Josipa Lisac - Live in Lap (1996)

Recorded during two nights in extremely small and intimate cult club "Lapidarij" in Zagreb's uptown (my own ticket says May 13th, 1991) this, first ever live recording by Croatian über diva presents her in unplugged surroundings, finally without mammoth orchestras and grand production - in what must have been well-planned project she is backed only by acoustic trio (guitar, bass and drums) and focus is for once, not on her looks but on her music.

Up to that point, Josipa Lisac carefully maintained her "madwoman from the attic" image for decades but although it served her well by fueling the media interest, it sometimes backfired by placing the emphasis on the wrong place - blinded by her strong visual presence, audiences often forgot what a spectacular vocalist she always was. Even after very respectable and creative career, the first thing people usually think when one mentions her name is eccentric costumes and image. This live recording finally puts voice in the spotlight - to be sure, musicians are excellent but they just add to the total effect which is mesmerising as Lisac soars trough her famed songbook and several jazz standards. Her beloved Karlo Metikoš was also present and if memory serves me right, they both did (unreleased) "Blueberry Hill" one after another. Another unreleased song was "Imagine" that diva tried twice but eventually decided to discard. In her early forties at the time of this concert, Lisac had even more powerful voice than ever before (if that's possible) and sometimes she almost blows the backing trio away. Live in Lap was released a year later and as it happens, it was right in the middle of the war - I still recall the thrill of hearing "O Jednoj Mladosti" on a transistor radio somewhere in the front line, with my fellow soldiers suddenly unusually reflective as this reminded them of civilian life they left behind.