driving force and main songwriter, they looked to forge a new career course. Almost immediately, VujoviÃÂ's Novi Ambasadori dropped the 'Novi' part, continuing on as just Ambasadori since the original band's founders IvanoviÃÂ and StefanoviÃÂ quickly gave up on protecting the name.
With an almost all new lineup, Ambasadori also expanded their repertoire so that in addition to R&B they now also began playing covers of Led Zeppelin, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Creedence Clearwater Revival, etc. In the summer of 1970, Ambasadori scored a month-long gig with Indexi in Dubrovnik, their first tour-like experience and a taste of life on the road.
The band appeared at the 1971 annual schlager competition in Sarajevo where they finished in 7th place with "PlaÃÂem za tvojim usnama", a song that songwriter Zdenko Runjiàclaimed to have composed and officially signed his name under despite it being a blatant rip-off of The Tremeloes' "Suddenly You Love Me" (itself a cover of Riccardo Del Turco's "Uno tranquillo"). No one from the festival noticed the plagiarism and the band avoided controversy. The song would become the band's debut releaseâÂÂseven-inch (two-side) single "" released in 1971 by Beograd Disk label. The Vaà ¡ à ¡lager sezone performance was further significant since it marked the band's first television appearance, exposing them to a much larger audience. One of the people in that TV audience was Kornelije KovaÃÂ, an already influential and established figure in Yugoslav music circlesâÂÂformer member of Indexi now fronting his own supergroup, Korni GrupaâÂÂwho took note of young ÃÂoliÃÂ's "clean tenor and good stage presence"
During summer 1971, KovaÃÂ met up with ÃÂoliÃÂ by showing up at an Ambasadori gig in Mostar. He quickly managed to convince the young singer to move to Belgrade and join his Korni Grupa as replacement for Dado TopiÃÂ.
After ÃÂoliÃÂ left, eighteen-year-old became the new Ambasadori vocalist. Dervoz's only previous musical engagement of note had been singing for cover band Kodeksi.
Dervoz's first live appearance with Ambasadori came at the 1972 Skopje Festival where they performed the Kemal Monteno-written-and-composed song "Sviraj mi, sviraj". The same year, Jugoton released their 7-inch single "" with Dervoz on vocals on each of the three tracks.
In 1973, in line with SFR Yugoslavia's new policy of decentralization, Diskoton music label was established in Sarajevo with Ambasadori bandleader VujoviÃÂ appointed as its top executive.
During fall 1973, Ambasadori went on a tour of the Soviet Union.
In early 1974, twenty-six-year-old Diskoton chief executive VujoviÃÂ rejected a fledgling local band called Bijelo Dugme, a move that would go down in Yugoslav popular music history as an example of a bad judgement call after they signed a long-term deal with rival label Jugoton and immediately went on to nationwide fame with millions of records sold.
In 1975, Ambasadori scored a sizable hit with their entry at the festivalâÂÂKemal Monteno-written patriotic schlager song , inspired by and dedicated to Yugoslav gastarbeiters leaving their homeland in search of expanded employment opportunities throughout Western Europe. Finishing fourth among the sixteen competitors, they additionally won the festival's interpretation award while the main prize went to Zdravko ÃÂoliÃÂ, their former singer who had recently gone solo, and his song "Zvao sam je Emili".
Ambasadori represented SFR Yugoslavia at the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest in The Hague with song "Ne mogu skriti svoju bol" (written by Slobodan ÃÂurasoviÃÂ and composed by VujoviÃÂ), finishing second last among the 18 participating countries. Their disappointing finish caused a lot of negative reaction in the country and precipitated its 5-year withdrawal from the competition.
Fresh off their Eurovision disappointment, Ambasadori returned to the Vaà ¡ à ¡lager sezone where they had had so much success a year earlier. This time performing Marina TucakoviÃÂ-written and Nenad PavloviÃÂ-composed "Usne imam da ga ljubim", the song didn't get much attention at the festival, finishing seventh out of sixteen participants as the main prize went to Kemal Monteno and his Alija HafizoviÃÂ-written love letter to the city of Sarajevo â "Sarajevo, ljubavi moja". Yugoslav press also reported ironic heckles of "Bravo Hag" ('Good job at the Hague') during Ambasadori performance as the poor Eurovision showing continued lingering over them.
Soon after the 1976 Vaà ¡ à ¡lager sezone appearance, Dervoz left the band. She was eventually replaced with sixteen-year-old Jasna GospiÃÂ.
By bringing in teenage GospiÃÂ, whose only prior musical experience had been signing in a band called Plima with her brother Zoran, Ambasadori leader Vujoviàcontinued the practice of acquiring young and inexperienced vocalists. Still a high school student at Sarajevo's Second Gymnasium, GospiÃÂ's first appearance with Ambasadori took place at the 1977 Vaà ¡ à ¡lager sezone with "DoÃÂi u pet do pet". Composed by Vujoviàwith lyrics by Slobodan ÃÂurasoviÃÂ, the cheeky song turned out to be an unexpected Yugoslavia-wide hit despite failing to get much attention from the festival jury that awarded the top prize to Indexi's "U jednim plavim oÃÂima".
Riding the unanticipated popularity of "DoÃÂi u pet do pet", the band began touring a lot more throughout the country while also continuing to appear at various schlager festivals. However, the age gap between the band members and their teenage vocalist soon began causing issues. Gospiàherself talked about it in later interviews, describing the strange dynamic between the band members â all of whom were married with wives and families â who saw the band as a job and their teenage vocalist, half their age, who was mostly concerned with hanging out with friends.
Other Ambasadori members that came and went throughout the 1968âÂÂ1970s include various musicians active on the Sarajevo music scene at the time and after, such as trombone player SrÃÂan StefanoviÃÂ, keyboard player Robert IvanoviÃÂ, keyboard player Sinan Alimanovic, keyboard player Neven PocrnjiÃÂ, saxophone player Ivica Sindic, drummer "Tica", trumpet player Kreà ¡imir "Keco" Vlaà ¡ià(ex Pro Arte), singer Ismeta Dervoz (ex Kodeksi), drummer Perica Stojanovià(ex Jutro), organist Vlado PravdiÃÂ, bassist Ivica VinkoviÃÂ, bassist Zlatko Hold, saxophonist Andrej "Lale" StefanoviÃÂ, etc.