Baja Mali Knindža

Early life

Born as Mirko Pajčin into a Bosnian Serb family in the village of Gubin, near Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina. His cousin Ksenija Pajčin, pop-folk recording artist, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend 16 March 2010. Later that same year Knindža released the song "Spavaj, kraljice" (Sleep, Queen) in her memory. He said that he was very "shaken" by her death.

Controversy and career

Baja won a 1989 competition for amateur singers in Livno and released his first album in 1991. His career began just as Yugoslavia was breaking up. Throughout the 1990s, he was known for his strong Serbian nationalism and nationalist songs supporting the Serbs during the Yugoslav wars. His first professional success was the song "Bpaти се Војводо" (Come Back, Voivode), in which he appealed to Serbian World War II Chetnik commander Momčilo Đujić to come back to the areas of the Croatian Krajina and help lift the spirits of the Croatian Serbs. He said that he would never consider going to Croatia because he claimed that some Croatian soldiers burned down his house and desecrated his ancestors' graves.

Baja performs at "Кочићев збор" (Kočić's Assembly) in Zmijanje near Banja Luka in mid-August every year, and he usually attracts tens of thousands of people. Since Operation Storm, Knindža has written many songs about his dream of the Serb people returning to live in territories now inhabited by Croats following the Croatian War for Independence.

Baja Mali Knindža is controversial due to his Serbian nationalism. Most of his songs are condemned in non-Serb parts of Bosnia and Croatia because of their xenophobic lyrics, which often reference war leaders during the Yugoslav wars. For example, his song "Ne volim te Alija" describes his strong dislike for the Bosnian wartime president Alija Izetbegović and includes the lyrics:

Не волим те, Алија, / I don't like you, AlijaЗато што си балија / Because you are a Balija (a derogatory term for Bosniaks)Срушио си миран сан / You destroyed a peaceful dreamНосила ти Дрина сто муџахедина / May the river Drina take hundreds of your mujahideenСваки дан / Every day

In one song titled "Ćuti, Ćuti Ujko!" (the song and music video feature Serbian rock star Bora Đorđević, "I will kill you" as well as "Shut up, shut up, mujo (Muslim), I will kill you". He has also sung "I don't like people who like the HDZ", which included the lyrics "Fuck their šahovnica".

Despite many of his songs having a nationalistic lyrical theme, he is also known for his often humorous non-political songs such as "Umri Baba" and "Poker Aparat".

He has also sung anti-communist songs such as "Bila Jednom Jedna Zemlja" and the song "Komunjare", which says:

Комуњаре, комуњаре / Commies, commiesви волите само паре / All that you love is moneyсви сте ви комунисти / All of you are communistsправљени на калуп исти / Cast in the same mould

Personal life

Knindža lives with his wife, three daughters and a son in New Belgrade, and drives an older Mitsubishi Pajero. Besides his native language, he also speaks English and Russian. His mother and father live in a newly built house in Surčin.

Baja is a supporter of the Serbian Radical Party, and has sung at the party's conventions. He also released an album, Српским радикалима (Serbian Radicals, 1998), which glorifies the SRS and its leader Vojislav Šešelj.