Bijelo Dugme () is the seventh studio album by the Yugoslav rock band Bijelo Dugme, released in 1984. Due to Bijelo Dugme's usage of Uroà ¡ PrediÃÂ's famous painting Kosovo Maiden for the album cover, the album is unofficially known as Kosovka devojka (Kosovo Maiden).
Bijelo Dugme is the band's only album recorded with vocalist Mladen VojiÃÂià"Tifa", who came to the band as the replacement for à ½eljko Bebek. The album is also notable for featuring the band's former member Laza Ristovski on keyboards, who, after the album was released, became an official member of the band once again.
Bijelo Dugme was listed in 1998 as the 28th on the list of 100 Greatest Yugoslav Rock and Pop Albums in the book ' (YU 100: The Best Albums of Yugoslav Pop and Rock Music).
Following protracted disagreements over revenue sharing, Bijelo Dugme vocalist à ½eljko Bebek left the band in April 1984, deciding to focus on his solo career. The band's new singer became a former Top and Teà ¡ka Industrija member Mladen VojiÃÂiàTifa. The band spent the summer of 1984 in Rovinj, where they held small performances in Monvi tourist centre, preparing for the upcoming studio album recording sessions.
The album was recorded in Sarajevo, Skopje, Zagreb, and Belgrade. The working title of the album, Joà ¡ uvijek nas ima (We're Still Here), was discarded after it was decided that Uroà ¡ PrediÃÂ's painting would appear on the cover. Bijelo Dugme featured Radio Television of Skopje Folk Instruments Orchestra, folk group Ladarice on backing vocals, Pece Atanasovski on gaida and Sonja Beran-Leskovà ¡ek on harp. The song "Pediculis pubis" (misspelling of "Pediculosis pubis") featured Bora ÃÂorÃÂeviÃÂ, the leader of Bijelo Dugme's main competitors at the time, Riblja ÃÂorba, on vocals. ÃÂorÃÂeviàco-wrote the song with Bijelo Dugme leader Goran BregoviÃÂ, and sung it with Bregoviàand VojiÃÂiÃÂ. (Bregoviàwould, in return, make a guest appearance on Riblja ÃÂorba 1985 album Istina, singing with ÃÂorÃÂeviàin the song "Disko mià ¡iÃÂ" ("Disco Muscle"). ÃÂorÃÂeviàhad an idea of political song, with lyrics mentioning names and nicknames of Yugoslav politicians, but Bregoviàpersuaded him that the song should feature joking lyrics about pubic lice. The final mix of the album was done by German producer Theo Werdin, who initially came to Sarajevo to produce Divlje Jagode's album Vatra (Fire), but whom Diskoton, after his arrival, hired to work on Bijelo Dugme.
The album featured a version of Yugoslav national anthem, "Hej, Slaveni", as the opening track. The song "Lipe cvatu, sve je isto k'o i lani" ("Linden Trees Are in Bloom, Everything's Just Like It Used to Be") is musically based on the song "Ã Â ta ÃÂu nano dragi mi je ljut" ("What Can I Do, Mom, My Darling Is Angry"), written by BregoviÃÂ and originally recorded by Bisera VeletanliÃÂ.
The album was co-released by state-owned record label Diskoton and Kamarad, the label Goran BregoviÃÂ formed with singer Zdravko ÃÂoliÃÂ.
The album was well received by the audience. "Lipe cvatu, sve je isto k'o i lani" was the album's biggest hit. Other hits included "Padaju zvijezde", "Laà ¾eà ¡", "Da te bogdo ne volim" and "Jer kad ostarià ¡". Part of the music critics praised Ristovski's usage of computers and digital synthesizers, with the band leader Goran Bregoviàclaiming that the use of such instruments increased their musical sphere; this culminated in the success of the album. Ristovski was known for reusing his equipment on Pljuni i zapjevaj moja Jugoslavijo. Many critics, however, disliked the album.
The album sold more than 420,000 copies. The promotional tour was also very successful. The band held a successful concert at Belgrade Fair in front of some 27,000 people (which was, up to that point, the biggest number of spectators on an indoor concert in Belgrade), but also performed in clubs on several occasions. The stylized army uniform in which the members of the band appeared on stage and the large red star from Kamarad logo were partially inspired by the works of Laibach.
After the promotional tour, VojiÃÂiÃÂ, under the pressure of professional obligations, sudden fame, and a media scandal caused by revelation of his LSD usage, decided to leave the band. He performed with Bijelo Dugme for the last time at three concerts in Moscow held at the end of July and beginning of August 1985.
Bijelo Dugmes folk-oriented pop rock sound, alongside the idea of Yugoslavism, present on the album via cover of "Hej, Slaveni", influenced a great number of pop rock bands from Sarajevo, like Merlin, Plavi Orkestar, Crvena Jabuka, Valentino and Hari Mata Hari, some of whom would later be labeled as New Partisans.
The album polled in 1998 as the 28th on the list of 100 Greatest Yugoslav Rock and Pop Albums in the book ' (YU 100: The Best Albums of Yugoslav Pop and Rock Music).
In 2000, "Lipe cvatu" and "Za Esmu" polled at 10th and 78th spot respectively on the Rock Express Top 100 Yugoslav Rock Songs of All Times list.
In 2007, Serbian critic Dimitrije Vojnov named Bijelo Dugme one of ten most important records in the history of Yugoslav rock, despite having a negative opinion of the album.
In 2015, Bijelo Dugme album cover was ranked the 1st on the list of 100 Greatest Album Covers of Yugoslav Rock published by web magazine Balkanrock.
In June 2016, Radio Split of the Croatian Radiotelevision came under scrutiny of numerous music critics and a part of general public for performing censorship on the Lipe cvatu song's verse that mentions "Yugoslavia". It was described as "bizarre" and the result of "[nothing] but hiding one's own incompetence or powerlessness", and a reflection of the fear and weakness of the Croatian state-owned media to face their past. Croatian Composers' Society determined it to be a copyright violation that was punishable by law, which was also confirmed by a representative of author's rights in the publishing house Aquarius, stating that they would take legal action upon repeated offences. HRT and Radio Split did not respond to press inquiries regarding this incident.