Page 12 - Glasbenopedagoški zbornik Akademije za glasbo v Ljubljani / The Journal of Music Education of the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, leto 9, zvezek 18 / Year 9, Issue 18, 2013
P. 12
AN ADAMIÈ (1912–1995)
Adamiè continued to work as a radio editor and assistant manager, as well as a
committed and multitalented radio musician, which allowed him a certain degree of
artistic license. He managed to shape the programme profile of the orchestra by
conforming minimally to the directives and was even able to write a number of
compositions and arrangements for them. One of their first significant appearances,
actually the first jazz concert in postwar Yugoslavia, took place in 1947 in Belgrade.
There were numerous employees of the American embassy in the audience, who
applauded loudly; as a result, the orchestra leadership had to undergo brainwashing
treatment and were ordered to renounce jazz. At that time jazz bore the brunt of capitalist
propaganda and was publicized as music without aesthetic or artistic value. As a former
partisan, Adamiè was spared some of the consequences of the incident by the authorities,
but not for long. Soon after the concert in Belgrade (probably by the end of 1947, right
before Informbiro) and after the dispute he had with the then manager of the Radio, who
disapproved of his music, the government issued a decree that sent him to Albania for
“re-education”. In other words, the problems of the orchestra related to socialist ideology
intensified in Ljubljana as well. Newspaper articles critical of the orchestra and jazz in
general appeared frequently, thus putting significant pressure on the Ljubljana Radio
management, which almost led to the disbanding of the orchestra who were described as
“the main pollutant of the Slovenian soul”.27 The Radio management almost succumbed to
public pressure, but eventually found a solution by sending Adamiè to forced
“re-education”. Conducting the local radio orchestra was the highlight of his stay in
Albania. His so-called captivity lasted for several months. Trapped in the back of beyond
he was unable to obtain any information about the current political situation at home. It
seemed as if he had been completely forgotten, seeing that the contacts that he was obliged
to keep with the political authorities in Belgrade became more infrequent month after
month. Apparently, the people responsible for Adamiè’s fate were preoccupied with the
developments around Informbiro, so they ignored his appeals regarding his unbearable
circumstances. He was released from this peculiar captivity due to a tragic coincidence.
Some strangers had burned down his hotel room, so he sent a report about the incident to
Belgrade and obtained permission to return to Ljubljana. On his return home, he had to
write a report on the matter, which the authorities stigmatized as a science fiction story.28
The struggle for the recognition of jazz continued even after the radio stations literally
erased Soviet music from their programmes and returned to domestic tunes, and even
though popular music was spreading throughout the country thanks to the American film
industry.29 Around 1949 Adamiè produced a clearly defined plan for PORL. His
programme reveals an excellent grasp of the then circumstances and potential for progress
in the Slovenian music scene. He planned to direct the orchestra in a variety of activities
such performing dance music live on central radio, accompanying the popular songs and
chansons of the so-called Je ek group in the Union Hotel’s concert hall in Ljubljana,
performing “Soviet and in part partisan songs, proper chansons”, playing and recording
27 Accessible at http://www.bojan-adamic.si/razmisljanja/#o-svoji-maturi, October 21st, 2012.
28 Peter Lukoviæ, »Veèni fant s trobento. Paberki iz ivljenja in dela Bojana Adamièa«, Nedeljski dnevnik;
issued in installments from August 13th to December 18th, 1988.
29 From Adamiè’s memoirs, compare with www.bojan-adamic.si/ (accessible: May 29th, 2012); also
compare the discussion with Adamiè in Nedeljski dnevnik, Petar Lukoviæ, »Veèni fant s trobento”,
Nedeljski dnevnik, November 20th, 1988.
12
Adamiè continued to work as a radio editor and assistant manager, as well as a
committed and multitalented radio musician, which allowed him a certain degree of
artistic license. He managed to shape the programme profile of the orchestra by
conforming minimally to the directives and was even able to write a number of
compositions and arrangements for them. One of their first significant appearances,
actually the first jazz concert in postwar Yugoslavia, took place in 1947 in Belgrade.
There were numerous employees of the American embassy in the audience, who
applauded loudly; as a result, the orchestra leadership had to undergo brainwashing
treatment and were ordered to renounce jazz. At that time jazz bore the brunt of capitalist
propaganda and was publicized as music without aesthetic or artistic value. As a former
partisan, Adamiè was spared some of the consequences of the incident by the authorities,
but not for long. Soon after the concert in Belgrade (probably by the end of 1947, right
before Informbiro) and after the dispute he had with the then manager of the Radio, who
disapproved of his music, the government issued a decree that sent him to Albania for
“re-education”. In other words, the problems of the orchestra related to socialist ideology
intensified in Ljubljana as well. Newspaper articles critical of the orchestra and jazz in
general appeared frequently, thus putting significant pressure on the Ljubljana Radio
management, which almost led to the disbanding of the orchestra who were described as
“the main pollutant of the Slovenian soul”.27 The Radio management almost succumbed to
public pressure, but eventually found a solution by sending Adamiè to forced
“re-education”. Conducting the local radio orchestra was the highlight of his stay in
Albania. His so-called captivity lasted for several months. Trapped in the back of beyond
he was unable to obtain any information about the current political situation at home. It
seemed as if he had been completely forgotten, seeing that the contacts that he was obliged
to keep with the political authorities in Belgrade became more infrequent month after
month. Apparently, the people responsible for Adamiè’s fate were preoccupied with the
developments around Informbiro, so they ignored his appeals regarding his unbearable
circumstances. He was released from this peculiar captivity due to a tragic coincidence.
Some strangers had burned down his hotel room, so he sent a report about the incident to
Belgrade and obtained permission to return to Ljubljana. On his return home, he had to
write a report on the matter, which the authorities stigmatized as a science fiction story.28
The struggle for the recognition of jazz continued even after the radio stations literally
erased Soviet music from their programmes and returned to domestic tunes, and even
though popular music was spreading throughout the country thanks to the American film
industry.29 Around 1949 Adamiè produced a clearly defined plan for PORL. His
programme reveals an excellent grasp of the then circumstances and potential for progress
in the Slovenian music scene. He planned to direct the orchestra in a variety of activities
such performing dance music live on central radio, accompanying the popular songs and
chansons of the so-called Je ek group in the Union Hotel’s concert hall in Ljubljana,
performing “Soviet and in part partisan songs, proper chansons”, playing and recording
27 Accessible at http://www.bojan-adamic.si/razmisljanja/#o-svoji-maturi, October 21st, 2012.
28 Peter Lukoviæ, »Veèni fant s trobento. Paberki iz ivljenja in dela Bojana Adamièa«, Nedeljski dnevnik;
issued in installments from August 13th to December 18th, 1988.
29 From Adamiè’s memoirs, compare with www.bojan-adamic.si/ (accessible: May 29th, 2012); also
compare the discussion with Adamiè in Nedeljski dnevnik, Petar Lukoviæ, »Veèni fant s trobento”,
Nedeljski dnevnik, November 20th, 1988.
12
