ANDREJ BAŠA

Born: February 10th, 1950, Ljubljana, Slovenia (Yugoslavia)
Nationality: Croatian

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

Andrej Baša is a songwriter, arranger and record producer who grew up in Rijeka. He studied composition and conducting in Ljubljana and Osijek. From the early 1970s onwards, he became involved in composing songs, of which he has written more than 750. Compositions of his were performed by Tereza Kesovija, Laterna, and Radojka Šverko at the Split Festivals. Baša also participated as a songwriter or arranger in other Croatian music contests, including the Zagrebfest, the Croatian Adria Melodies Festival, the Zadar Festival, and the Opuzen Festival. In 1978, he opened a recording studio. In 2000, he produced the Croatian Children’s and Youth Festival’, held in New York.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

With Đorđe Novković, Baša wrote music and lyrics to ‘Don’t ever cry’ for the group Put. This song was the first ever that represented Croatia as an independent entity in the Eurovision Song Contest. In the lyrics, Croatia and its inhabitants are urged to persevere in the ongoing war in former Yugoslavia: ‘Don’t every cry, my Croatian sky’. In the pre-selection that was organized for seven Eastern European countries in Ljubljana, the song just made it into the first three who qualified for the international final in Millstreet, Ireland. Andrej Baša wrote the arrangement and conducted the orchestra in Ljubljana and in Millstreet. In spite of its role as a favourite with the bookmakers, ‘Don’t every cry’ only finished fifteenth.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1993 Millstreet

Country – Croatia

Song title – "Don’t Ever Cry"

Rendition – Put (= Naim Ajra / Pater Čučak / Olja Dešić / Vivien Galletta / Anđela Jeličić / Melita Sedić)

Croatian lyrics – Andrej Baša / Đorđe Novković 

English lyrics – R. Garlick / Sergio Popovski

Composition – Andrej Baša / Đorđe Novković

Studio arrangement – Andrej Baša

Live orchestration – Andrej Baša

Conductor – Andrej Baša

Score semi-final – 3rd place (51 votes) & qualified

Score final – 15th place (31 votes)