Bitanga i princeza
album by Bijelo Dugme
Bitanga i princeza (transl. "The Brute and the Princess") is the fourth studio album by Yugoslav rock band Bijelo Dugme, released in 1979.
Bitanga i princeza was Bijelo Dugme's first album to feature Dragan "Điđi" Jankelić on drums, who came to the band as a replacement for the band's original drummer, Goran "Ipe" Ivandić It was the band's last hard rock-oriented album before their switch to new wave in the following year.
In 1998, Bitanga i princeza was polled as the 10th on the list of 100 Greatest Yugoslav Rock and Pop Albums in the book YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike (YU 100: The Best Albums of Yugoslav Pop and Rock Music). In 2015, the album was pronounced the 15th on the list of 100 Greatest Yugoslav Albums published by Croatian edition of Rolling Stone.
Background
Personnel changes
After the joint 1978 departure of drummer Ipe Ivandić and keyboardist Laza Ristovski—who ended up leaving Bijelo Dugme together amid acrimony while working on a side project Stižemo (Here We Come)—the band's former keyboardist Vlado Pravdić returned, while Ivandić was replaced with Điđi Jankelić. Pravdić had previously left the band in fall 1976 to serve his mandatory Yugoslav People's Army stint, at which point Bregović hired Ristovski, however, Pravdić ended up not reclaiming his spot even after being discharged from the army as Bregović decided to keep Ristovski permanently. Jankelić, on the other hand, was completely new to Bijelo Dugme, arriving via appearing on the band's vocalist Željko Bebek's solo album side project Skoro da smo isti (We're Almost the Same) that had been released several months earlier to poor reviews and inferior commercial reception.
The band started preparing their new studio album during early fall 1978 in Niška Banja‚ while Bijelo Dugme's leader Goran Bregović was still serving his mandatory army stint in Niš, but they definitely reunited in Sarajevo on 1 November.
Recording sessions and censorship
Originally, the band's record label, Jugoton, booked London's AIR Studios on Oxford Street (where the band's previous two studio albums had been recorded) for the end of November 1978, with a view of releasing the record in time for New Years holidays in Yugoslavia. However, as it became clear the band would not be able to record in November—and re-booking of AIR Studios could not be arranged on short notice—the recording sessions were moved to Belgrade.
“Bitanga i princeza” enters the record as album by Bijelo Dugme. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Bitanga, princeza and album can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 4, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q804088. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1979, 1998, 2015 and 1978.
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