BANJALUKA – After nine years, regional pop star Željko Joksimović held a concert to remember in Banja Luka last night, June 20, and the audience enjoyed the biggest hits, which he revived and gave them new energy.
At the beginning of the evening, he greeted many fans with the song “Ljubavi”, and during the rest of the evening, the songs “I didn’t love you because of beauty”, “Mišel”, “Devojka”, as well as new versions of the songs “Lane moje”, “Lđa o zęda” and many others followed.
Joksimović, on the wings of the orchestra, led the audience through more than two hours of great energy at Kastel, which reverberated outside the walls of this fortress.
On that occasion, he said that this concert meant a lot to him.
“First of all, I have to say that I am really happy. I haven’t been to Banjaluka for a long time, but essentially, I haven’t had many concerts lately, so this really means a lot to me,” Joksimović pointed out.
And in the moments when he is revitalizing, that is, he is making new versions of old songs, he is also finishing a new record.
“I saw that the younger generations love everything that was in 2000, and I tried my best to make new versions of old songs. At the same time, I am in the process of finishing a new record, so I have been on a roller coaster for the last month. But I have to say that this concert gave me great strength to finish everything I started preparing in the coming period, more precisely until the fall, so that my big two-year tour will start in December,” says Joksimović.
By the way, he recently launched a new project called “Summer Viber ’26”, in which he gave old hits a summer vibe.
“I had the idea to re-record my hits, that is, to give them a new outfit and to put them in a summer vibe. I’ve been doing that for the last month, and on the initiative of my dear godmother and PR Sandra Radujko, who came to me and said: ‘People love these songs’. I kind of know that for sure, but it’s very difficult to dare to touch something that’s already good after 24 or 25 years,” he points out.
And so, as he says, he started this whole story with his friend and producer Darko Dimitrov.
“He is a great producer from Macedonia and my friend for more than 20 years, so I decided to make new versions of the songs with him. We worked with AI in the sense that I was at sea, on a ship, and at the moment of sunset I said: ‘Record, please, with a mobile phone’. I enjoyed that remix and then AI, who actually edited that video, made that whole vibe very beautiful and I liked it. Basically, all the songs that will be appeared in the coming period, it will not be music videos, but my comment on how those songs sound today”, explains Joksimović, adding that the audience accepted it very well.
He also spoke about the cooperation with this year’s Eurovision winner. By the way, Dara conquered Europe with the song “Bangaranga”, and her triumph was preceded by a collaboration with Željko Joksimović.
“This year, ‘Eurovision’ is celebrating its 70th anniversary and they created a new section within ‘Eurovision’, and that is for each country to choose a song that they like, which they publish on their YouTube channel, and on all digital sound carriers these days. I received an invitation from my colleague and friend Dimitris Kodopoulos from Greece,” he says.
As he says, he called him and said: “Željko, we chose it to be your song from Serbia”.
“I was flattered that Dimitris and Dara wanted to do it, and I wished the girl luck. That song, at first listen, was very strange. However, as time went on, I realized that the song had a magic, a mantra that was actually completely accepted all over the world. That word ‘bangaranga’, which did not exist, became an official word. It entered the vocabulary. In that sense, big congratulations, and whether I was true to her – really I don’t know. But I’m glad because that girl is full of life and she was actually the happiest because I agreed to work, because her parents grew up with my music,” said Joksimović with a smile.
He also answered the question of what is the secret of the fact that he succeeds in awakening people’s emotions at every concert, but also the fact that everyone returns to old songs.
“Driving around Belgrade for the past year, I’ve been constantly listening to old songs. And then I thought, are we a people who live in the past? That’s a big problem. I live for a good part of the year in Athens, and new songs are constantly on the radio there. People learn them, the music goes on, the arrangements change. We are still, it seems, in the past. Now, thanks to the people around me, in my team, I’ve managed to make old songs, but they sound like they were made today I didn’t take the voice from 2002, or 24-25 years ago, but sang them again. And now it sounds like a new song,” he says.
In the end, he says that we should not live in the past, but turn to the future.
“I said that at the concert: ‘You should face the goal’. Because when the player turns towards the goal, then he has the possibility to score a goal, and when his back is turned, then he does not have that possibility,” concludes Joksimović.
The organizer of this concert is the “Travel 4 Fun” agency.
