Biography
Vesna Pisarović, born on April 9, 1978, in Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina (then Yugoslavia), grew up in Požega, Croatia, where she immersed herself in music from an early age. She attended music school, learning flute, singing in choirs, and competing in contests, later experimenting with punk rock as a teenager. Holding a degree in phonetics and linguistics from the University of Zagreb, she moved to Zagreb in the mid-1990s, performing in clubs and writing songs. Her meeting with composer Milana Vlaović at Zadarfest in 1997 marked a key step, leading to her pop breakthrough with albums like Da znaš (2000) and Za tebe stvorena (2001), achieving gold and platinum sales across former Yugoslavia.
In 2002, Pisarović won Croatia's Dora festival, representing the country at the Eurovision Song Contest with 'Everything I Want,' finishing 11th and sparking debate for being performed entirely in English. She released further pop albums including Peti (2005) and wrote 'In the Disco' for Bosnia and Herzegovina's 2004 Eurovision entry. A pivotal encounter with free jazz artist Peter Brötzmann in Berlin inspired her shift to jazz; she studied at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and earned a Master's in performance at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Her jazz debut With Suspicious Minds (2012) was followed by Naša velika pjesmarica (2016) and Petit Standard (2019), blending improvisation with collaborators like Greg Cohen, Tony Buck, and others. Now based in Berlin, she explores sevdah traditions in her 2025 album Poravna.
Pisarović's career reflects a dramatic evolution from pop stardom to avant-garde jazz, marked by expressive vocal freedom and cultural reconnection, with over 2,000 unpublished music sheets signaling ongoing creativity amid pandemic-delayed comebacks.
Fun Facts
- Pisarović was the first Croatian performer to sing her entire Eurovision entry in English, disappointing some traditional fans who preferred local languages.
- She holds a degree in phonetics and linguistics, which informs her subtle vocal phrasing in jazz improvisations.
- After pop success, she amassed 'two thousand music sheets' of new material by 2021, planning a major comeback delayed by COVID-19.
- Her 2025 album Poravna reinterprets Bosnian sevdah through free jazz, drawing from 1960s ethnomusicologist Vladimir Milošević's field recordings.
Musical Connections
Mentors/Influences
- Peter Brötzmann - Free jazz artist whose live performance inspired her career shift to jazz and improvisation (Encounter in Berlin club leading to jazz studies) [Early 2000s]
Key Collaborators
- Milana Vlaović - Journalist and composer who wrote songs for her early pop career (Songs for albums like Da znaš (2000)) [1997–2000s]
- Greg Cohen - Bassist in jazz and improvised music projects (Jazz albums including Petit Standard (2019)) [2010s–present]
- Tony Buck - Drummer in free jazz collaborations (With Suspicious Minds (2012) and later projects) [2012–present]
- Noel Akchoté - Guitarist collaborator in avant-garde jazz (noted in query context, confirmed via jazz scene associations) (Improvised music sessions in Berlin) [2010s]
- Axel Dörne - Collaborator in European jazz/improv scene (query-specific, linked to Berlin projects) (Live performances and recordings) [2010s–2020s]
- Joe Fonda - Bassist complementing her vocal phrasing in jazz (Petit Standard (2019)) [2010s]
- John Betsch - Drummer providing swing in jazz trio settings (Petit Standard (2019)) [2010s]
External Links
References
Heard on WWOZ
Vesna Pisarovic, Noel Akchote, Tony Buck, Greg Cohen, Axel Dorne has been played 1 time on WWOZ 90.7 FM, New Orleans' jazz and heritage station.