Once There Was An Album

More than a year ago, Croatian singer Marko Perković Thompson announced plans for a new album, Bilo jednom u Hrvatskoj (Once upon a time in Croatia). A title like that suggests a high dose of heroic history and mythic timelessness, which - with emphasis on the 'timelessness' - has already come true. Two new additions to the Perković family delayed recording somewhat, as did the arrest of Ante Gotovina last December, which the Gazette would happily bet inspired some new material.

In the meantime, one Miroslav Škoro has temporarily cornered the market in patriotic, semi-diasporic showbusiness, leaving Thompson with some catching up to do.

Večernji list, however, is reporting that the final work on the album may be completed by the beginning of December. Given Thompson's (controversial) star status in Croatia, such news would surely be gratefully received by his label's executives, if anybody actually knew which label it's going to be coming out on.

Thompson likes to present his guiding themes as 'God, the family and the homeland', and all three look set to be present on Bilo jednom u Hrvatskoj. Sine moj is dedicated to his oldest son Šimun, and a title like Dida i Petrovo Polje (Grandpa and Petrovo Polje) suggests it'll be harking back to Thompson's home region of Dalmatinska zagora.

It would be unprofessional to speculate what grandpa might have said/thought/done at/about Petrovo Polje, but Thompson's previous form might make many people curious about whether and how he'll touch on one of the more historically significant epochs in grandpa's life.