A Croatian Marilyn Monroe turned to the Lord

Tatjana Matejaš Cameroon, the Croatian singer, better known by her nickname Tajči, held a concert in Međugorje this summer after 12 years of anonymous living in America. Before her departure to the States, she won the national contest for the Eurovision that was supposed to be held in Zagreb at the time. She now admits that she was sent there so that she wouldn’t represent too much competition for the existing singers of former Yugoslavia, one of whom was supposed to represent that State at the Eurovision. With blonde hair, a short orange skirt, a lively manner and sex appeal – she looked a lot like Marilyn Monroe. So she couldn’t fail to win...

Tajči was a big star in ex-Yugoslavia at the beginning of the nineties, filling the concert halls. She was expected to become the pop-icon of the up-coming generation. Everyone was sure that she would top the national charts for years. The peak of her career was not in sight yet; she was only twenty at the time. And then, at a concert in a small Istrian town named Labin, her life changed.

“There were about twenty thousand people at that concert. I had never had stage fright before. Since my family didn’t practice religion, it was strange that all of a sudden I felt the presence of God and I thought: “God, lead me, and I shall do whatever You wish, just be with me”. My life was empty until then. I was a children’s pop-idol and popular with the young too, receiving fan-mail from them daily. I suddenly realized that I had nothing to give them except three minutes of the song “Hajde da ludujemo” (Let’s go mad). I can remember going into a church, and singing the song “Krist na žalu” (Christ on the sea-shore),

and I decided to leave my previous way of living. I made a decision for the road less travelled and left for New York” – Tajči told us at this year's International Youth Festival in Međugorje, where she held the “christian music concert” for about thirty thousand people.

The full article can be found on pages 32-34 of January 2007 issue.