This week Jelena explores the roots of her love of all things musical, and looks ahead to meeting more of her heroes at the imminent Ibiza 123 Festival.
Music is such an important part of my life that I can’t say it louder nor clearer how grateful I am for working in this industry for the past, well… let’s just leave it at ‘a number of years’…
I will be eternally in debt to my parents for the Supremes, the Stones, Janis Joplin, Madness, Dire Straits, the piano lessons, and the choir competitions that gave me such a diverse musical upbringing, all of which have shaped me as a person I am today.
The first live concert I’ve ever gone to was David Bowie’s Sound & Vision while Croatia was at its last breath within the borders of former Yugoslavia in September of 1990. At 14 years of age, I knew music would be my life as Bowie walked onto the dark stage with a single spotlight on him and began with 'Space Oddity'. David Bowie was the first international superstar that played in Croatia, setting a positive precedent and opening the frontiers to many artists in the near future.
Next up were the Pet Shop Boys at the peak of their career in 1991 when I blabbed my way backstage with a TV camera pass already used by some guys that have interviewed Neil and Chris just minutes ago. I didn’t even look close enough to the age of someone working for a TV station, but ended up chatting to the guys and getting my concert tickets autographed, subsequently leaving the venue shaking, breathless and sleepless for the rest of the night. Two decades later, I met the lovely Mitch Clark, also an Ibiza resident, who I heard used to manage the Pet Shop Boys. After chatting to her for a while and reminiscing on my teenage backstage schmoozing, she screamed in awe: “Oh my God, I was there!”
Living in Ibiza, it is virtually impossible to pick the best event to attend on a daily basis. The scene, especially the past couple of seasons, makes it almost necessary to hire a personal assistant to handle one’s daily social agenda. I have been extremely lucky to see, enjoy, meet, dance and cry to many important artists, some of which include Snoop Dogg with Warren G, Robyn, Carl Cox, the Prodigy, David Guetta, Florence and the Machine, Faithless, Grace Jones, Fatboy Slim, Chemical Brothers, Jamiroquai, Danny Tenaglia, Salt ‘n’ Peppa, and Soul II Soul, just to name a few, but there are still some names on my wishlist, and it seems the 2012 summer will be the one to fulfill my dreams.
This last Saturday we had a chance to host Sandy Rivera on the Island and what an extreme pleasure it has been. Not only did I find Sandy to be a warm, down to earth and a lovely person, but have enjoyed his set at a rammed Pacha enormously. The man behind the mega hit ‘Finally’ stayed true to his roots and played a deep and funky house set we’ve almost forgotten about on the White Isle, and I can’t but mention that his ETBG vs. Soulvision ‘Tracey in my Room’ made me realize just how much in love with house music I was back in 2001.
This is Ibiza, not only the electronic music mecca, but the mecca of music in general. Next month the same group of enthusiasts that grace us with the International Music Summit in May, joined forces with Pino Sagliocco – the man behind the idea of joining Monserrat Caballé’s opera voice with Freddy Mercury to perform ‘Barcelona’ at the 1992 Olympics opening ceremony, and now a chairman of the Spanish division of the mega powerful Live Nation – to bring us the Ibiza 123 Festival to be held on the San Antonio waterfront during the first three days of July. I now look old enough to be working for a TV station and, by God, I know my share of Press Officers and Heads of Security to get myself into the backstage and see up close and personal the likes of Sting, Elton John, Lenny Kravitz, etc.
No matter where I may roam this summer, praising music is what I will be doing...
Till next week,
Jelena xx
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