Yesterday, news broke in the media that Bajaga i Instruktori’s performance in Sisak, scheduled for City Day, had been canceled.
Their manager, Dragoslav Gane Pecikoza, addressed the issue, explaining that they received a sudden explanation from the city administration that the city no longer had the funds for their performance, despite the contract being signed in January.
“We’ve performed in Sisak before, and everything went smoothly. Now the explanation is that the new government found an empty budget and has no money. I mean, we have no choice. That’s what they said. We’ve had the contract since January, but there’s no reason to sue them or complain,” Pecikoza said.
Also, according to that contract, they are obliged to cover all expenses for the group, but the band decided to withdraw without seeking compensation.
“We said everything was fine and invited everyone who wants to come and listen to Bajaga in Zagreb, at Jarun. We thanked them, hoping that one day, when everything is in order, we will come and play again,” the manager concluded.
Interestingly, the decision to cancel the concert was made after the SDP lost the elections in Sisak, following 12 years in power, and the new city government was taken over by HDZ’s Domagoj Orlić. He had previously stated that the concert would “still be decided upon.”
The former representatives of the government, members of the SDP, also spoke out on the matter, sharply condemning this action by the new government in their statement, claiming that behind it all lies only hatred towards Serbian performers.
“The first week of the new mayor is filled with lies, and the cancellation of Bajaga’s concert is actually an indicator of what Orlić and his associates think about Serbs and about Sisak as an open city,” the SDP emphasized in their statement, adding:
“Orlić first referred to ‘increased risk’ and the inability to provide ‘technical conditions’ for holding the concert. There are no ‘increased risks’ because Bajaga’s concert a few years ago went without any problems, nor is it technically demanding to organize such a concert because Zabranjeno Pušenje performs on the same equipment the night before. However, after media reports, Orlić invented a new lie – that the city administration is in a difficult financial situation. Sisak has been a financially stable city for years, with a rich social and entertainment, concert life that annually attracts a large number of citizens and guests from surrounding cities. Furthermore, Sisak is a city that independently built two sports halls, a city that independently financed the renovation of ‘Ivan Kukuljević’ Elementary School and most of the costs of building the Galdovo Educational Complex, meaning it has financial capabilities, if only one knows what they are doing.”
“On the day of the handover, there were 715 thousand euros in the account, so there is money. However, there would be even more if the largest debts to the City were state debts, those for reconstruction, over 4 million euros. The City financed construction and reconstruction with its own money, and when it requested funds from the relevant ministry – it did not receive the agreed refund. The ministry still owes the City of Sisak the first payment for the renovation of ‘Ivan Kukuljević’ Elementary School, which is over a year and a half overdue, and it’s similar with the construction of the school in Galdovo, and some other projects. All this shows how far the HDZ is willing to go and to use European funding sources for political showdowns. Therefore, the City of Sisak has money and salaries have never been in question, but it is obvious that Orlić needs some more lies to cover up the real reason – the HDZ simply doesn’t like Serbs and Serbian performers,” the SDP concluded in its statement.
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Source: Nova.rs, Photo: ATA Images