Creation as a refuge

"If you ask me about the theater in Serbia, it is important to me, seen from London, that Ne:bitef is held," theater critic Igor Burić, who recently lives between London and Novi Sad, told Vreme. Burić is one of the most recognizable and relevant local voices theater reviews, but in recent years his attitude towards art became much more immediate, since he moved from the position of critic to the stage. The interview with Burić is a kind of fulfillment of Teofil Pančić's wish to talk only about music. Igor Burić has a serious musical career in the band I have to ask Igor.. The band will perform in Subotica before the release of this interview. Between the critic's chair and the stage, there was a return to music, but also to myself, more precisely forgotten part of being.

"WEATHER" Your return to music is related to the festival "Desiree Central Station" in Subotica and a workshop held by the composer Irena Popović?

Zoran Injac, the bass player, and I started playing as teenagers, we made an album a day (laughs). It was a home garage production where we recorded dozens of songs every day. It is important to add that even then, in a way, I was falling apart. The war in Bosnia started, my family moved here - mom, brother and me. Dad stayed in the war. We moved every fortnight. With Zoran, in his room, I found some kind of refuge, and the music just poured out of me. Now, how does that relate to your question? When she found me, so to speak, on "Desire", Irena Popović was surprised. I didn't, but at the time I participated in her workshop on "Desire", I was going through a huge life and marriage crisis, which allowed me to find refuge in music and creativity. Those are perhaps the two key points of my life: the war and the divorce. In both cases, music had a great therapeutic impact. After I presented the work with Irena, I will never forget Kokan Mladenović's comment, in his style, he said: "Well, you are also talented" (laughter). Until then, he only knew me in the role of a theater critic who spits on actors, as Zoli Molnar likes to say (laughs).

The music is, therefore, was life-saving for you?

Absolutely. Milena Marković gave us her song "Biće kiše", in our performance it is called "Terrible sadness", and I always remember her words: If your poetry doesn't bleed, then why? And I wasn't afraid to bare and open up. Here, they called me names at the concert in CK 13, my name is mentioned in some songs. Of course, it's not me anymore, it's anyone's name.

And Slobodan Tišma supported you, he said that you are the best band he has heard in Novi Sad in the last twenty years.

It absolutely flatters us. I think that many are crying out for what used to be the identity of Novi Sad, which, to put it mildly, are quality bands and music that is authentic. And when Sloba Tisma approaches you after the concert, your legs can be cut off (laughs). At the concert in CK 13, we crossed guitars with the band "Wizelj", and they are my idols and superheroes. The energy and enthusiasm that we, as their guests, felt both on stage and in the audience was truly incredible. Whenever I picked up the guitar, I imagined playing at some big concert (laughs), and for me a concert with "Vizelja" listening to Slobo Tisma - even if only he was in the audience - is a dream come true.

It is said that music today is not so instrumental, that there is not so much togetherness anymore. Music is made on a computer.. And there is unity among you.. What's up, in that context, changed?

Bend I have to ask Igor. it really is like a family. There are also relatives among us. All that aside, I've been thinking about how much music has transformed. Indeed what you mention defines today's music scene. I tried to see where we stand in all of this. The truth is that we are the link between the music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, whether we like it or not, because we live in both eras. For me, making music is the same as going to a mine, but it's also what Dina (Đilas, keyboardist and vocalist - first. aut.) feels like a therapeutic space. So, that mine can sometimes be on the moon, in some beautiful ethereal environment. And sometimes it can be demanding - there are five of us - we have to reconcile our desires, needs, expectations... Our band is, on the one hand, like a work organization, on the other hand, it's like a family. And there are also concerts. There is that ethereal, light, unencumbered moment where only beauty reigns. Our sound designer Miša Romić was able to say that Zoran and I are like John and Paul (laughs), but the truth is that everyone contributes with their creativity.

You lived in the analog age., Do you live in this now?. That seems like a privilege..

When I think about the twists and turns of life, I like to think of it as an exciting and crazy ride. So it is with the analog and digital age. It's true that Zoran and I, reviving the band and our high school story, used technology. It was corona time, I was getting a divorce... And, like, 'let's play again. We slowly started to group together. Miša Romić asked us why we don't record it. We were a little embarrassed (laughs), and now we see that it made sense to show it to people. And I'm glad. How would I say: it doesn't hurt.

Lav Kovac, who recorded and produced your album, he says that working with you is pure poetry.

I was very happy when Lav joined the band. For the first time I felt incredible support, energy and strength. It's one thing when, relying on your own strengths, you try something with people who, musically speaking, are more or less where you are. It's another thing when someone comes for whom music is life and who is a great artist. Plus, as a jazzer, Love has changed a bunch of lineups, which gives him a lot of flexibility. He is very stable in communication with the most diverse people, their approaches and views on music. We recorded the album first through the rehearsal process, then in the studio, he produced it and said that we surprised him with the speed with which we managed to play what we imagined. We fried it in a few days! We often make up for the fact that we are not professional musicians with practice and courage. That's the difference between jazz and rock and roll, because it's one thing when you're a professional musician... It's like playing football in front of a building, not at Wembley. It is much rawer, more alive, more energetic in front of the building, has more mistakes, is not refined or mathematically precise. However, it gives him something without which there would be no football. And musicians say that a musician who devotes himself to perfectionism must pinch himself in the field of creativity. There are many examples in which some not particularly talented musicians have achieved careers that the professionals could not even imagine. This can be felt in classical music. I often talk about it with my son, who is a pianist. Practicing Chopin, Bach, one loses the connection to one's own creation. He knows how to play it perfectly, but he often tells me: I don't know how to compose anything, everything is already composed. And the less you know about music, the more room you have for composing. Often when I work, people say: well, this or that one has already played... So what does it matter? Choose your own. You didn't literally want it to sound like that, happen like that, look like something. Because harmony is harmony.

You often talk about spontaneity and creation. One type of creation is horizontal, without hierarchy. Dina Djilas says it's like therapy. To what extent does today's lifestyle allow freedom?? Is there freedom in the band??

I see two issues, one is the horizontal in which it is difficult to stay. In social reality today, attempts are being made to establish a horizontal hierarchy. Vertical often leads to abuse. And that has to do with the space of freedom you mention. We try to give a voice to everyone, but the more votes are given, the harder it is, it takes more time and nerves, but it's worth striving for, because the band is happier.

And striving for freedom and creation as a therapeutic space, safe, in which one feels belonging, unencumbered by expectations - it works, music by itself makes our souls vibrate. It's hard to talk about it to someone who hasn't experienced it. Anyone who has will know what I'm talking about.

Transcendence.

That's right. And freedom is important because today we are pressed by imperatives that make our lives more and more difficult. We in the band do not make music to achieve something, but we had a good time, so good that it was a shame not to share it. It turns out that people respond best to songs that are our internal banter (laughs). It shows that the space of freedom is unencumbered, productive and efficient when it comes to communication.

How do you understand what is happening in the country??

Like most of my generation, I was disappointed by the murder of Đindjić, and recently I got started for the first time. Now I'm older and it wasn't easy for me, but I see the beauty of the journey and a perspective that wasn't evident before. I remembered again the demands of the students from 1968: let's be realistic, ask for the impossible (laughter).

You finished your studies in philosophy, then he was engaged in theater criticism, you finished your master's degree in psychotherapy and now you're on stage. How does it feel to expose yourself in such a way?

It turned out that it was related to my nature, which I had forgotten a little. There is that in philosophy, forgetting being. Namely, throughout my life, at one point I thought of enrolling in an art academy and, instead of writing about actors, start acting myself. However, as I dug into my memory, it emerged that I also have a musical artistic part of my being, which can play on stage. And acting is never believable if it is not true. It was important for me to get back to myself and the scene did round me out in terms of identity. Now, while we live, we think that all of that is very important. I always remember Teofilo, who was very open and unencumbered by his own greatness. It was always kind of noble to me. We give ourselves too much importance, and we should be more relaxed, to do what we do, not for expectations but to make it look easy. And then you are closer to nature and the universe. And that is already metaphysics.

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