How did Vice sell out thirteen concerts in the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall?

Vice Vukov, a favorite of Yugoslavia, a gifted singer and a well-known face from the TV screen, became suspect due to his statements during the political persecutions of the 70s of the last century. At that time, the Croatian emigration invited him to tour Australia. While Vice is on tour, the political situation in his homeland heats up. The police are starting searches of all persons suspected of being nationalistically oriented. Vice Vukov is on the list of fifty who are threatened with arrest.

Vica's tour ends and he, suspecting that he too will be arrested, flies to Paris instead of Yugoslavia. His wife informs him that they ransacked his apartment from which they took all the letters, pictures and video tapes... All his records are withdrawn from sale, and his songs are no longer broadcast on the radio. In Paris, Vice enrolled in the Institute for International Studies and stayed there for the next five years.

After the situation calmed down a bit, in 1976 he returned to Zagreb, where he completed his studies of Italian studies and philosophy. Because of his political activity, he is unable to find a job. In the end, he was assigned a position at the Matica Hrvatska Publishing House, where he translated books, but his name was not allowed to appear on their covers.

He was forbidden to perform publicly and hold concerts for the next 12 years! After the change in the political situation and national currents, his album was released in 1989, but without his name on the cover. He gave his first performance in Zagreb, after more than twenty years, in the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in 1990. Then he sold out a series of as many as thirteen concerts in the same hall, which is still unsurpassed today!

A twelve-year ban on singing

Vice

Dino

How did Vice seduce girls from Šibenik and why did he fail his class?

Mali Vice started singing in his childhood. He performed at school events, and he also liked to sing with street bands that would win the girls of Sibenik that way. But as a kid, he did not yet see himself in the role of a professional singer.

He was not particularly sociable, and he liked to spend his time with a book. He read everything he could get his hands on - from Jules Verne to textbooks on medicine, biology and astronomy. His love for reading opened the way to another love - that of writing. He never saw writing as something difficult, and he liked to write lyrics the most.

As a teenager, he wrote more than a hundred songs. He also tried his hand at prose, so he wrote a dozen short stories, and he also started writing a science fiction novel set in Antarctica. The main character in his novel was a scientist who wanted to melt the eternal ice and eventually restore life, and Vice described what that hero was like - exactly him. He liked to identify with literary heroes, and during school hours, especially in mathematics classes, he often daydreamed and fantasized.

Although he was intelligent and had a quick memory, he claimed that he daydreamed too much at school and that, compared to some other things, he was not very interested in it. He said that in the end he left her. Other sources say that he was kicked out of the fifth grade of the Sibenik high school because he wrote in one composition that there was a rebellion in Russia in 1917, not an uprising.

Be that as it may, Vice had to repeat the fifth grade of high school. His parents and relatives started to complain and doubt him. He wanted to prove them wrong and decided to become one of the best students. He succeeded in this plan. After re-enrolling in high school, he passed all classes with excellent grades.

They had a charmer

From singing in the inn to the Opatija festival.

Although he was not interested in natural sciences, Vice, a famous Yugoslav singer and later a politician, decided to study chemistry at the initiative of his parents and encouraged by his good grades. Then he moved from Šibenik to Zagreb.

The capital city delights him and gives him the freedom to devote himself to whatever he wants. He realizes that he does not want to study because of his relatives and parents and that he wants to enroll in something that really interests him. And that was precisely the philosophy. For this reason, the following year he enrolled in philosophy and Italian studies at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb.

His friends could hardly wait for it. They taunted him that he would now start changing colleges like coats. But he was truly satisfied with his new study. He loved participating in polemics and outsmarting his colleagues, who shared a common passion with him. He would say that these, at first decent discussions, often turned into real arguments. But he was extremely grateful to philosophy for teaching him that all truths have multiple angles.

His student life was ordinary. It consisted of joining end to end. Namely, in a tenement apartment of barely four square meters, he lived on the money his parents sent him, which was just enough to cover all basic living expenses. He sometimes spent what little he had left on books, and in his free time he sang in the "Ivan Goran Kovačić" student choir.

With a company from the choir, he would often go to the Zagreb cafe "Gradski podrum", where, with glasses of wine, they would sing dear Dalmatian, Zagorje and other songs. The staff was not impressed with their performance and often scolded them. Nevertheless, the guests liked the performances. Among them was Danica Markulin, music editor at Radio Zagreb. She noticed Vica's good voice and offered him to come to the audition. However, Vice did not like fun music and ignored the call. But Danica was persistent, she found the address of the choir where he sang and sent him an official invitation. Vice agreed to come to a test shoot.

A few months after that, he received an invitation to perform at the Opatija festival. The festival launched him among the biggest Yugoslav stars. Together with Duško Jakšić, he sang the composition "Mirno teku rijeka" which was the winner that evening. Overnight, he gained many female fans, and soon became the most popular face on the TV screen in Yugoslavia. It seemed as if nothing could diminish his glory. But the end of the 60s brought big changes...

From the basement to the festival

Vice Vukov, then a young singer who achieved dizzying success a few years earlier by singing his hit composition "Mirno teku rijeki" (Smoothly Flowing Rivers) at the Opatija festival, was known for his patriotism and expression of feelings that were considered "nationalistic" in the former state.

He was first declared politically suspect in 1967 at the Krapin Festival. There he sang the winning song "Vužgaj", during which he wore a Zagorje costume.

After accepting the prize for winning the festival, he said that it was "a special honor for him to wear that beautiful Croatian costume". Immediately afterwards, he becomes a politically dubious personality. After participating in the "Song of the Summer" festival in 1968, the government at the time claimed that Vice, dissatisfied with the defeat at the competition, said that the tickets "were given to Serbian officers" while "Croatian Zivaj watched the performance behind the wire". Most of the Yugoslav performers who participated in the she publicly took Vic's side at that festival. They claimed that Vice never said such a thing. Some of them were Mišo Kovač, Arsen Dedić, Lola Jovanović and Đorđe Marjanović.

At the next festival in which he participated - "Song of Summer", he refused to wear a badge with the name of the festival written on the label. He stated that in every republic he wants to wear a badge with the language and script of that republic. After that, the Belgrade newspapers declared him a nationalist, but the authorities have not yet succeeded in indicting him. In 1970, he performed again at the Krapina Festival, in front of Tito. The organizers insist that the ribbon with the Croatian tricolor be turned upside down so that it resembles the Yugoslav one. Vice refused.

Also, in the same year at a concert in Postire on Brač, according to the media of the time, Vice, when asked by the audience to repeat his aria from the opera Zrinski, said:
- You want Zrinjski, don't you? Don't be afraid: I think about it more than you! - and then adds: - And where are the sabers? It doesn't work without that... - while waving his hands in the air.

After that, he became a symbol of the Croatian Spring and was banned from any public activity in Yugoslavia. His records are withdrawn from sale, and his singles are removed from the radio charts.

Croatian spring

Dijana stood by Vica even in his most difficult moments.

Vice, a famous Croatian singer and politician, met his future wife Dijana in 1958 when he was going to study in Zagreb. Back then it was very expensive to study and live in the capital of Croatia. Vice lived in a small studio apartment where he only had a bed and a chair, and he kept his suitcase under the bed. In order to bathe, he had to go to the public bathhouse on Kvaternikov Square. But the difficult life situation did not diminish his charm and charisma. He meets Dijana at one of the rehearsals of the student choir "Ivan Goran Kovačić". She was beautiful, educated and, just like Vice, she liked to discuss philosophy, books... The topics for conversation were inexhaustible, and the sympathies were mutual.

After six months, they met each other's parents, and a few years later, they got married. At the wedding, Diana wore a distinctive silk wedding dress with hand-painted soft yellow flowers that Vice brought her from Poland.
They start their life together in a Zagreb attic, in a small studio apartment left to them by their aunt. They didn't have a phone there, so when Vice started his singing career, Dijana ran to the post office every morning to call Jugoton and Radio Zagreb and arrange Vice's meetings and recordings.

Their son Emil was born the following year. Political persecutions began slowly, and Vice was also targeted. After a tour in Australia, Vice, fearing persecution, flies to Paris instead of Yugoslavia. Their shared apartment is ransacked, records are withdrawn from sale, and hits are pulled from radio stations. Going back becomes impossible.

But Dijana stays by Vica's side even in his most difficult moments. They could see each other only during the summer and winter holidays, but their love was not affected by this. Dijana drove every summer to Mestre, where Vice and her mother would wait for her, who would pick up Emil and take him to Split. The young couple would continue to Paris. In the winter, Dijana and her child traveled by train to the meeting place. They would often see each other in Austria and Germany.

Dijana and Emil happily welcomed Vica's return to Yugoslavia in 1976. A son Ivan was born to the spouses, and ten years later a granddaughter Vito. Diana stayed by her husband's side even during the difficult period before his death. Namely, Vice had an accident during his parliamentary mandate. He fell on the stairs and injured his head, after which he had to undergo surgery. Although at first everything seemed to go well, he suddenly fell into a coma from which he did not wake up for more than two and a half years.

From poor student days, through incredible fame, until political persecution, forced emigration and return to a country that does not recognize that Vice exists, a sudden return to the scene, a political career and a long struggle for life, wife Dijana always stood by her beloved Vica .

A twelve-year ban on singing

How did Vice sell out thirteen concerts in the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall?

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They had a charmer

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