Page 236 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes | Composers’ Societies Past and Present
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Composers’ Union during their congress in 1959. Finally, during the 1950s
to 1970s, SAKOJ sent delegates, primarily musicologists, two per confer-
39
ence, to the Soviet Union.
Yugoslav organizations aimed to showcase their diverse activities, as
well as music of various genres. Popular music was also represented in this
context. We will mention the tour of the Entertainment Orchestra of Radio
Television Belgrade, under the direction of Vojislav Bubiša Simić (b. 1924),
which took place in the USSR from July 1 to August 15 in 1961. It was an-
nounced that 36 concerts would be held with soloists such as Lola Novak-
ović (1935–2016), Anica Zubović (b. 1932), and Predrag Gojković (1932–2017).
The tour was organized based on the cultural convention between Yugo-
slavia and the USSR. The domestic correspondent of Borba newspaper
40
praised the orchestra for achieving a great triumph, highlighting that at the
concert held on July 14 , it received an applause that no other visiting Eu-
th
ropean orchestra had:
Long after the three-hour program, in the packed hall of the largest pa-
vilion of the ‘Hermitage’ Summer Garden, ovations could be heard for
eighteen performers and soloists Anica Zubović, Lola Novaković, Pre-
41
drag Gojković and Krsto Petrović.
After the concert in “Hermitage”, the Entertainment Orchestra of RTV
Belgrade gave concerts the next day in Gorky Park and the stadium of Di-
namo in front of 20.000 listeners. 42
On the flip side, delegates from the USSR also came to Yugoslavia. The
secretary of the Union of Composers of the Soviet Union, Tikhon Nikola-
jević Khrenikov (1913–2007), visited Yugoslavia in September 1964 to ne-
gotiate musical exchange between the two federations. This was followed
43
by the delegation of regular guests to the USSR from all the republics of
the SFRY, and for example in 1970 the following guests were: composers
Jakob Jež (1928–2022) from the Slovenian Composers’ Association, Branko

38 AJ, fond 559 FCICL, b. 111, f. 244.
39 AJ, fond 142 SSRNJ, b. 82, f. 327.
40 Anon., “Turneja Zabavnog orkestra RTV Beograd po SSSR,” Borba, 13 June, 1961, 7.
41 Anon., “Veliki uspeh Zabavnog orkestra RTV u Moskvi,” Borba, 15 July, 1961, 6.
42 These tours under his direction continued in the following years, as he recounts in
his autobiographical book Sentimental journey (Sentimentalno putovanje) reflecting
on the warm reception he received as a Yugoslav artist in the USSR. See: Vojislav
Bubiša Simić, Sentimentalno putovanje (Beograd: Clio, 2010), 162–4.
43 “Vesti iz Saveza kompozitora Jugoslavije,” Bilten saveza kompozitora Jugoslavije, no.
2 (February 1964): 2.

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