Comeback of the Week: Marko Perković Thompson

There's nothing in the papers yet, but the Gazette's Slavonian grapevine reports that Marko Perković Thompson's long-awaited new album will be released on 9 December. (Surprisingly, perhaps, they've missed the opportunity to release it on the anniversary of Gotovina's arrest, which would be about twelve hours from now.)

Gotovina's arrest, in fact, was one of the excuses for Bilo jednom u Hrvatskoj (yes, that's Once upon a time in Croatia) running so late; it seems they haven't delayed it yet again to account for whatever may or may not end up happening to Branimir Glavaš.

Thompson's official site now pictures the album cover and gives a complete tracklisting for the album, and will be releasing an extra set of lyrics every day before the 9th.

Along with the three pre-released hits - Dolazak Hrvata (The coming of the Croats), Tamo gdje su moji korijeni (There where my roots are) and Lipa Kaja (Pretty Kaja) - we're in for nine more songs with the usual mix of medieval personalities (King Zvonimir making his second appearance in the Thompson repertoire after 1993's Anica, kninska kraljica), heavenly figures, and disaffected soldiers from the Homeland War.

And all in time for the Christmas market, too...

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.