Vlada i Bajka

Vlada i Bajka
Vladimir Marković "Vlada" (left) and Dragutin Balaban "Bajka" (right) performing at the 1973 Opatija festival
Background information
Also known as	Vlada & Bajka
Origin	Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia
Genres	Folk rock, soft rock, pop rock
Years active	1968 – 1975 1993 – 1995 (reunions: 2011)
Labels	PGP-RTB, PGP-RTS, Jugoton Beograd
Past members	Vladimir Marković Dragutin Balaban

Vlada i Bajka (Serbian Cyrillic: Влада и Бајка; trans. Vlada and Bajka) were a Serbian and former Yugoslav acoustic music duo from Belgrade, consisting of Vladimir Marković "Vlada" and Dragutin Balaban "Bajka".

The duo Vlada i Bajka was formed in 1968 by the childhood friends Vladimir Marković "Vlada" and Dragutin Balaban "Bajka", both playing acoustic guitars and singing lead and backing vocals, after becoming members of the AKUD (Serbian for amateur cultural-artistic society) Branko Krsmanović, being one of the pioneers of the Serbian acoustic rock scene. Three years later, in 1971, with the AKUD Branko Krsmanović, the two went on a United States tour, simultaneously performing as a duo in university clubs the material consisting of cover versions of Simon & Garfunkel songs. Having returned from the USA, the two recorded a cover version of the Simon & Garfunkel song "The Sound of Silence", with lyrics in Serbian language entitled "Zvuk tišine" ("The Sound of Silence"), and with the song recording they won the competition on the Studio VI vam pruža šansu (Studio VI Gives You a Chance) radio show, getting the opportunity to release a single.

Their debut single, released by PGP-RTB in 1971, featured "Zvuk tišine" as the single B-side, whereas the A-side was yet another Simon & Garfunkel cover version, "Cecilia". At the time, they had also established a good relationship with Radio Belgrade, often performing live in the studio during the evening program, as well as the television shows Serija koje nema (A Series that is Gone) and Pozdravite sve kod kuće (Say Hello to Everyone at Home). With Marković's songs, the duo also appeared at the major Yugoslav popular music festivals: the 1973 Opatija festival, with the song "Dok te gledam" ("While I am Looking at You"), the 1973 Festival Omladina, with the song "Lutanja" ("Wanderings") and the 1974 Belgrade Spring festival, with the song "Novi svet" ("New World"). Following the release of a four track EP Dok te gledam, the songs "Lutanja" and "Novi svet" were released on single by PGP-RTB in 1973.