• Bojana Vunturišević
• dancehall
• Indie-pop
• Serbia
• trip hop

Published on 07/03/2023 11:00 am

Serbian singer/songwriter Bojana Vunturišević is the sort of artist who is midway between local prominence and outright celebrity. Way too young and independent to be a proper star, but definitely way too accomplished to describe her as up-and-coming. Good thing, therefore, that we have this here show where we don’t give a hoot about such things and just present good music as it comes along. Or goes away. Or something…

Bojana Vunturišević, the self-described most famous person to bear that long surname, has – in fact – quite a mileage under her belt. She started out as a vocalist in a couple of underground bands at the turn of the millennium and then found steady footing in an indie-pop band Ajd svi na pod / Everybody Hit The Floor. She stayed with the bend until 2015 whereupon she embarked on a solo career.

Distances

During her time with the band Ajd svi na pod, Bojana Vunturišević released two albums, which established her as an musician of note in Serbia. Her vocal abilities only shone further when the she started her solo act. Two years after Ajd svi na pod went the way of the dodo, she released her debut solo album Daljine / Distances.

Kese etikete / Bags of Labels turned out to be the runaway hit. But the rest of the album was just as good. In fact, fans and critics were pretty much united in the opinion that the album was one of the best things to happen to Serbian and wider Balkan music scene.

Those of you keeping score at home have probably noticed Bojana Vunturišević’s underlying similarity to Konstrakta, the avant-garde Serbian pop performer whose surrealistic tunes won many hearts in last year’s Eurovision song contest. Both artists share a similar trip-hop vibe with a side of sarcasm and social justice. It could just be that we are witnessing a birth of a new wave of female Balkan musicians who take no prisoners.

Capitalist blues

In terms of musical expression, Bojana Vunturušević makes her tunes at the crossroads of indie pop, trip hop and dancehall. Topping that with lyrics that are both despondent and hopeful at the same time, she managed to create a peculiar style of music which she calls “capitalist blues”.

A couple of months ago Bojana Vunturišević released her much-awaited second album. She whetted her public’s appetite with Ljubav / Love, the tune we heard moments ago. It turned out that was also the title of the entire album. Which some people describe as hitting uncomfortably close to home.

And this is all the time we have for today. Check out Bojana Vunturošević on YouTube, Spotify and wherever you get your music from. Balkan Express will be back next week.

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Balkan Express takes weekly trips into contemporary musical production of, you guessed it, the Balkans. Forget gusle and tamburice, this show is about rock, pop and a sense of humour. Well, at least there’s guitars. On air most Tuesdays in a new-and-improved time-slot at 1100 hrs. Usually. Your train conductor is Aljaž (aka @pengovsky) who once did the world a solid and decided never to sing again in public. Which is why he ended up doing radio.