One of the main reasons Darko Rundek is so revered in all of former Yugoslavia is his profound simplicity. Or maybe it's his undeniable skill for projecting simplicity through his otherwise emotionally and instrumentally complex music. His live performances can be overwhelming and his stage persona a mystery, yet this Croatian singer-songwriter always sings and writes songs with an erudite clarity that's unrivalled in the Balkans.
All of this can also be said for his latest album, released on Menart Records at the end of 2010, "Plavi avion" ("Blue Airplane"). Rundek recorded this disc with his trio, comprised of him on vocals and guitar, Isabel on violin and Dušan Vranić on percussion. In the track that opens the CD, "Kurdistan", the former front-man of the seminal rock band "Haustor" sings about immigrants, about how they "change trucks after each border" while suspicious guys who guide them count the money. Rundek has always been fascinated by immigrants "Because of their courage to go into the unknown and because of the naive belief that everything is better over there", he told Southeast Europe: People & Culture.
The second track, "U borbi sa silama" ("In Fight with the Forces"), is, as the title suggests, about the struggle with the unknown forces that everyone faces in their daily lives. Rundek sings: "The summer is dark, all are running for shelter, changing plans... But the blacks are still playing, the saints are marching". Rundek says:
"There are no winners in the battle against the forces. That battle always re-shapes us. With some luck and knowledge, that fight can be turned into a dance".
In this modern, globalised time, wishes, expectations but also, failures, are extremely high. In "Sanjala si da si sretna" ("You Dreamt That You’re Happy"), Rundek sings precisely about that. "That dream of happiness is just a reminder that happiness is possible at any moment, simply because we have got this wonderful gift of life. The successes and failures are just casting a shadow on this happiness".
Musicians that, like strangers, wander from one town to another, are often part of Rundek's songs. There's one on "Blue Airplane", titled simply, "Li-La". And when these musicians are, as the singer says, on "the border of madness", the following things can save him: "Love. Coping. Questioning. Trust. Belonging..."
According to Rundek, today, probably more than ever, people are driven by money. In "Para ljude vara" ("Cash Cheats People), Rundek sings that "having cash is in fashion" but also, that "cash rots people". He says that the way out this vicious circle is "if people start to look at money as something foolish". Earning money, working long hours, all of this is a reason for the most common excuse today - "I'm busy".
Rundek treats his songs as linen, a fine textile made of flax fibre. This is something he sings about in the song "Sadimo lan" ("We Plant Linen"). Asked how much energy and commitment he invests in songs after he "plants them", he says: "As much energy I have. And there is always more than we think. That's why we need help from our friends, so they won't let us quit".
Rudek says that one the main inspirations for his new album is the American jazz singer Billie Holiday. He mentions her in the title track, "Plavi avion" ("Blue Airplane"), in which he sings: "Headlights are sailing/ On the wet boulevards/ More and more this town/ Smells of no return". He continues: "Then like a long-term treatment/ I play Billie Holiday". Why? "Because she exposed her emotions so bravely and gently. She sacrificed hers for ours. Enduring without hope. Celebration of the defeat", says Rundek.
In "Ruskaja", the tenth song of the album "Blue Airplane", Rundek uses quotes from Maxim Gorky's short story, "Kestrel". At the heart of this tale are a dying kestrel and a snail, both of which list their qualities and personalities. Asked if today is better to be a kestrel than a snail, Rundek replies in the simplest of ways: "No matter the times, it is always best to be yourself".
Darko Rundek ends his latest album with "Znak" ("Sign") and "Drina", two songs that are an epic tribute and his symbolic way of trying to tell the tragic Balkan story. In one of them, he sings that some people manage to "fly over the red mountain into the distant blue". Wherever this distant blue is, no matter how far it is, after just one listening of his new album, it's clear that everybody is welcomed to come aboard Rundek's "Blue Airplane" and fly with its remarkable musical wings.
