Lollobrigida Girls
Encyclopedia
Lollobrigida girls, also known as VIS Lollobrigida (VIS is a Croatian language
acronym for 'band', used often in the 1970s) or Lollobrigida is originally a Croatia
n, Zagreb
-based, female electro-pop
/synthpop
band. In 2008. the Slovenians Kleemar, David and Jernej joined the band rendering the group Croatia
n - Slovenia
n in its composition.
, attracting immediately a pronounced interest within Zagreb's underground-music audience.
In the original lineup there were Ida Prester and Natalija Dimicevski singing and playing bass-guitar on top of their computer-generated music matrix. In February 2004 the duo performed as a sole band at the crowded concert in Zagreb's Studentski centar; after that they signed a contract with the Slovenian label Menart Records/DOP Records.
In June 2004 Lollobrigida performed at the third Zagreb Pride
.
Lollobrigida's first single, Party, was released in September 2004 soon becoming a pretty well-accepted hit, rendering the underground phenomenon into a name known to many, first in Croatia
and latter on in the neighboring countries. Sizeable covering in Croatian media, involving print-, radio-, and TV-media, release of an anti-holiday single 'Unhappy Christmas', and a performance at the big rock-concert Fiju Briju in Zagreb
all enabled Lollobrigida to keep a high level of interest in the audience till the release of their debut-album 'Cartoon Explosion', in May 2005. The girls have promoted the album in the club KSET again. The introductory band at the latter concert was a hip-hop duo Bitcharke na travi from Serbia
, Beograd.
and many other local TV-networks. In 2006 the band increased its popularity by releasing the single and video spot 'Moj decko je gay' (meaning 'My boyfriend is gay'). In 2008, a few months before a release of the new album, the single (and a video-spot) 'Miss Right and Mrs. Wrong' was launched, reaching the top positions on many Croatian musical top-lists. In June 2009. the single and the video spot 'Volim te' was released reaching the top position on the 'Pure MTV Adria
Chart list'. The English version of the spot 'Volim te' was promoted on MTV Adria
in November 2009. In 2010. Lollobrigida released the single and videospot 'Bivša djevojka' ('Ex-girlfriend') and in 2011. the single and videospot 'Kompjuter'.
Since their start-up Lollobrigida was performing at numerous concerts in Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary. On 1 September 2009 MTV Adria
nominated Lollobrigida for the Best Regional Act Award, together with four bands from Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Macedonia. On basis of Internet voting Lollobrigida won the award, as announced on 12 October 2009. The award was handed over to the band in the course of MTV Europe Music Awards 2009
show, which took place on 5 November 2009 in Berlin
, Germany
in O2 World
hall.
Among their live performances one can especially single out a sequence of six well-accepted performances, from 2005 on, at EXIT (festival)
, Novi Sad, Serbia. There, Lollobrigida became a sort of a trademark of the festival's 'Elektrana' Stage. In 2009. Lollobrigida performed for the first time at the 'Fusion' Stage of EXIT (festival)
and in 2010., on 10 July, at the festival's 'Main Stage'.
Examples of numerous video materials:
Some articleas and/or interviews in Croatian media (in Croatian):
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
acronym for 'band', used often in the 1970s) or Lollobrigida is originally a Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n, Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
-based, female electro-pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
/synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
band. In 2008. the Slovenians Kleemar, David and Jernej joined the band rendering the group Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n - 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 in its composition.
Lollobrigida band members
- Ida Prester and Petra Cigoj, vocals
- Kleemar (Matej Končan)- keyboards, Jernej Šavel- bass guitar, Marko Turkalj- guitar, Ivan Levačić Levi- drums
Early history
As a duo, Lollobrigida performed for the first time at a bigger public concert in June 2003 in the student club KSET, as an opening band for German trash-style musician Mambo KurtMambo Kurt
Mambo Kurt is a German a comedy and novelty act who performs covers of mainstream and classic rock hits. Mambo has performed at the Wacken Open Air festival and provides music for a German television show called Verona's World...
, attracting immediately a pronounced interest within Zagreb's underground-music audience.
In the original lineup there were Ida Prester and Natalija Dimicevski singing and playing bass-guitar on top of their computer-generated music matrix. In February 2004 the duo performed as a sole band at the crowded concert in Zagreb's Studentski centar; after that they signed a contract with the Slovenian label Menart Records/DOP Records.
In June 2004 Lollobrigida performed at the third Zagreb Pride
Zagreb Pride
Zagreb Pride is the annual pride march and LGBTIQ demonstration of Zagreb, Croatia, which first took place in 2002 and now occurs in June of each year, lasting for a few days. Zagreb Pride is the first successful pride march held in the Balkans, just a year after a bloody showdown at 2001 ...
.
Lollobrigida's first single, Party, was released in September 2004 soon becoming a pretty well-accepted hit, rendering the underground phenomenon into a name known to many, first in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
and latter on in the neighboring countries. Sizeable covering in Croatian media, involving print-, radio-, and TV-media, release of an anti-holiday single 'Unhappy Christmas', and a performance at the big rock-concert Fiju Briju in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
all enabled Lollobrigida to keep a high level of interest in the audience till the release of their debut-album 'Cartoon Explosion', in May 2005. The girls have promoted the album in the club KSET again. The introductory band at the latter concert was a hip-hop duo Bitcharke na travi from Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Beograd.
VIS Lollobrigida
In 2006 Lollobrigida transformed to some extent their musical and stage-performing concept. Natalija left the band. Several instrumentalists, playing keyboards, guitar and bass, joined the band adding a new sound quality to the electronic matrix background. Unlike Ida, the band founder and the Lollobrigida constant, other band members were changing rather frequently. The prefix VIS has been also added to the band name. (A sort of sentimental homage to pop-rock music of socialistic times). During that year Lollobrigida started working on their new album, 'Lollobrigida Incorporated', finally released in May 2008, following the promo-concert taken place in Zagreb club Tvornica. In 2005 the single 'Bubblegum boy' was released. Soon after, the accompanied video spot was broadcasted by MTV AdriaMTV Adria
MTV Adria is a localized version of the music and entertainment channel MTV Europe, customized for the Balkan countries that used to be constituent parts of Yugoslavia...
and many other local TV-networks. In 2006 the band increased its popularity by releasing the single and video spot 'Moj decko je gay' (meaning 'My boyfriend is gay'). In 2008, a few months before a release of the new album, the single (and a video-spot) 'Miss Right and Mrs. Wrong' was launched, reaching the top positions on many Croatian musical top-lists. In June 2009. the single and the video spot 'Volim te' was released reaching the top position on the 'Pure MTV Adria
MTV Adria
MTV Adria is a localized version of the music and entertainment channel MTV Europe, customized for the Balkan countries that used to be constituent parts of Yugoslavia...
Chart list'. The English version of the spot 'Volim te' was promoted on MTV Adria
MTV Adria
MTV Adria is a localized version of the music and entertainment channel MTV Europe, customized for the Balkan countries that used to be constituent parts of Yugoslavia...
in November 2009. In 2010. Lollobrigida released the single and videospot 'Bivša djevojka' ('Ex-girlfriend') and in 2011. the single and videospot 'Kompjuter'.
Musical style and performances
Lyrics, music and stage performance appear to be equally important elements of the way that Lollobrigida band communicates with its audience. By insisting on honesty, simplicity and originality Lollobrigida keeps distance from standard musical and textual stereotypes, choosing instead a sort of genre indeterminacy. At variance with the latter elements, the perfection of their musical and vocal interpretations is not particularly cultivated. Ida Prester authors the lyrics of all the songs being simultaneously, taking into account the whole opus up to now, a leading author of all music as well. Critics have expressed variety of opinions about Lollobrigida; some are denying any value and/or musical importance while there are also those remarking '...Lollobrigida is the biggest thing that Croatia gave to the international music scene in the past years...'.Since their start-up Lollobrigida was performing at numerous concerts in Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary. On 1 September 2009 MTV Adria
MTV Adria
MTV Adria is a localized version of the music and entertainment channel MTV Europe, customized for the Balkan countries that used to be constituent parts of Yugoslavia...
nominated Lollobrigida for the Best Regional Act Award, together with four bands from Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Macedonia. On basis of Internet voting Lollobrigida won the award, as announced on 12 October 2009. The award was handed over to the band in the course of MTV Europe Music Awards 2009
MTV Europe Music Awards 2009
The MTV Europe Music Awards 2009 took place in Berlin, Germany at the O2 World and in front of the Brandenburg Gate. The award show was presented by Katy Perry. Nominations were officially announced on September 21, 2009. This is the fourth time that the MTV Europe Music Awards were hosted in...
show, which took place on 5 November 2009 in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in O2 World
O2 World
O2 World is a multi-use indoor arena, in the Friedrichshain neighborhood, of Berlin, that opened in September 2008. Developed by Anschutz Entertainment Group, it was named O2 World, when O2 Germany purchased the naming rights...
hall.
Among their live performances one can especially single out a sequence of six well-accepted performances, from 2005 on, at EXIT (festival)
EXIT (festival)
Exit is an annual summer music festival in the Petrovaradin Fortress of Novi Sad, Serbia. It is staged annually since 2000 and usually lasts four days ....
, Novi Sad, Serbia. There, Lollobrigida became a sort of a trademark of the festival's 'Elektrana' Stage. In 2009. Lollobrigida performed for the first time at the 'Fusion' Stage of EXIT (festival)
EXIT (festival)
Exit is an annual summer music festival in the Petrovaradin Fortress of Novi Sad, Serbia. It is staged annually since 2000 and usually lasts four days ....
and in 2010., on 10 July, at the festival's 'Main Stage'.
Discography
Singles
- Party (2004.)
- Nesretan Božić (2004.)
- Straight Edge (2005.)
- Bubblegum Boy (2005.)
- Ružna Djevojka (2005.)
- Moj decko je gej (2006.)
- Mrs.Right and Mr.Wrong (2008.)
- Volim te (2009.)
- Bivša cura (2010.)
- Kompjuter (2011.)
- Sex on TV, sex on the radio (2011.)
External links
Examples of numerous video materials:
Some articleas and/or interviews in Croatian media (in Croatian):