Igor Vidmar is a prominent Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

n and former Yugoslav journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, rock music

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 promoter

Promoter (entertainment)

An entertainment promoter i.e. music, wrestling, boxing etc is a person or company in the business of marketing and promoting live events such as concerts/gigs, boxing matches, sports entertainment , festivals, raves, and nightclubs.- Business model :Promoters are typically hired as independent...

 and manager

Talent manager

A talent manager, also known as an artist manager or band manager, is an individual or company who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry...

, music producer and political activist.

Biography

Vidmar was born in Ljubljana

Ljubljana

Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...

, former Yugoslavia

Former Yugoslavia

The former Yugoslavia is a term used to describe the present day states which succeeded the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia....

, but spent most of his childhood in Nova Gorica

Nova Gorica

Nova Gorica ; 21,082 ; 31,000 ) is a town and a municipality in western Slovenia, on the border with Italy...

, where he attended the Nova Gorica Grammar School

Nova Gorica Grammar School

Nova Gorica Grammar School is a coeducational nondenominational state secondary general education school for students aged between 15 to 19. It is located in Nova Gorica, Slovenia. It is considered among the best secondary schools in Slovenia...

.

As an important personality in the Slovenian

Slovenian rock

Rock and roll is a musical genre from the United States, popularized worldwide beginning in the 1950s. Though rock had become popular earlier, it was not until the mid-1980s breakthrough of Laibach, who are now internationally renowned, that Slovenian rock became well-known...

 and Yugoslav rock scene, Vidmar worked with many artists, most of them having a cult status in the underground music

Underground music

Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...

 scene, esspecially the punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 of Slovenia and the former SFR Yugoslavia, such as the Yugoslav Punk pioneers Pankrti

Pankrti

Pankrti were a punk rock band from Ljubljana, Slovenia, active in the late 1970s and during the 1980s. They were known for provocative and politically engaged songs and billed themselves "The First Punk Band Behind The Iron Curtain"...

 and Paraf

Paraf

Paraf is a punk rock and later post-punk band from Rijeka, Croatia, known as one of the pioneers of punk rock in the former Yugoslavia.- Punk rock years :...

, the internationally acclaimed Laibach

Laibach (band)

Laibach is a Slovenian avant-garde music group associated with industrial, martial, and neo-classical musical styles. Laibach formed June 1, 1980 in Trbovlje, Slovenia . Laibach represents the music wing of the Neue Slowenische Kunst art collective, of which it was a founding member in 1984...

 and many others. The tracks for the famous Yugoslav compilation album

Compilation album

A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

 Novi Punk Val

Novi Punk Val

Novi Punk Val is a compilation album of Punk rock and New Wave music from the SFR Yugoslavia. It covers the period from 1978 till 1980. It was released by ZKP RTLJ in 1980...

were compiled by him. He also worked in the only independent student radio existing in a communist country- Radio Student Ljubljana. As a concert organizer, he established the important Novi Rock

Novi Rock

Novi Rock was a widely acclaimed rock festival in Ljubljana, Slovenia, which brought the latest currents in popular music to Slovene and Yugoslav audiences between 1981 and 2000. Igor Bašin wrote the book about the festival in 2006...

festival, and brought numerous eminent international acts to Slovenia and/or Yugoslavia, including: 23 Skidoo, Amebix

Amebix

Amebix are an English crust punk/heavy metal band. Formed as "The Band with No Name," Amebix's original run was from 1978 to 1987, during which time they released three EPs and two full-length LPs...

, Angelic Upstarts

Angelic Upstarts

Angelic Upstarts are an English punk rock/Oi! band formed in South Shields in 1977. The band espoused an anti-fascist and socialist working class philosophy, and have been associated with the skinhead subculture...

, Anti-Nowhere League

Anti-Nowhere League

Anti-Nowhere League is an English punk band, formed in 1980 by lead singer Animal , guitarist Magoo , Tony "Bones" Shaw on drums and Chris "Baggy" Elvy on bass.-Early days:...

, Christian Death

Christian Death

Christian Death is an American deathrock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1979. The band was founded and fronted by Rozz Williams. Christian Death is most notable for their first album Only Theatre of Pain....

, DOA, Dinosaur Jr., Discharge

Discharge (band)

Discharge is a British hardcore punk band formed in 1977 by Terry "Tezz" Roberts and Roy "Rainy" Wainwright. They are often considered among one of the very first bands to play hardcore punk, and to mix punk with metal...

, Dubliners

Dubliners

Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. They were meant to be a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century....

, Einstürzende Neubauten

Einstürzende Neubauten

Einstürzende Neubauten is a German post-industrial band, originally from West Berlin, formed in 1980. The group currently comprises Blixa Bargeld , Alexander Hacke , N.U...

, The Fall, GBH, Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, comedian, publisher, actor, and radio DJ....

, Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...

, Jane's Addiction

Jane's Addiction

Jane's Addiction is an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985. The band's original line-up featured Perry Farrell , Dave Navarro , Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins . After breaking up in 1991, Jane's Addiction briefly reunited in 1997 and again in 2001, both times...

, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Killing Joke

Killing Joke

Killing Joke are an English post-punk band formed in October 1978 in Notting Hill, London, England; other sources report the band formed in early 1979.Related news articles: Founding members Jaz Coleman and Geordie Walker have been the only constant members.A key influence on industrial rock,...

, The Mission

The Mission (band)

The Mission are a gothic rock band formed in 1986 from the splinters of the freshly dissolved rock band The Sisters of Mercy.The band was started by frontman Wayne Hussey and bassist Craig Adams , soon adding...

, Nick Cave

Nick Cave

Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...

, Pere Ubu

Pere Ubu

Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group from Cleveland, Ohio.Père Ubu may also refer to:* Ubu, the enigmatic central figure of a series of French plays by Alfred Jarry, including Ubu Roi, and subsequent plays Ubu Cocu and Ubu Enchaîné...

, Pixies, Ramones

Ramones

The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...

, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Sisters of Mercy

The Sisters of Mercy

The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...

, Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...

, UK Subs

UK Subs

The U.K. Subs are an English punk rock band, among the earliest in the first wave of British punk. Formed in 1976, the mainstay of the band has been vocalist Charlie Harper, originally a singer in Britain's R&B scene. They were also one of the first street punk bands.-Career:The U.K...

, Youth Brigade

Youth Brigade

Youth Brigade can refer to two different punk music groups:*Youth Brigade , from Los Angeles, California*Youth Brigade , from Washington, DCYouth Brigade can refer to members of the*National Youth Service ....

, Swans

Swans (band)

Swans are an influential American post-punk band initially active from 1982 to 1997, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band was one of the few groups to emerge from the early 1980s New York No Wave scene and stay intact into the next decade. Formed by Gira in...

 and others. He was also active in the famous ŠKUC Art Gallery.

His behaviour and his journalistic or artistic works, which were often too avant-garde

Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

 and politically incorrect for the time (intentionally or unintentionally) provoked reactions from the communist regime of the then-Socialist Republic of Slovenia

Socialist Republic of Slovenia

The Socialist Republic of Slovenia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1943 until 1990...

 and SFR Yugoslavia: he lost his membership in the ruling political party- the League of Communists of Slovenia

League of Communists of Slovenia

The League of Communists of Slovenia was the Slovenian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1989...

, faced prosecution and even served short prison terms few times. He also criticized the Western imperialism

Imperialism

Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...

 as well. In 1983 he was arrested for wearing the Dead Kennedys

Dead Kennedys

Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....

 Nazi Punks Fuck Off!

Nazi Punks Fuck Off!

"Nazi Punks Fuck Off" was the fifth single by the Dead Kennedys. The record was released in 1981 on Alternative Tentacles with "Moral Majority" as the b-side. Both are taken from the In God We Trust, Inc. EP, although the version of the title track on the EP is a different recording from the...

badge with a crossed out swastika

Swastika

The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...

 which was mistaken as a pro-nazi symbol.http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/62/066.html Namely, at that time the Communist authorities were obsessed

Witch-hunt

A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...

 witch hunting nazi punk

Nazi punk

A Nazi punk is a neo-Nazi who is part of the punk subculture. The term also describes the related type of music. Nazi punk music sounds similar to most forms of punk rock, but it differs by having lyrics that express hatred of Jews, homosexuals, communists, anarchists, anti-racists and people who...

s, whom Vidmar never belonged to. In the next year, as a retaliation, he "tested" the authorities' and citizens' nerves by playing Deutschland über alles on the air in his radio show (a version performed by Nico

Nico

Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...

). Although it is not a fascist song, the authorities and some of the listeners saw hidden allusions in his action and reacted. Soon he was on court again with an explanation that he wanted to test the "national defense preparement" and the reaction of the people against an eventual fascist provocation.

In the late 1980s, as the fall of Communism and the subsequent breakup of Yugoslavia were approaching, he supported the Slovenian opposition, human rights and pro-independence movements.

In a press interview regarding his work as a musical promoter published in the post-communist and post-Yugoslav period, despite the problems he once had with the previous system, Vidmar was quoted saying: "It is an irony that it is harder to work now in this liberal democracy

Liberal democracy

Liberal democracy, also known as constitutional democracy, is a common form of representative democracy. According to the principles of liberal democracy, elections should be free and fair, and the political process should be competitive...

, than in the final 10 years of SFRY's communism".http://arhiva.glas-javnosti.rs/arhiva/2001/06/24/srpski/K01062310.shtml The system of the non-aligned

Non-Aligned Movement

The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2011, the movement had 120 members and 17 observer countries...

 SFR Yugoslavia was not so rigid as the other communist states, such as those in the Eastern Bloc

Eastern bloc

The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...

 for instance, so most of the time the Yugoslav rock scene was left alone to work freely. For example, in 1982, Vidmar organized a concert in support of the independent Polish trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 Solidarity; he also worked with the highly provocative act Laibach, a member of the Neue Slowenische Kunst

Neue Slowenische Kunst

Neue Slowenische Kunst , aka NSK, is a controversial political art collective that announced itself in Slovenia in 1984, when Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia. NSK's name, being German, is compatible with a theme in NSK works: the complicated relationship Slovenes have had with Germans...

 collective which used totalitarian Nazi art and Socialist Realism

Socialist realism

Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...

 for artistic reasons as camp

Camp (style)

Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...

or for stirring controversy etc.