Siniša Vuco

Siniša Vuco (born 29 April 1971 in Split, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia), his stage name being simply Vuco, is a Croatian singer, songwriter. Common, recurring themes in his songs include: addiction, alcoholism, love, the past, and suffering.

Musical beginnings

Siniša Vuco, began his career as a pop musician, but his big break came in early 1990s when he appeared in the Split Music Festival.^[1] He presented himself as one of the first Croatian Pop musicians to reintroduce the accordion (which was being regarded as "rural and primitive" by many advocates of Urbanism), Roma music and oriental sounds in his work, in a time when it was considered "politically incorrect" for Croatians to do so because it was somehow redolent of Turbo-folk music. Vuco, much to the dismay of pop/folk critics and social commentators, introduced elements of turbo-folk to Croatian pop music.^[2]

Although officially frowned upon, such trends apparently struck the chord among a large section of the Croatian public and Vuco acquired a loyal following. In the late 1990s, his songs were subjected to a semi-official ban in the Croatian state media. It had less to do with the quality or questionable origin of Vuco's music, and more with Vuco's temperament and his tendency not to mince words when talking about some of his peers and their personal habits.

Rock background and various projects

Apart from having a turbo-folk career, Siniša Vuco is a founder and vocalist and guitarist for the hard rock band Živo blato. While playing for Živo blato, he takes the stage name General Vasilij Mitu. He is also a member of the heavy metal band Klanje ljudi,^[3] for which he performs using the stage name Admiral Koljač (transl. Admiral Slayer), he played bass in a thrash metal band Evil Blood,^[4] and he was vocalist for heavy metal band Witchcraft.

Vuco has also written songs for others, some of which have become semi-hits, for example the song Stari Se was written by him for Thompson.^[1]

He is infamous for his often eccentric performances; for example: Klanje ljudi's Split concert of 2004 stands out as lambs were being roasted on stage as the band played, and spectators could simply walk up to the stage and grab a piece of lamb to eat.

Similar appearances occurred during the 2003 parliamentary elections when he appeared on Croatian Radiotelevision as an independent candidate.^[5] Although many in Croatian public considered his TV presentation to be the most original and the most entertaining part of the entire campaign, most people saw his candidacy more as a publicity stunt than a genuine effort to start a political career.

Personal life

Siniša Vuco was married twice and divorced once.

2000s

In 2005 Vuco cut his long hair short, which he had been growing for many years, in order to be taken more seriously when discussing business in regard to his newly purchased soccer team in Croatia. He did this on advice from a colleague. Media in Croatia reported on his new appearance as going so far as to make Vuco look "sympathetic". Despite having cut his hair, he left his very short beard the way it was. "Volim piti" is one of his greatest hits, also translated in English, Swedish and Ukrainian. One of his newer singles is Volim narodno in which he copied parts from popular song "We will rock you". The song is a duet with popular Serbian Folk singer Mitar Miric. He has also collaborated with other big names in the industry, which include Dzej Ramadanovski and Vesna Zmijanac.

Discography

Studio albums

A gdje si ti?
Studio album by Siniša Vuco
Released	1993
Recorded	1993
Genre	Folk, pop rock
Label	Croatia
Producer	Siniša Vuco, Željko Šparmajer
Siniša Vuco chronology
A gdje si ti? (1993) Vuco II (1995)

• 1993 - A gdje si ti? (English: But where are you?) is the debut album of Croatian singer Siniša Vuco. It was released in 1993 on the Croatia Records record label.^[6] A gdje si ti was recorded and mixed in Tomislav Mrduljaš's studio in Split. Apart from standard CD release, this album was released both in LP record and a cassette format.^[6]

Track listing

1. "Dobro večer tugo" – 3:56
2. "Nek' sam pijan" – 3:12
3. "A gdje si ti?" – 3:17
4. "Proklete da su" – 2:53
5. "Nedjelja" – 3:54
6. "Bog me kaznio" – 3:28
7. "Molim te, vrati se" – 3:34
8. "Tebe nema" – 3:52
9. "Proljeće" – 2:56
10. "Ostajem u suzama" – 3:35
11. "Ti si me izdala" – 2:57
12. "Kada odem ja" – 4:06

• 1995 - Vuco II is the second album of Croatian singer Siniša Vuco. It was released in 1995 on the Croatia Records record label.^[7] Vuco II contains all major hits by Vuco, which makes it one of his best albums. Songs “Crna ženo”, as well as festival songs “Sestro, odlazi” and “Siromasi” were all very popular songs, and are one of his best songs to date.^[8] This album was best-selling album in Croatia in 1995.^[8] It also contains a rock ballad “Rajske kočije”. Album was recorded in a studio "TM" in Split.^[9]

Track listing

1. "Crna ženo" – 3:49
2. "Pije mi se" – 4:13
3. "Sestro, odlazi" – 2:40
4. "Rajske kočije" – 3:49
5. "Draga" – 3:25
6. "Siromasi" – 3:55
7. "Duša seljačka" – 4:57
8. "Vode se ne napila" – 3:26
9. "Zbogom majko, zbogom oče" – 3:09
10. "Razbijam ovu čašu" – 3:26
11. "Putuj" – 2:58
12. "Petar Krešimir" – 4:50

• 1997 - Vuco III is the third album of Croatian singer Siniša Vuco. It was released in 1997 on the Croatia Records record label.^[10] Unlike Vuco's last album Vuco II, this one was poorly received. Producer of his earlier recordings Željko Šparmajer was absent in recording of this album, which basically makes it without any hits.^[8] This fact made Vuco release another album the same year as this one called Vuco IV.^[8] Vuco III was recorded in a studio "Sound & Vision" in Makarska, in sumer and autumn of 1996. It was mixed in Croatia Records studio in Zagreb, during autumn and winter of 1996.^[11]

Track listing

1. "Danas je moj dan" – 3:38
2. "Curice u gradu" – 2:51
3. "Zabluda" – 4:54
4. "Sretan put" – 3:33
5. "Gdje si sad?" – 5:05
6. "Nevjero" – 3:21
7. "Vrijeme prolazi" – 3:49
8. "U našem dvorištu" – 3:51
9. "Udavi me, udavi" – 3:30
10. "Pjesma ratnika" – 5:32

• 1997 - Vuco IV is the fourth album of Croatian singer Siniša Vuco. It was released in 1997 on the Croatia Records record label.

Track listing

1. "Evo mene Dunave" – 4:14
2. "Upamtit ćeš" – 3:23
3. "Zbogom ženo" – 3:00
4. "Uzalud" – 3:34
5. "Mornarska" – 4:17
6. "E, draga, draga" – 4:38
7. "Moja draga putuje" – 3:15
8. "Splite grade" – 3:29
9. "Razbolio se ja" – 4:08
10. "Šta je, šta je?" – 3:40
11. "Ulica" – 3:23
12. "Zaboravi" – 5:26

• 1998 - Volim piti i ljubiti is the fifth album of Croatian singer Siniša Vuco. It was released in 1998 on the Croatia Records record label.

Track listing

1. "Volim piti i ljubiti" – 3:25
2. "Pusti me da pijem" – 3:18
3. "Podigla me iz pepela" – 3:23
4. "Na vjenčanju tvome" – 3:02
5. "Nijedna me htjela nije" – 2:58
6. "Pijanica" – 3:03
7. "Rujna zora" – 3:07
8. "Ima žena, nema broja" – 3:24
9. "Nisi ti od jučer" – 3:27
10. "Mostarska" – 3:55

• 2001: Vuco 2001
• 2002: Vrati se, vrati

Track listing

1. "Calen Bite" - 3:28
2. "Vrati se, vrati" - 4:19, featuring Vesna Zmijanac
3. "Klošar" - 2:56
4. "Poslije Njega" - 3:45
5. "Da Se Sredim" - 3:09
6. "Napijte Me, Napijte" - 3:29
7. "Ne Volim Te" - 3:23
8. "Pijem Vino (I Ono Mene)" - 3:02
9. "Nije Meni Suđeno" - 3:14
10. "Cetina" - 4:28

• 2004: Jesam!

Track listing

1. "U kafani" – 3:19
2. "Sanja" – 3:06
3. "U napad" – 4:09
4. "Idi do vraga" – 5:48, along with "Mjesec žut" were originally recorded in 1996, but due to political messages, they were not released on the demand by the publisher.^[12] They were released on this album.
5. "E, da si bar tu" – 4:16
6. "Maska" – 2:37
7. "Ljeto 2004" – 3:02
8. "Umrijet ćeš ti od starosti" – 3:27
9. "Zamaglio se pogled (Ne daj se nikome)" – 3:50
10. "Od ljubavi davne ne živi se" – 3:50
11. "Mjesec žut" – 5:10
12. "Cetina" – 4:28

• 2004: Volim narodno
• 2007: Ne mogu ti to oprostiti
• 2011: Vuco XI

Compilation albums

• 2000: Najveći hitovi
• 2003: Megamix
• 2007: Zlatna Kolekcija

References