Houdini 1992

featuring JELENA DAMJANOVIĆ,
MIODRAG STANKOVIĆ and DARKO MATIĆ

ESCAPE. EVER SINCE I RETURNED TO BELGRADE IN JANUARY OF 1992, THE SPECTRE OF ESCAPE WAS ALWAYS THERE AT THE BACK OF MY MIND. IT WOULD TAKE TWO KEY EVENTS, HOWEVER, IN THE SPRING OF THE SAME YEAR FOR ME TO ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT I FEARED ALL ALONG, THAT ESCAPE WAS, IN FACT, MY ONLY OPTION.

THE MOMENT I SAW THAT SNIPER SHOOT INTO THE CROWD OF ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATORS IN SARAJEVO ON LIVE TELEVISION, EFFECTIVELY MARKING THE OUTBREAK OF WAR IN BOSNIA, ACADEMIC WORK LOST ALL ITS MEANING FOR ME. ALTHOUGH I CONTINUED TO ATTEND LECTURES, I UNDERSTOOD THAT WAR WAS BACK, MORE INTENSE THAN EVER, AND IT WAS ONLY THROUGH A COMBINATION OF INERTIA AND DENIAL THAT I CARRIED ON LIVING IN BELGRADE FOR ANOTHER FEW WEEKS.

IT IS THE KIND OF DENIAL I IMAGINE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN SERIOUS CAR ACCIDENTS GO THROUGH WHEN MOMENTS BEFORE IMPACT, AS THEY CLEARLY SEE THE OTHER VEHICLE APPROACHING THEM AT SPEED, THEIR MIND STILL CLINGS ON TO THE IDEA THAT SOMETHING LIKE THIS COULD NOT BE HAPPENING. NOT TO THEM.

THIS NIGHTMARE SCENARIO COULD CERTAINLY NOT BE HAPPENING TO ME, ESPECIALLY AT THIS MOMENT WHEN MY MUSIC CAREER SEEMED TO BE THRIVING. AT THE TIME, DŽELA (JELENA MIKLJA, NOW DAMJANOVIĆ), ĆOMI (MIODRAG ‘TOMMY’ STANKOVIĆ) AND I WERE IN THE PROCESS OF RECORDING OUR ALBUM IN MILAN ĆIRIĆ’S STUDIO IN NOVI SAD, BOARDING A BUS EVERY MORNING AND MAKING A 90-KILOMETRE JOURNEY EACH WAY TO THE STUDIO AND BACK. THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF HOUDINI WAS, IN FACT, RECORDED AS PART OF THESE SESSIONS AND WAS THE LAST TRACK WE RECORDED WITH MILAN BEFORE HE RELOCATED TO THE NETHERLANDS.

AFTER ONE LONG DAY AT THE STUDIO, WE WERE ON OUR WAY BACK TO BELGRADE, DŽELA WITH HER SAXOPHONE CASE, ĆOMI WITH HIS GUITAR AND GIANT MARSHALL AMP HEAD AND ME WITH MY CUMBERSOME SYNTH. WE HAD JUST GONE THROUGH A MILITARY POLICE CHECKPOINT ON THE ROAD (ONE OF MANY SET UP ACROSS SERBIA AT THE TIME TO CAPTURE MEN OF MILITARY AGE WHO HAD FAILED TO REPORT FOR ‘MILITARY EXERCISES’, WHICH WAS SERBIAN GOVERNMENT’S EUPHEMISM FOR SHIPPING ITS PEOPLE OFF TO WAR), WHEN A MAN SEATED ACROSS THE AISLE STRUCK UP A CONVERSATION WITH US.

IT WAS THE KIND OF CASUAL CHAT ONE WOULD EXPECT IN A SIMILAR SITUATION ANYWHERE IN THE BALKANS. HE WAS INTRIGUED BY OUR INSTRUMENTS AND ASKED WHAT WE WERE UP TO. HAVING GIVEN HIM A BRIEF ANSWER, I ASKED HIM WHERE HE AND HIS FAMILY WERE FROM AS I NOTICED HIS BOSNIAN ACCENT. HE WAS ACCOMPANIED BY HIS WIFE AND YOUNG DAUGHTER WHO WAS NOT OLDER THAT SIX OR SEVEN. WHAT IMMEDIATELY STRUCK ME ABOUT THEM WAS THAT THE WOMAN AND THE GIRL WERE DRESSED UP FOR THEIR TRIP, WHEREAS THE MAN WAS DRESSED VERY CASUALLY, WEARING ONLY A TRACKSUIT BOTTOM WITH A LIGHT JACKET ON TOP.

HE TOLD ME THAT THEY WERE FROM SARAJEVO AND THAT, AS THE HOSTILITIES BROKE OUT, HE DECIDED TO SEND HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER TO SAFETY TO SOME RELATIVES IN SERBIA AND THAT HE WAS GOING TO STAY IN SARAJEVO TO TAKE CARE OF THEIR APARTMENT UNTIL THINGS CALMED DOWN A BIT.

AND SO THAT MORNING, HIS WIFE AND THEIR LITTLE GIRL GOT READY AND HE GAVE THEM A LIFT TO TO THE MAIN STATION IN THE CITY. AS SOON AS HE GOT THERE AND SAW ALL THE PEOPLE TRYING TO ESCAPE, HOWEVER, THE MAN REALIZED THAT IF HE DIDN’T LEAVE WITH HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER RIGHT THERE AND THEN, HE WOULD PROBABLY NEVER BE ABLE TO LEAVE OR SEE THEM AGAIN. SO HE LEFT EVERYTHING BEHIND, HIS APARTMENT AND HIS CAR AND EVERYTHING HE OWNED, AND IN THIS OUTFIT HE HURRIEDLY SLIPPED INTO THAT MORNING ONLY TO ESCORT HIS FAMILY TO THE STATION, HE BOARDED THE BUS HIMSELF AND LEFT BOSNIA, MOST LIKELY NEVER TO RETURN.

LISTENING TO HIM, I FELT I WAS LIVING IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE, WITH MY BAND OF TRAVELLING MUSICIANS PURSUING FAME AND FORTUNE IN ENTERTAINMENT WHILE PEOPLE AROUND US WERE SCRAMBLING FOR THEIR LIVES. I DON’T REMEMBER HOW WE SAID GOODBYE TO THE MAN AND HIS FAMILY AS WE ARRIVED IN BELGRADE AND I CERTAINLY HOPE THEY ARE ALL SAFE AND WELL TODAY. THE ONLY THING I KNEW AS I GOT HOME THAT NIGHT WAS THAT OUR SONGS, OUR ALBUM OR ANYTHING ELSE NO LONGER MATTERED AND MY ONE AND ONLY PRIORITY WAS TO PLAN MY OWN JOURNEY OUT OF THAT PLACE.

THE SONG WAS NAMED AFTER ONE OF THE GREATEST ESCAPE ARTISTS OF ALL TIME AND IT IS THE FIRST SONG MIODRAG AND I RECORDED TOGETHER IN 2016 AFTER NOT BEING IN TOUCH FOR TWENTY YEARS. I TURNED UP AT HIS DOOR IN SOUTH LONDON ONE DAY IN JANUARY OF THAT YEAR AND AFTER WE DISCUSSED BRIEFLY WHAT I HAD IN MIND, I SET UP MY IPHONE AND RECORDED US PLAYING TOGETHER.

ALL THE GUITAR PARTS THAT ARE IN THE SONG TODAY WERE CONCEIVED THAT AFTERNOON. JELENA ALSO DUSTED OFF HER HARMONIES WITH EASE IN A SINGLE SESSION AT VLADA’S (VLADIMIR NEGOVANOVIĆ) STUDIO IN AUGUST 2016. NADIA AND I HAD LAID DOWN THE BASIC TRACKS IN THE STUDIO IN THE SUMMER OF 2015 WHEN MY NIECE LOLA (LOLA TEREK) ALSO KINDLY ADDED HER PHRASE ON THE FLUTE. DARKO (DARKO MATIĆ) THEN PLAYED THE BASS FROM HIS HOME IN NOVI SAD IN THE SUMMER OF 2016, I RECORDED THE DRUM TRACK AT STUDIO MOUSE IN KIKINDA THAT SAME YEAR AND JUST ADDED A COUPLE OF SYNTH PARTS AT HOME BACK IN LONDON IN 2017 AND IN KIKINDA IN 2018.

When you learn
to believe
in a righteous plan.
To conceive.
The mountain seems much higher
maybe ‘cause you feel so low.
I said: “Welcome to my garden,
tell me something
I don’t already know.”
There’s a word on the wall
mirror in which I can see myself,
see you in the darkness in the corridor.

You listen to the rainfall
disoriented in your own game.
You can shout, you spin and crawl
not realizing they are all the same.
and they won’t leave you alone.

Today, they don’t call you by name.
Tomorrow, they’re gonna give you a number.
Our kingdom is lost.
There’s no picture, just the frame.
Through the looking glass you will see
that this is not a game,
not any more.
The story’s changed.
This you should know.
We’re approaching the end.
I can hear your footsteps.
Real slow.

You listen to the rainfall
disoriented in your own game.
You can shout, you spin and crawl
not realizing they are all the same.

Just like Houdini the Great
I will free myself from these chains
Take off my shoes
I want to stay alive
Not go insane.

You listen to the rainfall
disoriented in your own game.
You can shout, you spin and crawl
not realizing they are all the same.

You listen to the rainfall,
listen to the rainfall...

WRITTEN AND PRODUCED BY DUŠAN TOLMAČ
MASTERED BY eMASTERED

RECORDED IN BELGRADE (2015/2016), NOVI SAD (2016),
LONDON (2017) AND KIKINDA (2016/2018).

RECORDING ENGINEER (BELGRADE/NOVI SAD):
VLADIMIR NEGOVANOVIĆ

ACOUSTIC GUITAR/PIANO/BACKING VOCALS: NADIA ROMERO
ACOUSTIC GUITARS/PIANO/SYNTH/DRUMS/VOCALS: DUŠAN TOLMAČ