Aljoša Buha

Aljoša Buha
Born	(1962-01-04)4 January 1962 Ljubljana, PR Slovenia, FPR Yugoslavia
Died	18 September 1986(1986-09-18) (aged 24) Jablanica, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia
Instrument(s)	bass
Years active	1979–1986

Aljoša Buha (Serbian Cyrillic: Аљоша Буха; 4 January 1962 – 18 September 1986) was a Bosnian musician best known for having played in two bands: Kongres and Crvena Jabuka.

Early life

Aljoša Buha was born in Ljubljana to a Herzegovinian Serb father Krsto Buha from the village of Balabani near Gacko and Slovenian mother Vida Tribušon from Nova Gorica. His parents met and married in Ljubljana where his father had arrived for metallurgy studies at the University of Ljubljana. Shortly after Aljoša's birth, the family moved to Zenica where his father got a job at Zenica Ironworks.

Growing up in Zenica's Pišće neighbourhood, Buha was musically inclined from a young age. With his friend and neighbour from the same apartment building Darko "Cunja" Jelčić, Buha played in a band called Flota. Buha's mother died in March 1980 when Buha was eighteen. After graduating high school in Zenica and going off to serve his mandatory Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) military stint, Buha went to Sarajevo for university studies, enrolling at the University of Sarajevo's Faculty of Philosophy. His widowed father re-married in the meantime and Buha's half-sister Lidija was born in 1982.

While pursuing his studies at the University Sarajevo, Buha was roommates with Haris Burina, a student at the Academy of Performing Arts, who had also arrived in Sarajevo from Zenica.

Musical career

Kongres

In 1982, twenty-year-old Buha started playing bass in the newly-founded new wave / synth-pop band Kongres (Congress) in Sarajevo. Formed and run by Adam Subašić, a twenty-four-year-old drummer from Sanski Most who had, much like Buha, arrived to Sarajevo for university studies, the band also featured vocalist and guitarist Mahir Purivatra, keyboardist Dado Džihan, and second vocalist Emir Cerić. The band often crossed paths on the Sarajevo scene with Zabranjeno Pušenje and Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors, two young bands behind the budding New Primitive club scene in the city, however, since Kongres' sound and stylistic sensibility didn't overlap much with New Primitivism, the association always remained a cursory one.

By 1984, Džihan and Cerić left Kongres while Edo Gradinčić joined as Džihan's replacement. Throughout the summer of 1984, the band recorded their debut album Zarjavele trobente in RTV Sarajevo's studio. Produced by Mahmud "Paša" Ferović, the album was released by Diskoton in October 1984.

Crvena Jabuka

Aljoša Buha was recruited in Crvena Jabuka in 1986 as a bass player. He was also among the other members Darko Jelčić, Dražen Žerić, Dražen Ričl, and Zlatko Arslanagić. Aljosa played bass on the band's self-titled debut album.

On 18 September 1986 Crvena Jabuka went to the concert in Mostar that would put their skills to the test and prove their popularity. Near Jablanica Aljoša Buha died in a car accident, along with Dražen Ričl. He died immediately with severe wounds and Ričl was transported to Belgrade in a helicopter and died 13 days thereafter.

Buha was buried in his hometown of Zenica.

References

• "Bend s planeta Zemlja Dražen Žerić – Žera, pevec zasedbe Crvena jabuka". 7dni. 11 February 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2009.
• OGNJEN TVRTKOVIĆ (30 March 2000). "Skladbu "Zarjavele trobente" napisali su Subašić i Buha, a "Zemlja pleše" Sepe i Strniša". Vjesnik (in Croatian). Retrieved 30 November 2009.
• "Nova plošča – Oprosti što je ljubavna". Si21. 17 July 2005. Retrieved 30 November 2009.
• "Crvena jabuka bodo prestolnico obarvali rdeče". Dnevnik. 28 March 2007. Retrieved 30 November 2009.