Jutro (trans. "Morning") was a Sarajevo-based rock band most notable as the immediate predecessor to Bijelo Dugme. It existed from late 1971 until the very end of 1973 when it transformed into Bijelo Dugme, one of the most successful rock bands ever to come out of Yugoslavia.
Jutro was formed as the brainchild of twenty-eight-year-old rhythm guitarist (formerly of Indexi) who in fall 1971 decided to approach guitarist Goran Bregoviàwith an offer of putting together a new band. Twenty-one-year-old BregoviÃÂâÂÂwho had recently returned to Sarajevo after gigging across Southern Italy for a year as part of an act called Kodeksi that transformed into MiÃÂa, Goran i Zoran before foldingâÂÂgladly accepted. Both self-taught Sarajevo-based musicians trying to earn a living on the fledgling Yugoslav pop-rock scene, Arnautaliàand Bregoviàwere now ready and eager to give being in a band another try following recent professional setbacks with their respective prior bands.
Having been a founding member of IndexiâÂÂspending most of the 1960s with the band, a period during which they released a number of singles, competed at countless schlager festivals around Yugoslavia, and went on a lucrative tour of the Soviet UnionâÂÂArnautaliànever reclaimed his spot in the band after going away to serve his mandatory year-long Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) stint in 1969. He instead got married, had a child, secured a steady source of income by getting hired at Radio Sarajevo's Dance Orchestra (one of the state-owned broadcaster's official musical ensembles), and was now looking to get back on the commercial scene via starting another band. On the other hand, though significantly younger than ArnautaliÃÂ, Bregoviàwas no less ambitious and driven when it came to organizing and running a band, seeing Jutro as a fresh opportunity to implement the ideas he wasn't able to at Kodeksi. In the months following his return from Italy, he had rededicated himself to his neglected philosophy and sociology studies at the University of Sarajevo's Faculty of Philosophy, and also got accepted into the Yugoslav Communist League (SKJ), the only political organization in the country's one-party system.
By January 1972, along with a vision for a band that was still missing a singer, Bregoviàhad managed to come up with a few original songs. Next, looking for a vocalist, he approached his old Kodeksi bandmate à ½eljko BebekâÂÂwhom he hadn't spoken to in more than a year ever since their acrimonious split in ItalyâÂÂby reportedly sending a brief unsigned telegram stating only a meeting time and location, in front of the Radio Sarajevo building at Danijela Ozme Street. Facing his old musical collaborator, Bregoviàpresented the idea of a new band by saying: "Let bygones be bygones and let's do something new". Twenty-six-year-old BebekâÂÂwho had been preparing to leave town for his mandatory army stintâÂÂstill decided to take the vague and unexpected offer and record a couple of early versions of "Patim, evo, deset dana", before going away, on 23 February 1972, to serve in Pirot, thus effectively leaving Bregoviàand Arnautaliàwithout a singer again.
Around the same time, only four months into their collaboration, the duo started butting heads over Jutro's future musical direction: Arnautaliàwanted them to go the route of competitive pop schlager festivals in order to get noticed, whereas Bregoviàthought live club shows were the way to go about building an audience. After much wrangling, they agreed on Travnik-born twenty-one-year-old Zlatko Hodnik (1950-2016) as the new temporary singer. HodnikâÂÂthe winner of the Zlatni aplauz festival for singing hopefulsâÂÂwas a typical schlager festival singer, all of which Bregoviàdetested, but Arnautaliàprevailed in this instance. In turn, Bregoviàgot to pick the rhythm section, bringing in his old buddy from Kodeksi and Italian days Zoran Redà ¾iàon bass as well as drummer Gordan Matrak (a fellow student at Sarajevo University's Faculty of Philosophy, which Bregoviàattended at the time).
Jutro's first live performance took place in Skenderija Hall on 15 April 1972 as part of the festival, a schlager competition established and run by Nuno ArnautaliÃÂ's older brother . With Hodnik as the vocalist, Bregoviàon guitar, Arnautaliàon rhythm guitar, Redà ¾iàon bass, and Matrak on drums, they performed the song "Ostajem tebi" that would later be included on the band's Radio Kruà ¡evac-released single "Ostajem tebi" / "Sad te vidim". The main prize that day was won by performing a ÃÂorÃÂe NovkoviÃÂ-written song "Nemoj draga plakati".
Another notable Jutro live performance took place in late October 1972, opening for Indexi in front of a crowd of 12,000 spectators at Skenderija.
In November 1972, Bebek got an army leave allowing him to temporarily return home to Sarajevo, a period during which he recorded tracks "Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme", "Na vrh brda vrba mrda", "Hop cup", and "U subotu, mala" before going back to serve.
In the meantime, drummer Gordan Matrak had left the band. became the new drummer, but left quickly, at which point Vladimir "Ã Â ento" BorovÃÂanin came over from Pro arte, bringing the desired stability.
By February 1973, the band was eagerly awaiting Bebek's return from the army. However, nothing could repair the deteriorating ArnautaliÃÂ-Bregoviàrelationship as their disagreements and silent feuding came to a head. Bregoviàbegan pushing harder for a musical shift within the bandâÂÂwanting them to start playing tight hard rock with a particularly strong Balkan folk component, none of which sat well with Arnautaliàwho wanted to keep the status quo and continue playing schlagers. Bregoviàwon this standoff, mostly because the rest of the band (Zoran and à  ento) supported his vision. Even Bebek chimed in from the army in support of BregoviÃÂ's direction as Arnautaliàwas increasingly being overruled and even pushed towards leaving.
In March 1973, Radio Kruà ¡evac released Jutro's second 7-inch single "U subotu, mala" / "Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme" (two of the songs Bebek recorded during one of his army leaves). The order of the songs on the single served to drive yet another wedge between Bregoviàand Arnautaliàbecause ArnautaliÃÂ, who kept contact with the label on band's behalf, unilaterally submitted his song "U subotu, mala" as the A-side thus relegating BregoviÃÂ's "Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme" to the B-side. Arnautaliàleft the band right after the single release. Around the same time Bebek returned from the army for good, however, not being quite convinced about the band's commercial potential, he also got a regular jobâÂÂfinding employment as a clerk at the municipal social services.
Soon after ArnautaliÃÂ's withdrawal, BregoviÃÂ, who by now became the group's undisputed leader and driving force, set about molding it to his own preferences, which almost felt like starting over from scratch. One of his first decisions was adding a keyboardistâÂÂa spot eventually filled by the locally established musician Vlado Pravdiàwho had already been contributing to Jutro since the group's early days and was on friendly terms with its members. Furthermore, he owned a Hammond organ, which was an added plus.
Bregoviàalso wanted to come up with a batch of new material, pushing the other members hard towards that end. This created resistance, especially from à  ento BorovÃÂanin who had already experienced a certain measure of fame at Pro arte, and thus did not appreciate being bossed around by BregoviÃÂ. BorovÃÂanin's enthusiasm further dropped when the negotiations with Jugoton regarding the release of a single fell through, and he also started swaying Zoran Redà ¾iàover to his side. The situation festered until the beginning of the summer when Bregoviàkicked them both out of the band following a vicious shouting match.
In order to achieve his goal of coming up with more material, Bregoviàmet up with Pravdià(still not officially a Jutro member) in Gradac during the summer of 1973. Bregoviàvacationed there in his mother's house, while Pravdiàplayed summer gigs with Indexi in nearby Baà ¡ka Voda. They jammed a lot together in this period, creating templates for many of the future songs (most of which eventually ended up on Bijelo dugme albums).
So, after a productive working vacation, BregoviÃÂ was back in Sarajevo faced with a problem of finding a new rhythm section. BorovÃÂanin's replacement on drums became seventeen-year-old Ipe IvandiÃÂ whom BregoviÃÂ met at Skenderija Hall while filling the bass player spot proved to be more difficult. BregoviÃÂ heavily courted Ivica VinkoviÃÂ of Ambasadori who stayed behind in Sarajevo because of university obligations while his band was touring Soviet Union. For a while VinkoviÃÂ seemed eager to join Jutro, too, however, once his Ambasadori bandmates returned from the tour with pockets full of cash, he wanted no part of Jutro anymore, and immediately ended his episode with BregoviÃÂ. Still, his brief stint with the band was noted on tracks "Top" and "Ove ÃÂu noÃÂi naÃÂi blues", which would also later become a part of Bijelo Dugme repertoire. became the new bassist.
As 1973 was nearing to a close, Jutro was constantly gigging, but the income was low. Furthermore, with no album in sight, their prospects for a sudden injection of cash were bleak.
Following ArnautaliÃÂ's departure from the band, Jutro experienced a continual problem with access to recording studios in Sarajevo, which was AranutaliÃÂ's revenge to BregoviÃÂ for phasing him out of the band. ArnautaliÃÂ claimed ownership of the name "Jutro" and used the influence his older brother Esad ArnautaliÃÂ wielded around Radio Sarajevo in order to place a shadow ban on Jutro recording in their studios.
Trying to get around the unfortunate situation, the band members enlisted their own personal connections as Vlado PravdiÃÂ's mother had a friend employed at Radio Sarajevo whom they called aunt Maca. However, they didn't get anywhere until Bregoviàmet and somewhat befriended composer Nikola Borota Radovan who happened to be contracted by Radio-Television Sarajevo and Jugoton as a music producer and TV executive in charge of youth programming. The two cut a deal whereby Bregoviàwould help out on tracks "Hop cup" (G. BregoviÃÂ) and "Kameni cvijet" (N. Borota), which Borota had been producing for singer 's upcoming single, in return for some studio time at the end of ÃÂustoviÃÂ's sessions. The session was officially engineered by Antun "Tuna" MarkoviÃÂ, one of the oldest and most experienced sound engineers at the time. However, for the occasion, Borota briefly replaced him on the mixing console while he was having a nap in the corner of the control console. The two tracks Jutro recorded that dayâÂÂ"Top" and "Ove ÃÂu noÃÂi naÃÂi blues"âÂÂwould later on, during spring 1974, be released as a seven-inch single by Jugoton under the (newly formed) Bijelo Dugme banner, launching the band to nation-wide fame. The material would initially be offered to local Sarajevo-based label Diskoton, however, once its top executive rejected it, Jugoton stepped in via, in part, Borota's connections and local Jugoton representative Hamdija SalkoviÃÂ.
Still, for the time being in late 1973, BregoviÃÂ had to concede ArnautaliÃÂ and his brother were powerful and influential figures on the Sarajevo music scene and that guerilla recording wasn't going to get Jutro anywhere. Since the band was about to enter their third year of existence with very little to show for their musical engagement, something had to be done about the studio access.
As they were generally known by their song "Kad bi bilo bijelo dugme" and since there was also another band named Jutro operating in Ljubljana, Bregovià& co. decided to switch their name to Bijelo Dugme. The change officially took effect on the night between December 31, 1973 and January 1, 1974 when they played Skenderija Hall as Bijelo dugme for the very first time. By some sources Damjan Babic, a composer and professor asked Bregovic if âÂÂkad biâ bio bijelo dugmeâ song was his and why not to name the band âÂÂBijelo dugmeâ (White button). Bregovic didn't have any other alternative name.
The name change took care of the studio access issue as ArnautaliÃÂ finally put aside his grievances.