Who Is Momčilo Bajagić Bajaga

Momčilo Bajagić Bajaga (Bjelovar, 19 February 1960) is a Serbian singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer, best known as the founder and frontman of Bajaga i Instruktori. Before he turned to his own songs, he was the rhythm guitarist of one of the most popular Yugoslav rock bands, Riblja Čorba.

His songs combine pop-rock melodies with short, often witty and poetic images from everyday life. For that reason they are tied to Belgrade, but also to the entire area of the former Yugoslavia. Bajaga also wrote music for films, theater plays and television series, and wrote songs for other performers.

From his first album “Pozitivna geografija” (1984) to the anniversary tour marking four decades of his career, his band has kept a wide audience. That is why it is today counted among the longest-lasting and most influential groups in the region.

Early Life and Childhood

Momčilo Bajagić was born on 19 February 1960 in Bjelovar, in the then Socialist Republic of Croatia, part of Yugoslavia. The public nonetheless knows him above all as a Belgrade author, because he grew up and went to school in the capital.

Information about his parents and family origins has not been reliably confirmed in a larger number of credible sources, so this text leaves it out. Bajaga himself rarely discusses private topics in interviews, and happily talks about music and about the city he celebrated in many of his songs.

Journalist Dubravka Duca Marković has publicly said that she has known Bajaga since their school days. According to her, he was already talking about guitars and rock music back then.

Education

Bajagić completed primary and secondary school in Belgrade. Information about higher studies or a university degree is not publicly known, and he began working in music as a teenager, so it very early became his main occupation.

Start of Career

His first musical steps were linked to the band TNT, in which he sang around 1974, at the age of only fourteen. As a member of that band he also wrote his first song, “Dvadeseta noć” (“Twentieth Night”).

When TNT broke up in 1976, he joined the band Ofi, led by organist Toma “Ofinger” Stojković. After Stojković left, Bajagić and the remaining members, drummer Dragan “Đera” Đerić and vocalist Živorad “Žika” Milenković, formed the band Glogov Kolac (Hawthorn Stake). Guitarist Rajko Kojić joined them as well.

The first performance in the Banat village of Izbište was also the last, so that group soon fell apart too. The seventeen-year-old Bajagić then turned down Boban Petrović’s invitation to join the disco-funk band Zdravo.

Kojić in the meantime moved to the band S.O.S., and then to Riblja Čorba. Soon he would be the one to recommend Bajaga to his new colleagues.

Years in Riblja Čorba

In 1978, on Kojić’s recommendation, Bajagić was invited to audition for the recently formed Riblja Čorba. The band wanted a rhythm guitarist to tighten its sound. That is how Bajaga became a permanent member of the group led by Bora Đorđević.

With Riblja Čorba he recorded six releases: the studio albums “Kost u grlu” (1979), “Pokvarena mašta i prljave strasti” (1981), “Mrtva priroda” (1981), “Buvlja pijaca” (1982) and “Večeras vas zabavljaju muzičari koji piju” (1984), as well as the live album “U ime naroda” (1982).

He wrote the songs “Ja sam se ložio na tebe”, “Baby, Baby I Don’t Wanna Cry”, “Muzičari koji piju” and “Kad hodaš” on his own. He also co-wrote several of the group’s hits, among them “Dva dinara, druže”, “Nemoj srećo, nemoj danas”, “Kazablanka”, “Evo ti za taksi” and “Dobro jutro”. Among the band members at that time were also bassist Miša Aleksić and drummer Vladimir Golubović.

The song “Kad hodaš” came out as a single on 11 April 1984 and remains one of his most recognizable hits from that period. Bajaga later performed it with Instruktori as well.

Pozitivna Geografija and the Birth of Bajaga i Instruktori

While playing with Riblja Čorba, Bajagić was writing songs that did not suit the hard rock sound of his home band. They were lighter, pop-oriented and often humorous. He therefore decided to record a solo album, without planning to leave the group.

The album “Pozitivna geografija” was recorded in November and December 1983, partly in Bajaga’s apartment and partly in Studio V of PGP-RTB in Belgrade. It was produced by Kornelije Kovač and released at the end of January 1984. The recording involved vocalist Dejan Cukić, bassist Miroslav Cvetković Cvele, drummer Vladimir Golubović and guitarist Stamatović, musicians who would later become the core of Instruktori.

The album featured the songs “Limene trube”, “Tekila gerila”, “Mali slonovi”, “Marlena” and “Pustite me, druže”. Although it came out as a solo release, it was later included in the official discography of Bajaga i Instruktori.

Bajagić initially did not want to promote the record with concerts, but he took the advice of colleagues and journalists. The first show was held at the Kulušić club in Zagreb in April 1984, and soon after, on 21 April, came a concert at Dom Sindikata in Belgrade. The exact date of the Zagreb concert differs among sources (12 and 18 April are mentioned).

The band’s name came about almost by accident. When posters were being printed, Rock magazine editor Peca Popović asked Bajaga what to write, and the band did not yet have a name. Popović then wrote “Bajaga i Instruktori pozitivne geografije” himself, and the name was shortened later. The Zagreb concert was organized by the club’s then music editor Dražen Vrdoljak, and Žika Milenković invited people to the show through a megaphone.

The popularity of Bajaga’s songs led to conflicts inside Riblja Čorba. According to Wikipedia, in July 1984 he was expelled from the group together with Kojić, while some other sources state that he left on his own because he disagreed about the choice of songs for a new album. Sources therefore differ in describing his departure, but they agree that in the same year he began a tour with his new band.

Rise to Popularity

The second album, “Sa druge strane jastuka”, was released on 13 March 1985 and was the first to carry the name Bajaga i Instruktori. Because of the success of the debut release, the band was given unlimited time in Studio 5 of PGP-RTB, then the most advanced studio in the Balkans. The producers were Kornelije Kovač and Saša Habić.

The album included the hits “Zažmuri”, “220 u voltima”, “Ti se ljubiš (na tako dobar način)” and “Dobro jutro, džezeri”. In 1998, experts and readers placed it 13th on the list of the 100 best albums of Yugoslav rock and pop music, published in the book “YU 100”.

Next came the album “Jahači magle” (1986, in some sources 1987), with the song “Svemirska policija”, in which Bajaga and Dejan Cukić shared the vocals. Cukić left the group after that album. Then, in 1988, “Prodavnica tajni” was released, a more melancholic album with the songs “Plavi safir”, “Verujem – ne verujem”, “Godine prolaze” and “Život je nekad siv, nekad žut”.

Thanks to that series of releases, the group found itself at the very top of the Yugoslav rock scene in the mid and late eighties, alongside Bijelo Dugme and Riblja Čorba. Bajaga then played about 200 concerts a year, only in Yugoslavia. According to him, they traveled abroad only to buy instruments or see a concert.

Biggest Successes

Albums and Songs

The band’s discography includes nine studio albums if “Pozitivna geografija” is counted, and the media often mention a larger number, depending on how releases are counted. The most important releases are:

• Pozitivna geografija (1984)
• Sa druge strane jastuka (1985)
• Jahači magle (1986)
• Prodavnica tajni (1988)
• Neka svemir čuje nemir (live album, 1989)
• Muzika na struju (1993)
• Od bižuterije do ćilibara (1997)
• Zmaj od Noćaja (2001)
• Šou počinje u ponoć (2005)
• Daljina, dim i prašina (2012)
• U sali lom (2018)
• Ovaj svet se menja (2020)

The best-known songs include “Tišina”, “Plavi safir”, “Zažmuri”, “Godine prolaze”, “Moji drugovi”, “Sa druge strane jastuka”, “Zmaj od Noćaja”, “Grad” and “Samo nam je ljubav potrebna”. Many of them are sung by generations who did not live through the eighties.

Concerts and Tours

At the end of 2009, the band played three concerts at Belgrade’s Sava Centar, on 28, 29 and 30 December, to mark 25 years of its career. On that occasion Radio Television of Serbia aired a three-part documentary about the group.

At the end of 2018 a major concert followed at Štark Arena, and the next year four performances at Sava Centar with a choir and orchestra. In addition, the band released the live album “U Puli lom – Live at Arena” (2019). Later they performed with philharmonic orchestras and choirs in Belgrade, Skopje and Banja Luka, and the recordings were released on DVD and Blu-ray.

A special moment was the concert at Belgrade’s Ušće on 31 August 2024. According to reports, it gathered tens of thousands of visitors, and some sources mention more than 50,000.

The Nineties and Work Outside Large Stages

The 1990s brought wars and the breakup of the country, and rock music was pushed out of stadiums and large halls. Bajaga later said that they survived because they followed their audience. Many of their fans had then emigrated to the West, so the band spent most of this period playing for the diaspora.

The album “Muzika na struju” (1993) came out in the third year of the wars in the former Yugoslavia. The songs “Gde si”, “Ovo je Balkan” and “Golubica” carry political and anti-war messages. Kristina Kovač, Aleksandra Kovač and Tanja Jovićević took part in recording “Golubica”.

According to discography data, the band was active from 1984 to 1994, and then again from 1996. The album “Od bižuterije do ćilibara” was recorded from August to November 1996 at Vlada Negovanović’s home and released in 1997. The compilation “Neizbrisano” came out the same year, and it included a new recording of the song “Moji drugovi” with Vlada Divljan.

Work on Film and Theater Music

Besides his work with the band, Bajaga wrote music for film, television and theater. He released two solo albums with film music: “Ni na nebu ni na zemlji” (1994), for the film of the same name, and “Profesionalac – Muzika iz filma” (2003), which he recorded with the band Apsolutno romantično. He also composed music for the television series “Otvorena vrata”, and in 2020 the album “Darja – Muzika iz filma “Hotel Beograd”” was released.

As a producer he worked on the debut album of the band Bezobrazno zeleno, “BZ1” (1983), and on the only album by the band Heroji, “88” (1988). He also took part in producing his own releases “Četiri godišnja doba” (1991) and “Muzika na struju” (1993).

He also wrote songs for other performers. Media report that he is the author of songs for Zdravko Čolić, and Čolić’s album “Čarolija” (2003) contained the songs “Biti il’ ne biti” and “Mnogo hvala”, created in collaboration between Bajaga and Bora Đorđević. He wrote theater music among others for the plays “Život Jovanov” and “Radovan III”, which later appeared on the band’s releases as well.

Zmaj od Noćaja, Tašmajdan and the Return to a Large Audience

The album “Zmaj od Noćaja” (2001) was named after a Belgrade street, which bears the name of Stojan Čupić, a hero of the First Serbian Uprising. A bonus disc, “I ja sam Zvezdaš”, came with the album, containing three versions of the song “Zvezda”, dedicated to the football club Red Star.

The concert at Tašmajdan Stadium on 25 May 2002 was the first big stadium show in a long time. According to the weekly Vreme, it gathered about eight thousand visitors, and Bajaga played with an expanded lineup, including guitarist Ljubiša Opačić.

The album “Šou počinje u ponoć” (2005) brought collaborations with guests including Ivana Pavlović, Bebi Dol and folk singer Vida Pavlović. The next studio album, “Daljina, dim i prašina”, was released in 2012, and was announced by the single “Ako treba da je kraj” at the end of October 2011.

Anniversary: 40 Years of Bajaga i Instruktori

To mark four decades since the release of the album “Pozitivna geografija” and since the band’s founding, the tour “Samo nam je ljubav potrebna” was launched in 2024. On 6 April 2024 the group repeated its first concert in Skopje, held at the same place in 1984, and then a show was held in Zagreb, at Tvornica kulture, at which a live album was recorded.

About forty concerts were announced, and the tour included sold-out performances at Zagreb Arena and Pula Arena, as well as concerts in Ljubljana, Maribor, Sarajevo and other cities. The finale was an American tour with nine concerts.

At Ušće, starting with the song “Grad”, Bajaga dedicated the song “Kad hodaš” to his former colleague Bora Đorđević, with wishes for good health. He performed part of the songs with earlier members of the group, among them Miroslav Cvetković Cvele and Vladimir Negovanović Nele.

In 2025 the monograph “Pesme” was also published, collecting 160 of Bajaga’s songs, along with rare photographs and manuscripts. In the same year, on 26 June, the band performed on the main stage of Arsenal Fest.

Canceled Concerts in Croatia

In May 2025, the concert of Bajaga i Instruktori for the Sisak City Day was canceled. The band’s manager Dragoslav “Gane” Pecikoza said they were told by the city administration that the city had no money, although the contract had been signed in January. The portal Tportal noted that the decision was made five days after the HDZ election victory in Sisak.

Media reports also mention other canceled performances, but this text states only the case confirmed in reliable sources. The band continued with performances in Croatia and the region, and Bajaga also holds Croatian citizenship, which he received in 2004.

Private Life

In 1989, Bajaga married Emilija Stoletović. According to available sources, the couple has two children, a son Marko and a daughter Anđela. The same sources state that they divorced in 2022, after 33 years of marriage.

He is known as an author who rarely speaks about his private life. In interviews he stresses that his career brought him a lot of good, but also took away time spent with his family.

On 27 December 2021, Bajaga was elected a member of the Assembly of the Red Star Belgrade Basketball Club for a five-year term. He is a Red Star supporter, and dedicated the song “Zvezda” to the club.

Interesting Facts

• The band’s name came about through improvisation: editor Peca Popović wrote the name on the poster for the first concert himself, and the band later shortened it.
• Bajaga played the first show with the album “Pozitivna geografija” as “Bajaga (ex Riblja Čorba) and band”.
• Bajaga’s first original lyrics, the song “Dvadeseta noć”, were written when he was around fifteen.
• To mark 40 years of the album “Pozitivna geografija”, a reissue on gold vinyl was released, and the record “Sa druge strane jastuka” was reissued as well.
• Regarding the song “Ruski voz”, which mentions Kharkiv, Gomel and Leningrad, Bajaga said that he wrote the lyrics more than thirty years earlier and does not plan to change them.
• He is known for his tolerant views, and Vreme described him as an example that even in this region it is possible to listen to the other side.

Awards and Recognition

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić decorated Bajaga in February 2021, on Statehood Day, with the Order of Karađorđe’s Star. The same order was given at that time to Bora Đorđević, Goran Bregović and director Predrag Gaga Antonijević.

In the same year, at the closing of the Sterija Theater Festival in Novi Sad, he received the “Strune od svetla” (“Strings of Light”) award, given by the Saša Radonjić Foundation. The jury’s rationale highlights micro-poetic images and a minimalist approach, and stresses that his best lyrics are anthological even without a musical context.

The media also mention the GODUM award, on which occasion Bajaga spoke about the price his career has had on family life.

Legacy and Influence

Bajaga created a recognizable model of the urban pop-rock song in the Serbian language. Short images, humor, nostalgia and love for Belgrade have made his body of work one of the most respected in the region.

His songs have been performed by other singers, and many have become part of the general culture across the former Yugoslavia. Unlike most bands from the eighties, the group has survived every period, and a repertoire sung by three generations of audiences confirms that Bajaga’s influence continues.

The current lineup of Instruktori, according to reports from 2024, consists of Aleksandar Saša Lokner (keyboards), Žika Milenković and Marko Nježić (guitars), Miroslav Cvetković (bass guitar) and Čeda Macura (drums), with Bajaga as lead vocalist and author.

Biography – Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Bajaga?

Bajaga is the stage name of Momčilo Bajagić, a Serbian singer-songwriter, guitarist and founder of the band Bajaga i Instruktori, one of the most successful rock bands of the former Yugoslavia.

When and where was Bajaga born?

Momčilo Bajagić was born on 19 February 1960 in Bjelovar, Croatia, while he grew up and went to school in Belgrade.

Why did Bajaga leave Riblja Čorba?

Sources differ. According to some, he was expelled in July 1984 together with Rajko Kojić because of conflicts caused by the popularity of his songs, while others state that he left on his own because of disagreements over the repertoire.

What are the best-known albums of Bajaga i Instruktori?

The best known are “Pozitivna geografija”, “Sa druge strane jastuka”, “Jahači magle” and “Prodavnica tajni”, as well as the live album “Neka svemir čuje nemir”.

What are Bajaga’s best-known songs?

Among the best known are “Tišina”, “Plavi safir”, “Zažmuri”, “Godine prolaze”, “Moji drugovi”, “Verujem – ne verujem” and “Samo nam je ljubav potrebna”.

Who gave the group Bajaga i Instruktori its name?

The name appeared on the poster for the first concert, when Rock magazine editor Peca Popović wrote it as “Bajaga i Instruktori pozitivne geografije”, and it was shortened later.

Does Bajaga have Croatian citizenship?

Yes, Bajaga received Croatian citizenship in 2004, and he is also a citizen of Serbia.

What awards has Bajaga received?

He is a recipient of the Order of Karađorđe’s Star (2021) and the “Strune od svetla” award, and the GODUM award is also mentioned.

Do Bajaga i Instruktori still perform?

Yes, the band is active after the anniversary tour marking 40 years, and it also performed during 2025, including Arsenal Fest and a concert in Banja Luka.

Zaključak

Momčilo Bajagić Bajaga traveled the path from a young singer in school bands, through the rhythm guitarist of Riblja Čorba, to the leader of one of the longest-lasting groups in the region. The albums “Pozitivna geografija” and “Sa druge strane jastuka” laid the foundations of his success, and later releases, film music and productions confirmed his versatility.

His songs about Belgrade, love and everyday life are still sung by generations, as the concerts marking 40 years of the band best show. That is why Bajaga’s biography remains an important part of the history of Yugoslav and Serbian popular music.