Ambasadori (The Ambassadors) were a Yugoslav schlager pop band from Sarajevo, active from 1968 until 1980.

The band is most notable for their 1975 hit single , as well as for representing Yugoslavia at the Eurovision Song Contest 1976 with "Ne mogu skriti svoju bol"—both times with on vocals. They are further notable for the 1977 hit single "Dođi u pet do pet", this time with Jasna Gospić as the vocalist. Additionally, the band gained retroactive notability for having two of their lead singers—Zdravko Čolić (sang with the band from 1969 until 1971) and Hari Varešanović (from 1979 until 1980)—later go on to Yugoslav pop stardom in their respective solo careers.

History

Ambasadori were founded in Sarajevo in 1968 by two military brass band musicians—keyboardist Robert Ivanović and trombonist Srđan Stefanović—both holding military rank as active officers of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). In fact, Ivanović had arrived in Sarajevo shortly prior via being reassigned (prekomanda) from a JNA unit in Belgrade. At the time of the band's launch, both Ivanović and Stefanović were additionally participating in the Sarajevo military orchestra.

They soon brought in guitarist , a Fojnica-born and Sarajevo-raised hobbyist musician who had simultaneously been pursuing mechanical engineering studies at the University of Sarajevo. In-between his university obligations, Vujović often hung around Dom Milicije (Police House) that provided free on-site instruments for the musically-inclined youth, which is where Ivanović and Stefanović met him and got him to join their group.

Ambasadori obtained their first instruments and sound equipment by purchasing them from a travelling Bulgarian ensemble that had been performing at Sarajevo's Hotel Evropa. Still mostly a cover band at this stage, their repertoire centered around the 1960s rhythm & blues covers (Chicago, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, etc.) along with more covers of obligatory Yugoslav hits of the day and years past, and finally even a few original numbers written by the band members thrown into the mix.

Their very first performance took place in May 1969 in Sarajevo's Dom JNA (Yugoslav People's Army House) with local singer Miroslav Balta on vocals.

Zdravko Čolić years (1969–1971)

Soon after their debut performance, eighteen-year-old Zdravko Čolić joined Ambasadori as their new vocalist. Though he had already been singing with the local band Mladi i lijepi, the fresh high school graduate saw Ambasadori as more established, auditioning for them at Dom JNA by performing Wilson Pickett's "Deborah". Keyboardist Ivanović reportedly hired the teenager mid-song as soon as he completed the chorus line.

thumb|250px|left|Ambasadori rehearsing at [[Nederlands Congresgebouw in The Hague ahead of their 1976 Eurovision performance.]]

Ambasadori represented SFR Yugoslavia at the Eurovision Song Contest 1976 in The Hague with song "Ne mogu skriti svoju bol" (written by Slobodan Đurasović and composed by Vujović), finishing second last among the 18 participating countries. Their disappointing finish caused a lot of negative reaction in the country and precipitated its 5-year withdrawal from the competition.

Fresh off their Eurovision disappointment, Ambasadori returned to the Vaš šlager sezone where they had had so much success a year earlier. This time performing Marina Tucaković-written and Nenad Pavlović-composed "Usne imam da ga ljubim", the song didn't get much attention at the festival, finishing seventh out of sixteen participants as the main prize went to Kemal Monteno and his Alija Hafizović-written love letter to the city of Sarajevo — "Sarajevo, ljubavi moja". Yugoslav press also reported ironic heckles of "Bravo Hag" ('Good job at the Hague') during Ambasadori performance as the poor Eurovision showing continued lingering over them. Gospić's first appearance with Ambasadori took place at the 1977 Vaš šlager sezone with "Dođi u pet do pet". Composed by Vujović with lyrics by Slobodan Đurasović, the cheeky song turned out to be an unexpected Yugoslavia-wide hit despite failing to get much attention from the festival jury that awarded the top prize to Indexi's "U jednim plavim očima".

Riding the unanticipated popularity of "Dođi u pet do pet", the band began touring a lot more throughout the country while also continuing to appear at various schlager festivals. However, the age gap between the band members and their teenage vocalist soon began causing issues. Gospić herself talked about it in later interviews, describing the strange dynamic between the band members — all of whom were married with wives and families — who saw the band as a job and their teenage vocalist, half their age, who was mostly concerned with hanging out with friends.

Other Ambasadori members that came and went throughout the 1968–1970s include various musicians active on the Sarajevo music scene at the time and after, such as trombone player Srđan Stefanović, keyboard player Robert Ivanović, keyboard player Sinan Alimanovic, keyboard player Neven Pocrnjić, saxophone player Ivica Sindic, drummer "Tica", trumpet player Krešimir "Keco" Vlašić (ex Pro Arte), singer Ismeta Dervoz (ex Kodeksi), drummer Perica Stojanović (ex Jutro), organist Vlado Pravdić, bassist Ivica Vinković, bassist Zlatko Hold, saxophonist Andrej "Lale" Stefanović, etc.

References

  • Ambasadori Videos