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January 14, 2000 Dragoljub Djuricic, drummer, member of the Group 17 Plus What kind of a President is afraid of a mere drummer?
FS: You have just returned to the country after travelling throughout Europe. You've been to Hungary and London. What are your impressions from abroad? A man with no soul, no brains - an inanimate creature would return from the outer world without having seen or felt anything. What's indeed the worst is to watch and swallow new impressions like some ruminant chewing the cud all day long only to regurgitate and chew once more the food it swallowed. I don't want to go abroad until things get settled down, until we get back to that point where we were an integral part of the world. Given the circumstances, I travel abroad twice a year usually to some global metropolis. I must admit that the outer world can't advance as much as we can regress. In my view this ratio is 1:100. Before the last New Year's Day I was in New York and thought to myself: "What on earth have these people done to live like that? And what on earth have we done wrong to live like this?" Now I've nothing to say. Now I can't stand the most ordinary price charged for the public transport ticket in London. I simply can't accept it in my mind. You could pay me Ł100.000 for a gig, but I can't overcome my mental barrier and pay for the sandwich some equivalent of 250 Yugoslav dinars. I'm well aware of the current living standard, percentages and why the things are the way they are, but what we have now couldn't be even called a living standard at all and I hope our hardships will soon end regardless of the fact that the first news headline I saw when I came back to the country was that "we would connect to the world again and that inflation would be reined in soon". I have to say one thing: I'm not quite sure whether I'm a man honourable enough to stand up and face the common people, but it's certainly the case with myself and my child. I personally couldn't possibly say something like that about inflation, especially after all these years and our experiences with it. We could measure inflation rate in this or that manner, but an ordinary citizen couldn't care less if the prices of ships and boats went up when we don't make them. So this is where we could take advantage of statistics to make our inflation rate smaller. This is indeed horrible and I think that common people are a bit smarter than the people who run the country. Actually nobody runs the country, they only think they do. There is a yawning gap between themselves and the ordinary citizens since those who sell vegetables on the market know very well what's the worth of deutsche marks. I've recently heard that a deutsche mark equals six dinars and that some people from the government actually support this exchange rate. It's foolish even to talk about it. I'd love to see them where they exchange their deutsche marks for six dinars apiece. However, a virus has spread in these parts and it represents a large problem for us at the end of the 20th century so that the only way out is to exterminate it in any way possible. The point is not to destroy those people, but to help them see how horrible our lives and our misery are. I'd love if our President were to ask his wife one morning: "What's for lunch today?", and if she'd replied: "Well, we're having nothing today." Just for one day. How many Yugoslavs actually know at this very moment what they would have for lunch? We can't realise the proportions of this misery since in general Serbia isn't starving. If Serbia were starving and if the psychological pattern of the people in these parts were different, then they would most certainly rebel a long time ago. But here ordinary people keep repeating one thing: "It's alright, there's some bread and milk... put some bread crumbs in a glass of milk and enjoy yourself!" We've got 90% of pensioners who have popcorns for dinner regularly, if they can afford it. We can't go on living and keep eating popcorns for dinner. Some people perhaps even have popcorns for lunch. That's horrible.
FS: You were as far back as 1982 in the USA with the theatre company KPGT and then you played a part in the show "Liberation of Skopje" directed at the time by Ljubisa Ristic. Do you have an impression of you two having taken different sides, so to speak? Yes, it's true - we're on different sides, but at what level? In my view he's still a good theatre director and I support his work in this artistic field. But when it comes to politics, I hear some words I cannot possibly comprehend. This is some kind of his mutation, or perhaps, he's been always like this, but he hasn't shown us that aspect of his personality before. Politics is a rather peculiar phenomenon - an unbelievable evil. I couldn't possibly be a politician since I'd put my heart to it. I'm not capable of resorting to only cool reasoning and taking up "I-couldn't-care-less" attitude. I really do care and I stand behind every word I say. What's been happening with Ljubisa lately, as a politician, is something I don't like, but all those things he did at the KPGT I do appreciate and I appreciate his struggle at the time. I learnt from him that I could prepare the stage and seats for the performance, and come onto the stage as if I were doing nothing. The audience doesn't want to know whether my wife and I had a fight an hour before my appearance on stage. Art cannot possibly stand what politics does - this is a big difference. Art could only serve as a warning for the people, and this is why they should keep an eye on art. This is why the poets were among the first to fall victims to turbulent times, and only then, everybody else. I think that even tomorrow when changes take place and when Ljubisa stops being what he shouldn't be in the first place, there shouldn't be any conflict between him and me. In my view we shouldn't even talk about his intimate relations with politics. Politics is his sweetheart - so let him do with it whatever pleases him. We don't have to talk about it, but we can go on living together. FS: Do you earn for your living and your family exclusively from art, or perhaps, you've got some other income?
I make my living owing to art exclusively and I have to confess that it's a very difficult and extremely sweet life. Could you only imagine that feeling when you know that you built your own house in which you're raising your own son with the money earned while I was in rock band "Leb i sol". Yet I still can't believe that in this country you now could go to have your car fixed and your tyre-repair specialist asks you whether you'd like some petrol - I can't believe! I haven't behaved in that way and I couldn't ever engage in something else so my life is completely based on my art. On the other hand, I'm the member of SACEM, a French copyright agency, which monitors where my music is being played. Every year I receive some money from them and this isn't a sum you might neglect. I feel so good when I receive Ł20 because a song of mine has been played in England. This means that someone's been listening to my music and this matters more than these 20 quid. And every single year they apologise to me because they couldn't collect any money in Yugoslavia. Piracy in Yugoslavia could serve as an illustration which has been indicative for the last 15-20 years of the level of the country's disintegration and collapse. I mention this detail because TV starts defending you and your rights, and then they take advantage of your music and never pay. This is why a new association is being established, which would start paying the fees to the copyright owners and authors, and what's happened before - well, that doesn't matter anymore. I think I've lost at least two apartments in the Belgrade city centre, and some people who've done nothing significant in music except for engaging in piracy are so well-off that now they could even buy me. They beware only of those people with strong backing - especially physical one. I think that you could put an end to piracy only by force. FS: What are you in charge of within G17+ and what is actually your engagement? This is an association for assistance to the citizens of Serbia. I was visiting some cities and towns throughout Serbia and took part in panels which were very well attended by common people. I also met some wonderful people who radiate optimism and use arguments in their discussions. Mr.Mladjan Dinkic told me how he would resolve the problem of pensions if he were in power. He would only put the cigarettes where they belong - in kiosks and used tax revenues and excises to pay pensions on time.
G17 is a group of people with 20-30 years of experience, who haven't tarnished their names. I haven't become their member just like that. Everybody knows what I've been doing so far and how many humanitarian concerts I've had, and yet quite often I wasn't sure whether the funds collected would go to the right place. This is why I organised personally the last humanitarian concert held in the theatre Atelje 213 in which I took part as a performer, so that money could go to the right place. Actors were doing their jobs in theatres for free during the war on orders of the Serbian Ministry of Culture and one must respect the fact that they helped so many people getaway from their own black thoughts. If I hadn't given that money directly to them, who knows where they might end up. Perhaps that money would be misused to print posters for the Yugoslav Left (JUL) - left, lefty, to the left... Everyone knows how ruling parties get the funds to print their posters. Now, they accuse the opposition of being mercenaries. We, the people from G17, have received some money from the West, but they haven't given us those funds to overthrow the regime and topple Milosevic. We've got quite a different attitude. They simply respect us as the future of this country. Now the West is planning a highway via Romania and Bulgaria only to avoid Serbia. What shall we do then? We've created a project - Rock for Democracy, and its first phase was implemented on December 28, and hopefully, we would bring some famous band to Belgrade in February. For a decade not a single rock band from the world hasn't come to these parts! They can't avoid us any longer to such an extent. We've lost Pavarotti, Bono Vox, Vanessa Redgrave and others because of mistakes of our politicians. I was received once with Vanessa Redgrave by the Serbian Minister of Culture at the time and when we asked him for help regarding a humanitarian concert for suffering children from the territory of the former Yugoslavia, he gave us an account of what had happened in Jasenovac in 1941. Later on, when these people were playing and singing for Sarajevo, they were presented in our media as the worst kind of evil. FS: What's your attitude towards the regime's media outlets?
There's another thing which puzzles me. Our athletes after winning some medal always have to say something like: "We've done it for our poor people". No. They haven't done it for the people, but for themselves and their personal gain. The fact that our poor people are also glad because of that medal is quite another matter. Also, if the general manager of RTS could ban my appearance on TV, then let him ban the broadcast of the match Yugoslavia-Denmark since Mijatovic, for example, who obviously doesn't share beliefs and views of our President, would play in our team. The fact the he keeps silent about it doesn't matter... Well, I don't so it shouldn't be too much hard to speak up. I keep talking about these things so that my child wouldn't have to emigrate from my country when 18 years old. FS: Are there any new bands on the Yu-scene which you might like? Above all, it's my drummer Lav Bratusa - from the band Darkwood Dub. This is a very serious and urban band. If we lived in some better times, they'd probably play an important role on the international scene. Then, Kanda, Kodza i Nebojsa - they are extremely good. There's something which probably most of the audience isn't actually aware of. I was recently at a festival and I think that Yu-rock still possesses that rebellious element, enough good ideas and enough honesty while it's in the ghetto. As soon as it gets out of the ghetto, it has to adjust and fit into society. Society is false, and therefore, everything falls apart. I think this is a serious problem not only in music but in every aspect of our social life. I've seen a terrific band, their name is Dog House, then there's E-Play, the band Proces from Nis and another band whose name I've forgotten, but anyway, they're from Mladenovac. There are no more barriers we've had before - there's no division between the bands from the capital and the rest of the country. On the contrary, there's actually a reverse process going on. The problem is that society does nothing whatsoever for the music. Absolutely nothing. And it seems that no one's aware to what an extent musicians could help and contribute to this country. No one seems aware of that fact. Dragan Maravic
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These gaps between the rich and the poor are increasing so my view is that we have to something about it at once. I'm honestly convinced that we should do so. Nothing is functioning here anymore. This is why I claim that no one is in charge here and no one's responsible for anything. The only people who are held responsible for something are those individuals with "dissenting" opinions in contrast to the regime's voices, and this kind of responsibility is a bit peculiar to me since always some poor bloke is the one to suffer for it as he's got no one to support him. I think that people are dejected and that they've given in to apathy wishing not to be forced to take sides. Apathy is an extremely serious disease which is hard to come by, but once you're there, it's even more difficult to find the cure. In a way I've assigned myself a mission - to convince people around me that there's always hope and prospect for a better life. I'm quite sure of that and no one could possibly persuade me that a man in his twenties has to die. This is not the way nature meant it to be. Those poor people who are unlucky enough to contract some disease all of a sudden - that's something different, but in general, you have to pay back to Cosmos its dues. Well, this is where we've got all confused and tangled up since the more information I receive the less I know.
I have to admit that I'm one those proud ones. I built my own apartment and the reason for that wasn't my lacking money to finance it, but because I can do and make anything I see with my own eyes. I'm a handyman. I wouldn't admit to either bricklayers, electricians or carpenters that they might be better since after a month or so of practice I could do things at least as good as them. Sometimes even better. I'm actually better because I'm afraid I won't do the job the way I should. My attitude towards work is different than theirs. They're used to it and answer for nothing. The fact that there might be some water leaking in the apartment, well, they couldn't care less.
We can't fool ourselves with some divine force which is to blame for lack of petrol at petrol stations, and yet there's enough petrol, but in front the station itself. This is the only country in the world where you buy petrol packaged in Coca-Cola plastic bottles. Also, those who sell it think only of schemes to deceive you and put some water in it or boil the plastic bottle beforehand so that it would contain less petrol. It's a sin to do such things because of some petty money.
There's one thing with Radio Television Serbia which keeps buggin' me, and that's self-censorship. There are terrified people who, out of fear that something nasty might happen to them, take up 'scissors' and keep 'cutting' undesirable parts. I mean if my statement has the flavour of politics, they don't have to broadcast it in their central information programme. I don't even ask of them something like that. But it's so silly to ban my music in their programmes. And they actually use it when they need it. When they were preparing for some election campaign a few years ago, they picked my music from a theatre performance. If I received any money on that account, I'd be much richer now. But at the time, they didn't mind my being in the opposition. And then they suddenly do mind when I'm supposed to be a guest in some TV show - "what SOMEONE might say if he were our guest?". This fictional SOMEONE doesn't even watch such shows. If that SOMEONE indeed does these things, then indeed nothing could turn out right in this country. What kind of a President is he if being afraid of a drummer? That's ridiculous.
