Big Ben
If anyone was stealing girls’ hearts with their music in the 1980s and early 1990s, it was undoubtedly the Nova Gorica pop quartet Big Ben. The group was founded in 1983, after returning from compulsory military service in the Yugoslav People’s Army, by the later “king” of romantic pop, Gianni Rijavec. The original lineup included Vladimir Čadež (first tenor), Gianni Rijavec (second tenor), Radovan Kokošar (baritone), and Armando Mariutti (bass). The ensemble existed in two forms: as a rock band and as a vocal quartet performing choral music. Their first manager was Borut Pahor, later Prime Minister and President of Slovenia.
Big Ben pioneered a distinctive style in Slovenian popular music: a romantic, ballad-driven pop sound infused with elements of folk-pop traditions. They gained wider recognition by winning the emerging musicians’ festival Prvi glas Goriške in 1984 with the song Hči ravnatelja, which became a springboard for their future success. Their real breakthrough came with the song Ljubim te, Mateja, performed at the Pop delavnica festival in Ljubljana in 1985, which became a major hit. At the Melodije morja in sonca festival in 1986, they won the award for best debut act with the song Za mano še jokala boš, and in 1988 they triumphed with the audience award for Mladi Joža. They were less successful at Jugovizija with the song Moja Marie, finishing in 17th place. Awards aside, their sales figures were impressive: their first two albums, Lep pozdrav, ciao Mateja (1986) and Mladost je ljubezen (1987), each sold around 40,000 copies.
Among their hits, one should also mention the student anthem Nancy iz Ljubljane, featuring the cult line: “When I passed the exam, we went out drinking.” Until 1994, they released a new LP, cassette, or CD every year. Their first CD release as Big Ben Hit Quartet was the vocal album Nobody Knows… (1991). Over the years, the lineup changed frequently. Other members included Bor Zuljan, Etbin Tutta, Carlos Valderrama, Karlo Batistič, Sandi Blažič, Igor Peternelj, and Sandi Kokošar; of the original lineup, only Gianni Rijavec (vocals) and Vladimir Čadež (keyboards) remained. After a long hiatus, the group reunited in a new formation in 2006. In an interview for Primorske novice, Gianni Rijavec highlighted their performance at Jugovizija—where they represented Slovenia in the Yugoslav selection for Eurovision in Belgrade—as one of the highlights of their career. They also fondly remember their tours across Europe, the USA, Canada, and Australia.
Avtor: Jaša Bužinel