A Tuesday afternoon music lesson from Total Split.
It’s a rainy Tuesday, and the piercing bura wind is raging full force. Because many of us in Split are confined to the comfort of our beds, blankets, and bathrobes this afternoon, we thought a little music could accompany your bedside cup of tea.
In our latest series, Total Split will dive into the music icons of Split. Today, we will begin with a band whose songs you’ll hear from the walls of Kuka to the games of Hajduk - Daleka Obala.
Daleka Obala, which translates to “distant coast”, is a Split rock band founded in 1985 by Marijan Ban, Jadran Vušković, Boris Hrepić and Zoran Ukić.
It took a while for the band to get material together, however, and their first concert wasn’t held until 1988. Precisely, on November 27, 1988, Daleka Obala launched their music career into the eyes of the Split public at the Golden Gate Cinema inside of Diocletian’s Palace. Some of you may know this area better as the famous “Ghetto”.
The premiere performance by the band aroused great interest, and popularity quickly followed due to the specificity of their music. The following year, after over 50 concerts in Split and the surrounding area, Daleka Obala recorded demos for the independent publishing house 'Luxor'.
The 90s, though, were the golden era for the group.
In 1990, Daleka Obala participated in a music festival in Subotica, Serbia, where they performed the song “Valovi” (“Waves”), which now has nearly 300K views on YouTube. This was also the year the band would record their first self-titled album for Zagreb record label 'Suzy'.
Not long after in 1992, Daleka Obala released another album, “Ludi mornari dolaze u grad” (“Crazy sailors come to town”), which the band had been working on since the end of 1990. This was the first album by the band released on Croatia Records.
From this point on, the band released several more albums on Croatia Records including “Mrlje”, “Morski Pas”, “Di si ti”, and the final album by the group which was named “1999-2000”, released in 1999 on Dancing Bear Records. In it, Marijan Ban, the main vocalist, sings only a few songs as Jadran Vušković takes the reigns, and the song "Kurve" was sung by another Split icon and Đavoli frontman Neno Belan.
Because all good things must come to an end, in 2000, the Daleka Obala disbanded. While Marijan Ban, Jadran Vušković and Bogo Soić-Mirilović went on to form a new group named “Marijan Ban and the Others”, this too dissolved. Today, Marjan Ban performs all over Split as a solo artist and is backed by band Diktatori most of the time. We're sure you've seen a show or two of his on the Riva.
To say that Daleka Obala is a music icon of Split is an understatement. The winner of the prestigious Porin award (think the Croatian Grammys) for song of the year and again nominated for the hit of the year, we think it’s safe to say that you would recognize more than a few of their songs while you’re enjoying a coffee at your favorite Riva cafe.
And to gush just a bit more about how much of an icon Daleka Obala is to this city, they dedicated a song to the beating heart of Split, football club Hajduk Split, which has become an anthem for the club. The song, titled ”Bila boja" (“white color” for Hajduk’s shirts) was sung for the first time on the 48th anniversary of Torcida. The band never officially released the song otherwise.
