Bajaga’s concert in Croatia cancelled: “You sang for the Chetniks”

The concert of Momčilo Bajagić Bajaga, scheduled for 17 October in Koprivnica, Croatia, has been cancelled by the organizers, as the newspaper Danas reports.

The organizers explained in a statement that they were forced to cancel the concert because “unverified and inaccurate information appeared in the public space, which created unnecessary pressure on the performers, partners and organizers”, as Dnevnik.hr writes. The statement does not specify concretely what it is about.

The cancellation comes after the Istrian association of Homeland War volunteers asked the mayor of Pula, Peđa Grbin, to cancel Bajaga’s performance, claiming that “during the war he had performed before the forces attacking Croatia and had sung for the Chetniks”. They asked that a Croatian performer be invited instead of him.

The mayor of Pula replied that in selecting performers, “blood cells” have not been and will not be taken into account.

The Association of Croatian Defenders went even further: last week they called on Croatia’s state institutions to set clear criteria and mandatory vetting of the public activity of foreign performers before their engagement, and asked ministers to propose to the Government rules that “ban entry into Croatia to artists who spread hatred and intolerance, glorify criminals, support aggressive warmongering policies and slander the Croatian nation and state”.