Popular music in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Encyclopedia
SFR Yugoslav pop and rock scene includes the pop
and rock music
of SFR Yugoslavia (a state
that existed until 1991), including all their genres and sub-genres. The scene included the constituent republics
: SR Slovenia, SR Croatia, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Montenegro, SR Macedonia and SR Serbia and its subunits: SAP Vojvodina and SAP Kosovo. The pop and rock scene was a part of the general Music of Yugoslavia
, which also included folk
, classical music
, jazz
etc. Within Yugoslavia and internationally, the phrase ex Yugoslav Pop and Rock both formally and informally always refers to the SFRY period only, not including Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992–2003).
was not an Eastern Bloc
country, but a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement
and as such, it was far more opened to western influences comparing to the other socialist states. The western-influenced pop and rock music was socially accepted, the Yugoslav pop and rock music scene was well developed and covered in the media, which included numerous magazines, radio and TV shows. Numerous artists even played for president Josip Broz Tito
himself, notably Bijelo Dugme
, Zdravko Čolić
and Rani Mraz
. SFR Yugoslavia was the only communist country which was taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest
. It joined in 1961 even before some Western
and NATO nations such as Portugal
, Ireland
, Greece
and Turkey
, which joined in 1964
, 1965
, 1974
and 1975
respectively. Unlike the citizens of other communist countries, Yugoslavs enjoyed freedom of travel and had an easy access to Western popular culture.
from Croatia, who emerged in the Yugoslav music scene in the late 1940s. Later, he went abroad, where he made a successful international career. He was the original performer of the famous Strangers in the Night
song by Bert Kaempfert
, predating Frank Sinatra
who recorded his version later in 1966.
Robić closely cooperated with Kaempfert throughout most of his career. In the early 1960s, after seeing a promising young act from England
performing at the Top Ten Club
in Hamburg
, Robić convinced Kaempfert, who was Polydor's agent, to help those youngsters in their career. Kaempfert accepted and thanks to him the group was hired to record together with the then popular Tony Sheridan
. The young group was The Beatles
. Those were their first commercial recordings ever, including "My Bonnie
", "Ain't She Sweet
" and "Cry for a Shadow
". That album was released in numerous versions such as In the Beginning (Circa 1960)
, The Beatles' First
and Beatles Bop - Hamburg Days
.
scene in Yugoslavia started to emerge in the 1950s
influenced by the classical rock and roll and rockabilly
acts such as Elvis Presley
, Chuck Berry
, Bill Haley
, Carl Perkins
, Buddy Holly
and others. Many young people started to play this new "electric music", as they called it, naming themselves "električari", but one of the first who rose to prominence was the guitarist Mile Lojpur
from Belgrade (born in Zrenjanin
in 1930). He was tributed by many musicians later, notably by Nikola Čuturilo
. Other eminent act that started in the 1950s rock 'n' roll scene was Karlo Metikoš from Zagreb
, who after moving to Paris
started an international career under the pseudonym Matt Collins. He recorded for Philips Records
and had an opportunity to meet legends such as Jerry Lee Lewis
and Paul Anka
.
Notable singer who emerged in the late 1950s was Đorđe Marjanović who became the first Yugoslav megastar
.
and The Shadows
: Bijele Strijele and Siluete
, formed in 1961; the Zagreb based Crveni Koralji and Belgrade's Zlatni Dečaci
in 1962; in 1963 two other important Belgrade bands were formed, Samonikli
and Crni Biseri
, the latter featuring Vlada Janković-Džet, a prominent Yugoslav musician, who got his nickname after Jet Harris
. The Zagreb based Delfini were also formed the same year. After the British invasion
, many of these bands later moved on to British rhythm and blues
. In Skopje
, a popular 1960s rock 'n'roll group was formed named Bisbez who were considered "The Macedonian Beatles". They were formed by merging two already existing bands Biseri and Bezimeni.
The 1960s also saw the expansion of Beatlemania
. Many new bands formed influenced by The Beatles
or by the Rolling Stones, both of whom had large fanbases in SFR Yugoslavia. There were frequent arguments between the fans of both groups, though not necessarily violent. One of the important source of information for the youths to stay up-to-date with the rock music developments around the world was Radio Luxembourg
. Certain British 1960s beat music
artists played concerts across the country and also Yugoslav artists performed around Europe especially neighbouring Italy and Austria
. On the border with Italy, several Yugoslav-Italian Beat festivals took place.
In the mid-1960s many bands such as Džentlmeni
, Roboti and the reformed Siluete were influenced by the rhythm and blues artists, while others were more pop oriented. Mod oriented bands also emerged. The most popular foreign bands were The Animals
, The Byrds
, The Monkees
The Kinks
, The Who
, Manfred Mann
and others. The Garage Rock
sound (also labeled as "1960s Punk") was also popular. The charismatic frontman of Siluete, Zoran Miščević, became an idol of the new generation and a sex symbol
. The band had a bad reputation for causing scandals and riots at their concerts. Their main rivals were the group Elipse, which, after getting a new vocalist, the Africa
n student from Congo
Edi Dekeng, went on to play soul music
.
The prominent Croatian singer Tereza Kesovija
represented Monaco
at the Eurovision Song Contest 1966
.
One of the most eminent and influential former Yugoslav group formed in the 1960s was Indexi
. They were formed in Sarajevo
in 1962. In their early beginnings they were notably influenced by The Shadows and later by The Beatles. Along with the numerous evergreen songs they wrote featuring Davorin Popović
's trademark nasal voice, they also covered the famous Beatles song "Nowhere Man". In some of their songs they also experimented with the sound in a similar way to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
. Indexi gradually moved to a more psychedelic sound, with more complex guitar and keyboard solos adding occasional folk and even classical music elements. One of the band's notable members Kornelije Kovač
, left Indeksi to form another legendary band, Korni Grupa
, in Belgrade in 1968.
As the end of the 1960s was approaching, the Hippie
movement expanded around the world as well as in SFR Yugoslavia. Notable group was the Croatian based Grupa 220, which during a certain period featured Piko Stančić. Later he rose to one of the most important musicians, producers and arrangers in the whole former Yugoslav scene.
Under influences such as Bob Dylan
, many young people embraced the acoustic sound and thus were called "akustičari" contrary to "električari". Prominent acoustic artist was Ivica Percl, formerly of Roboti. He was an acoustic musician and peace activist playing guitar and harmonica influenced by Bob Dylan and Donovan
.
1968 was marked by youth protests and demonstrations around the world including massive student demonstrations in many cities all over SFR Yugoslavia.
Another popular act at the time was the group Ambasadori
. One of the members of both Ambasadori and Korni Grupa was Zdravko Čolić
, who went solo later and was acclaimed as the biggest pop star in the former Yugoslavia. The most notable female vocalist was Josipa Lisac
who still enjoys huge popularity across the former SFR Yugoslavia. Boba Stefanović was one of the most prominent Yugoslav male solo vocalists.
The Hippie era was marked by the famous musical Hair
. Numerous subsequent productions were staged around the world since its American debut in 1967, for example in Germany
, France
, Italy
, Switzerland
, Brazil
, Argentina
, Israel
and Japan
. The Yugoslav production was the first staged in a communist state
, and it was highly praised by the Hairs original authors Gerome Ragni
and James Rado, who were travelling from one country to another to watch each of the performances. As Ragni said, they found the Belgrade show "so beautiful, so spontaneous that we had to go right on the stage to share their enthusiasm". While being in Belgrade he also added "There exist no middle-class prejudices here".http://www.michaelbutler.com/hair/holding/articles/HairArticles/Newsweek7-7-69.html
, Opatija
Festival, Beogradsko proleće in Belgrade
, Skopje Fest
, Vaš šlager sezone in Sarajevo
, and later also Makfest
in Štip
was established. The family-friendly pop music played at those festivals was comparable to older Eurovision Song Contest
s, the German schlager
genre, the Italian
Sanremo Music Festival or the adult oriented pop music
category. The specific Dalmatia
n pop sound featuring local folk elements performed at festivals held along the touristy Adriatic coast was very popular and some of its most notable exponents were Oliver Dragojević
and Mišo Kovač
.
, progressive rock
, jazz rock, art rock
, glam rock
, folk rock
and symphonic rock
. In that period, some of the greatest Yugoslav stadium rock bands
emerged: YU grupa
, Time
, Smak
, Atomsko Sklonište
, Leb i Sol
and Galija
.
In 1974 one of greatest bands ever formed in SFR Yugoslavia came to prominence, the Sarajevo
based Bijelo Dugme
with its first charismatic singer/frontman Željko Bebek
. Bijelo Dugme are often considered as the most popular band ever to exist in the former Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav Rock scene.
Many foreign pop and rock stars visited Yugoslavia, including the Deep Purple
concerts in Zagreb and Belgrade in 1975 with the local support acts Hobo and Smak in each of the cities respectively, and the Rolling Stones concert in Zagreb in 1976.
1975 saw the emergence of a very influential act, Buldožer
from Slovenia. Because of their unique experimental
, alternative and avantguarde style which was a reaction pointed against the rock scene of the time, many consider them as a former Yugoslav "Proto-New Wave" band.
Several rock music festivals existed of which BOOM was one of the most popular. A rock music event that marked the decade, but also the Yugoslav rock history in general, was the Bijelo Dugme's concert at Hajdučka česma in Košutnjak Park in Belgrade on August 22, 1977, which was attended by around 80,000 people. (Parts of) the recorded material were released on the live album Koncert kod Hajdučke česme
.
s, who emphasized their poetry
over music, and usually performed accompanying themselves by an acoustic guitar
or piano
. Some of them were inspired by the French chanson
or folk rock
. One of the first critically acclaimed singer-songwriters was the Croatian artist Arsen Dedić
who started his career in the 1960s and is still popular in his homeland and around the former Yugoslav countries, especially among the older generation. Another important author was also Đorđe Balašević from Novi Sad
. He started his music career in the 1970s as a member of Žetva and Rani Mraz
, before beginning a very successful solo career that continues up to the present. Despite being into acoustic rock initially, later he often used various elements of pop
and rock
often spiced up either with typical Vojvodinian humour or a ballad
type of melancholy. A notable female artist in this category was Jadranka Stojaković
from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She was an author of the main music theme for the 1984 Winter Olympics
held in Sarajevo. Since 1988, she resides in Japan
. An artist notable for socially engaged lyrics was Marko Brecelj, formerly a member of Buldožer
.
craze spread around the world in the 1970s conquering Yugoslavia as well. Similarly to the disco movie Saturday Night Fever
, Zdravko Čolić
became a sort of "Yugoslav John Travolta
" dancing in stadium
s across the country, dressed in a tight white suit and the then-fashionable bell-bottoms
. At the legendary concert at the Belgrade
stadium Marakana
on September 5, 1978, about 70,000 people gathered to see him. The concert was also attended by representatives of a West German record label
. Impressed by Čolić's popularity they offered him a record contract. He released the songs "Jedina" and "Zagrli me" for the Western German market and also an English language
single featuring the songs "I'm not a Robot Man" and "Light Me". Čolić was offered to move to West Germany and start a career there, but he refused favouring the popularity he had at home. His song about a relationship with a posh girl "Pusti, Pusti modu" became a nationwide disco megahit in 1980. Despite that the disco fashion soon faded, Čolić continued his successful career as a pop music
singer occasionally using folk music
elements and remained popular in the former Yugoslav countries up to this day.
This era also brought in a one-hit wonder
called Mirzino Jato, labeled by the media as kitschy euro disco
band obviously influenced by Boney M., who were quite popular in Yugoslavia especialsy after their only male member Bobby Farrell
married a girl from Skopje
's predominantly Roma inhabited municipality Šuto Orizari.http://www.bhdani.com/arhiva/170/citanka170.htm Mirzino Jato's style encompassed the deep, subwoofer shaking voice of Sarajevo
opera
and classical choir
singer Mirza Alijagić ANT the three sexy back vocalists called "Jato" (trans. Flock
). Music was written and produced by Divlje Jagode
guitarist Sead Lipovača
, while the author of most lyrics was Marina Tucaković
, who later became famous writing lyrics for other musical styles. Despite their huge popularity at the time, Mirzino Jato never got past the first album. Its only considerable hit was "Apsolutno tvoj".
One of the best known dance songs in this period was also the Dado Topić
's opening track of the 1979 film Nacionalna klasa starring Dragan Nikolić as Floyd, the fanatic car racer.
Gordi
were one of the first Yugoslav heavy metal
bands and are considered one the pioneers of classic heavy metal in Yugoslavia. Hard rock
group Riblja Čorba
, known for their provocative social-related lyrics and controversial political attitudes of the band's frontman Bora Đorđević was one of the most important groups of the Yugoslav and Serbian rock
in general. Riblja Čorba drummer Vicko Milatović
formed heavy metal band Warriors
, which later moved to Canada
and recorded an album for the foreign market. The eminent heavy metal group Divlje Jagode
from Bihać, led by guitarist Sead "Zele" Lipovača
started a short-lasting international career in 1987 under the name Wild Strawberries. Another notable Bosnian hard rock group was Vatreni Poljubac led by charismatic Milić Vukašinović
, formerly a member of Bijelo Dugme
. Other notable hard rock and heavy metal bands include Generacija 5
, Rok Mašina
, Kerber
and Griva
from Serbia; Osmi Putnik
(whose frontman Zlatan Stipišić, better known as Gibonni, later started a successful pop music career) and Crna Udovica (later changed their name to Big Blue) from Croatia; Pomaranča from Slovenia, Concorde from Macedonia http://www.discogs.com/Concorde-Have-The-Blues/release/1305721 and others. Yugoslav glam metal
scene featured few acts, most notable being Karizma and Osvajači
.
scene emerged in the late 1970s, influenced by the first wave of punk rock
bands from the United Kingdom
and United States
, such as Sex Pistols
and The Clash
and others, but also the proto-punk bands such as MC5
, The Stooges
and New York Dolls
. The DIY
punkzine scene also started to develop. The Yugoslav punk bands were the first punk bands ever formed in a socialist state. Some of the first ones were formed in SR Slovenia and SR Croatia: Pankrti
from Ljubljana
(formed in 1977) and Paraf
from Rijeka
(depending on the source, formed in 1976 or 1977). The Slovenian and Croatian scene of that period is featured in the compilation album Novi Punk Val
, compiled by Igor Vidmar
. Late 1970s-early 1980s Belgrade scene included: Urbana Gerila
, Radnička Kontrola
and many others. This generation of bands was included on the Artistička Radna Akcija
compilation. Pekinška Patka
was a cult band coming from Novi Sad
. Some of the notable punk bands in SR Macedonia included: Fol Jazik
, arguably the first punk band in Skopje
, formed in 1978; Afektiven naboj
from Struga
formed in 1979 feat. Goran Trajkoski
; Other notable acts from Skopje included Badmingtons
and Saraceni, both led by Vladimir Petrovski Karter. In Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, the following artists emerged: SCH
(still active cult alternative and experimental band that evolved from post Punk and New Wave into Noise, Industrial and eventually into Techno and Goth-Electronica, led by the charismatic Senad Hadžimusić Teno
), Ozbiljno Pitanje (which later evolved into the pop-rock star band Crvena Jabuka
), Ševa (which later evolved into Bombaj Štampa
led by the charismatic Branko Đurić), and the cult band Zabranjeno Pušenje
. These Sarajevian bands later formed the punk-inspired New Primitives
movement, an important phenomenon in the former Yugoslav culture.
In the late 1970s, some punk bands were affiliated with the New Wave music
scene, and were labeled as both punk rock and new wave. During a certain period, the term "New Wave music" was interchangeable with "punk".
The end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s saw the emergence of various subgenres of punk rock, such as streetpunk and Oi!
. Later came hardcore punk
, followed by various extreme styles such as crust punk
, crossover thrash
all the way to grindcore
. Notable hardcore punk acts during the 1980s included: Niet
, Patareni
, KBO!
and others. A notable mainstream pop punk
band was Psihomodo Pop
from Croatia (heavily influenced by The Ramones). Many eminent foreign punk bands played concerts around former Yugoslavia including: The Ruts
, Siouxsie and the Banshees, UK Subs
, Angelic Upstarts
, The Exploited
and The Anti-Nowhere League
. In 1983 The Anti-Nowhere League released their album Live in Yugoslavia
, while Angelic Upstarts released a live album with the same title in 1985. Beside musicians, the Yugoslav punk subculture
also included punk writers
and artists
, with Ivan Glišić
from Šabac
being one of the notable ones.
scene emerged in the late 1970s and had a significant impact on Yugoslav culture. As its counterparts - The British and the US New Wave music scenes, from which the main influences came from, the Yugoslav New Wave scene was also closely related to Punk rock
, Ska
, Reggae
, Two Tone, Power pop
, Mod Revival
etc. The New Wave was especially advocated by the music magazines Polet from Zagreb
and Džuboks from Belgrade
, and by the TV show Rokenroler, which was famous for its artistic music videos
.
Important bands of the Yugoslav New wave are: Riblja Čorba
, Šarlo Akrobata
, Idoli, Parni valjak
, Azra
, Električni orgazam
, Haustor
, Film
, Laboratorija Zvuka
, Lačni Franz
, Cilindar
and many others. This period in the former Yugoslav music is considered a "Golden age". All of these artists still have status of cult bands.
Symbols of the Yugoslav New Wave era are the compilation albums Paket aranžman
, Novi Punk Val
, Artistička Radna Akcija
and especially movies Davitelj protiv davitelja
(starring Idoli member Srđan Šaper) and Dečko koji obećava (starring Aleksandar Berček and featuring appearances by members of Šarlo Akrobata and Idoli).
An important rockumentary
covering this period is Sretno dijete
.
formed the legendary group Disciplina Kičme
(a unique noisy mix of punk rock, funk
, jazz fusion
and many other styles). The band later rose to international prominence and appeared on MTV
. Zoran Kostić-Cane
, the former vocalist of Radnička Kontrola
, formed the furious garage punk
group Partibrejkers
and achieved huge success. Idoli, Prljavo Kazalište
and Film (the latter under the moniker Jura Stublić
i Film) became pop-rock and all of them respectively achieved great mainstream success; The cult band Azra
gradually moved on to a more conventional rock sound with occasional use of folk rock
. Johnny Štulić's poetic trademarks were still notable throughout their lyrics. Električni Orgazam
went through a psychedelic phase and later became a successful mainstream rock band inspired mostly by the 1960s sound.
One of the most prominent mainstream dance pop acts during the decade, especially in the early 1980s, was Oliver Mandić
. He used transvestite elements in his stage and video performances long before Boy George
emerged. His music utilized lots of funk
dance music. The national Radio-Television Belgrade filmed the famous TV show featuring a collection of his music videos called Beograd noću (Belgrade by Night) directed by Stanko Crnobrnja. The ambitiously avantgarde program won Rose d'Or
award at the 1981 Montreux
TV festival. Mandić's controversial image in the show, created by the conceptual artist Kosta Bunuševac, raised quite a public furor due to the singer's cross-dressing
and aggressive makeup.
1983 was marked by Danijel Popović, the Yugoslav performer at the Eurovision Song Contest
in Munich
. He instantly became a nationwide pop star, but was also acclaimed around Europe. Certain artists from West Germany
as well as other countries released cover versions of his song "Džuli
". Other popular pop acts during the 1980s were Novi Fosili
and the Split
based group Magazin
. In 1984 at the national pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest (Jugovizija) in Skopje, the frontman of Time, Dado Topić
, performed a duet with the charismatic Slađana Milošević, known for her extravagant style similar to that of Nina Hagen
. Although their song "Negde izvan planeta" (known as "Princeza") did not make it to the Eurovision (Vlado Kalember and Izolda Barudžija won), the song became a Yugoslav hit and it is still an evergreen pop ballad. A notable music producer, composer and musician often involved in the Eurovision Song Contest during the 1980s was Zrinko Tutić. Popular female solo singers were Neda Ukraden
, Tereza Kesovija
and Lepa Brena
.
A former member of the hard rock
cult band Riblja Čorba
, Momčilo Bajagić Bajaga
formed one of the most popular ex-Yugoslav acts ever, Bajaga i Instruktori
. Their first album Pozitivna geografija which featured certain new wave traces rose to nationwide popularity, but their second album Sa druge strane jastuka is considered one of the most important records of the former Yugoslav pop and rock music ever. Later, Dejan Cukić
, one of the members of Bajaga i Instruktori left the band and started a successful solo career.
Notable artist from the Albanian minority was Zana Nimani
the popular frontress of the band Zana
from Belgrade.
The most popular TV was Hit meseca (Hit of the Month) which was a sort of Yugoslav Top of the Pops
. The host of the show was Dubravka "Duca" Marković. A popular magazine among the youths was ITD, which also had a version called Super ITD in a bigger format. The most prominent rock music magazine was Rock.
Musical genres such as Post-punk
, Gothic rock
, Darkwave
, New Romantic
and Synthpop
were already expanded across the globe as well as in SFR Yugoslavia during the early 1980s:
moved to post-punk
and darkwave
on their second, less acclaimed album Strah od monotonije
released in 1981 and soon disbanded. Another legendary band, Paraf
, moved from their initial punk rock phase and released their psychedelic album Izleti in 1982 with elements of post-punk and gothic rock
. Električni Orgazam
had a notable psychedelic phase, during which, they released their album Lišće prekriva Lisabon
in 1982.
Milan Mladenović
, formerly a guitarist of Šarlo Akrobata
, in that same 1982 formed the cult band Ekatarina Velika
, initially named Katarina II. The band is remembered for its darker poetic post-punk sound and its intellectual attitude. Some of its members included the bass guitar
player Bojan Pečar
, formerly a member of Via Talas and the drummer Srđan Todorović, who later rose to internationally acclaimed film actor. Margita Stefanović-Magi, the keyboard player, and Milan, the frontman both rose to a status of "alternative celebrities". Later, both died.
groups included the arty and extravagant Dorian Gray
and BOA
, both from Zagreb
. The former, named after Oscar Wilde
's Dorian Gray
, formed in 1982, influenced by Roxy Music
and Japan
. It was led by Massimo Savić, later a successful pop singer
. BOA formed in the 1970s
, influenced by Yes
, King Crimson
and Genesis
, but later turned to New Romantic
. In 1990, it performed as David Bowie
's opening act
at Maksimir stadium
.
era popularized around the world by Duran Duran
and Spandau Ballet
, prominent acts in Yugoslavia were the aforementioned Zagreb based group BOA
and Jakarta
from Belgrade
.
artists in the former Yugoslavia included: Beograd
, formed in 1981, named after their hometown Belgrade; Videosex
from Ljubljana, Slovenia, led by their charismatic frontress Anja Rupel
; the duo Denis & Denis from Croatia featuring the sex-symbol Marina Perazić, who later started a solo career, and her boyfriend Davor Tolja; the humorous bunch Laki Pingvini
and a similar act named D' Boys
led by Peđa D' Boy, formerly a vocalist of the West German rock band Jane
. In Macedonia, a notable synthesizer-led act was the group Bastion
which featured the now internationally acclaimed electronic music
ian Kiril Džajkovski
on electronic keyboard
s and Milcho Manchevski as a lyrics writer. Many Yugoslav artists in this period were already experimenting with the use of personal computer
s in creating of their music. The cover of the single "Neka ti se dese prave stvari" / "Ne zovi to ljubavlju" by the Belgrade based group Data featured the then popular Commodore 64
.
movement in Sarajevo in the early 1980s. Some of projects that came from the New Primitives were the band Zabranjeno Pušenje
, the Top lista nadrealista
TV and radio show, the legendary group Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors, Bombaj Štampa
and others. Its creators include Elvis J. Kurtović, dr. Nele Karajlić
, mr. Sejo Sexon
, Bombaj Stampa
(featuring actor/director Branko Đurić — Đuro), Boris Šiber, Zenit Đozić from Sarajevo neighbourhood of Koševo. The famous film director Emir Kusturica
was an associate and friend of the crew.
The fresh spirit that the group left in the urban Bosnian culture and a quite new way of expression, flooding directly from street subculture, attracted significant popularity and made it one of monuments of modern Bosnian culture.
The discourse of New Primitivism was primarily humorous, based on the spirit of Bosnian ordinary people from the cultural underground. They introduced the jargon, rich in Turcisms, of Sarajevo "mahalas" (suburban neighborhoods) into the official musical and TV scene. Most of their songs and sketches involve stories about small people - coalmine workers, petty criminals, provincial girls etc. - put in unusual or even absurd situations. There are comparisons between Monty Python's Flying Circus
show and New Primitives methods, as they share the form of short sketches and utilize absurdity
as means to illicit laughs from the audience.
The name of the movement arguably came as a reaction to two then-actual movements: New Romantic
in global pop music and Slovenian Neue Slowenische Kunst
(NSK).
and Midge Ure
organized the famous famine relief campaign named Band Aid
, which continued throughout 1985 until its finale - the historical Live Aid
concert on 13 July 1985. The concert was broadcast worldwide including SFR Yugoslavia. Beside "Do They Know it's Christmas?
" and USA for Africa
projects from the UK and USA respectively, plenty of other countries also joined in. For example: Canada
, West Germany, then Austria
, Norway
etc. The SFR Yugoslav pop and rock elite also joined Geldof's campaign and formed a Yugoslav Band Aid under the name YU Rock Misija
. The group included Oliver Mandić
, Željko Bebek
, Momčilo Bajagić
, Slađana Milošević, Jura Stublić
, Dado Topić
, Zdravko Čolić
, Izolda Barudžija
, Snežana Mišković, Alen Islamović
, Sead Lipovača
, Dejan Cukić
, Doris Dragović
, Anja Rupel
, Srđan Šaper, Vladimir Divljan, Peđa D' Boy, Zoran Predin
and other eminent musicians. They recorded the Yugoslav Band Aid song "Za million godina" ("For a Million Years") written by former Generacija 5
leader Dragan Ilić and Mladen Popović. The guitar solo in the song is played by Vlatko Stefanovski
. Also a corresponding video was filmed. Prominent artists who openly refused to take part in the Yugoslav band Aid were Riblja Čorba
leader Bora Đorđević and Bijelo Dugme
leader Goran Bregović
. At the end of the campaign, the Yugoslav musicians played a big 8 hour stadium concert on June 15, 1985 in Belgrade. The video for "Za million godina" was played on many TV stations worldwide and also, on July 13 at the Wembley Stadium on large video screens during a video interlude
. It is included, though not completely, in the Overseas contributors section in the official Live Aid DVD that was released in the 2004 by Warner Music Group
.
developed in the city between 1961 and 1991. This type of music began with bands like Indexi
, Pro Arte and singer/song writer Kemal Monteno
. It continued into the 1980s, with bands such as Plavi Orkestar
, Crvena Jabuka
and Vatreni Poljubac ending with the war in 1992. Sarajevo was also the birthplace of the most popular Yugoslav rock band of all time, Bijelo Dugme
, somewhat of a Bosnian parallel to the Rolling Stones
, in both popularity and fame. Sarajevo was also the home of a very notable post-punk
urban subculture known as the New Primitives
, which began during the early 1980s and was brought into the mainstream through bands such as Zabranjeno Pušenje
and Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors, as well as the Top Lista Nadrealista
radio, and later television show. Other notable bands considered to be part of this subculture are Bombaj štampa
and Šume i Gore. Besides and separately from the New Primitives, Sarajevo is the hometown of one of the most significant ex-Yugoslavia
n alternative industrial
-noise bands, SCH
(1983–current).
Sarajevo also greatly influensed the pop scene of Yugoslavia with Hari Mata Hari
, Valentino, the very popular Dino Merlin
and the most popular pop star of the former country Zdravko Colic
who together with Dino merlin
is still filling up stadiums and arenas i EX-Yugoslav countries.
Several new bands has raised up in Sarajevo after 1992 some of them being Regina
who also had an album out in Yugoslavia and Letu Stuke who actually formed their band in Yugoslavia including the famous Bosnian-American writer Aleksandar Hemon
and got their real breaktrough later in the 2000's.
, psychobilly
and retro-rock and roll
acts.
A noted artist was controversial Velibor "Bora" Miljković
, better known as Toni Montano, nicknamed after Tony Montana
, the main character of the movie Scarface
. He was a former vocalist of the punk rock
group Radost Evrope, ironically named after the famous international children's music
festival Joy of Europe held annually in Belgrade. Toni often stirred controversy in his interviews and frequently attacked other musicians, like Ekaterina Velika and such, whom he considered pseudointellectuals who alienated themselves from the "street", where, according to him, the real rock music should emerge from. He arrogantly proclaimed himself a "real rock star" whose time is yet to come. However, he never really managed to achieve the success of his adversaries, who never bothered much with him anyway. His albums often included cover versions of famous punk rock tracks, such as the Sex Pistols
' "Friggin' in the Riggin'" and "Lonely Boy". Espousing an old school macho rocker attitude and image, Toni's songs often featured sexist lyrics.
On the other hand, the group Đavoli from Split led by Nenad "Neno" Belan
were a softer retro-rock 'n' roll act, they released several summer hits and also twist
or surf music
influenced tracks. Some of its members also had punk rock background.
The rockabilly group Fantomi was another act in Croatia, while in Serbia the group called Vampiri
emerged with their trademark doo-wop
style of singing and performed as a support act of the internationally acclaimed retro jazzy pop group Vaya Con Dios
at their concert in Belgrade.
emerged in 1980. Experimenting with various styles such as industrial
, martial
and neo-classical
music they rose to international prominence and influenced acts such as the famous group Rammstein
for instance. They appeared on MTV
with their cover version
of "Across the Universe
" by The Beatles
, featuring a guest-appearance by Anja Rupel
.
Other notable industrial music acts in Yugoslavia were Autopsia
from Ruma
, Serbia and Abbildungen Variete from Maribor
, Slovenia.
The most notable electronic body music
act was Borghesia
, from Ljubljana, Slovenia.
movement, in Macedonia, the collective Makedonska Streljba was formed. The Macedonian darkwave
and gothic rock
scene featured some of the most prominent Macedonian acts ever, such as Mizar
and Padot na Vizantija
, the latter featuring the former punk rock
er Goran Trajkoski
.
music scene across SFR Yugoslavia was also developed. It included various thrash metal
, speed metal
and death metal
acts. A festival called Hard Metal was taking place in Belgrade and also a magazine with the same name was published.
Notable acts included speed metal band Bombarder
(initially formed in Sarajevo, later moved to Belgrade), Bloodbath (not to be confused with the Swedish band Bloodbath
), Heller
(the pioneers of Yugoslav thrash metal) and others. The thrash metal band Sanatorium
was formed in Skopje in 1987. During its 20 years of existence, it shared stage with many prominent international stars such as Motörhead, Halford
, Soulfly
and others.
. They have released some works for Jugoton
in 1984 including the track Break War featuring Hit Meseca host Dubravka "Duca" Marković. Disciplina Kičme
also used rap music elements, though in their own specific way, always mixed with numerous other styles.
But there was an artist who utilized rap music in a very distinguishable manner. In the late 1980s, a charismatic musician of Montenegrin origin came into nationwide prominence: Rambo Amadeus
. His pseudonym as well as his music encompassed an intellectual attitude on one side, but also a distinguishable Balkan-flavoured humour and macho
camp
on the other. He often, if not always used rap music combined with folk music parody and political and social satire
, although he doesn't fit into the conventional rap music category because he went beyond the style. He is also famous for coining the term "turbo folk", though he was one of its greatest enemies. He is still a cult personality in the ex-Yugoslav territories.
He often closely cooperated with another musician, Dino Dvornik
, the son of the famous Croatian actor Boris Dvornik
. Dino Dvornik was a popular funk-inspired dance-pop
artist.
took place in Zagreb
, the SFR Yugoslav pop and rock scene ceased to exist with the breakup of Yugoslavia. Ironically, the 1990 winning song performed by Toto Cutugno
was called Insieme: 1992
(in Italian
: Together in 1992) featuring the lyrics Together, Unite, Unite Europe! acclaiming the approaching European unification that took place in 1992. The singer Tajči
, who represented Yugoslavia in Eurovision 1990 with "Hajde da ludujemo
," became one of the last breakout pop stars in Yugoslavia, before the war cut her career short and she emigrated to the United States
.
With the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars
many of the former Yugoslav musicians participated in anti-war
and anti-nationalist
activities, and were often attacked by the nationalists in their countries. In 1992, the supergroup Rimtutituki
featuring members of the eminent bands Partibrejkers
, Ekatarina Velika
and Električni Orgazam
released an anti-militarist song, and after the authorities forbade them to promote it with a live show, they performed on a trailer
towed
by a truck
through the streets of Belgrade
. However, some previously involved in the Yugoslav pop and rock scene embraced national chauvinism
, and some even saw active combat. Notable example is the case of the song "E, moj druže Beogradski" ("Hey my Belgrade comrade"). Although generally seen as an emotional anti-war song pointed against the Serbian nationalism
written by Jura Stublić
from the Croatia
n group Film, at the time of its appearance it caused different reactions. Band Minđušari from Knin
and Bora Đorđević, who had a cult status in the Serbian rock
scene as a frontman of Riblja Čorba
, soon "replied" with a controversial songs "E moj druže Zagrebački" ("Hey my Zagreb comrade"), a cynical parody featuring nationalist messages, and less known "Ljetovanje".http://arhiva.glas-javnosti.rs/arhiva/2003/11/23/srpski/R03112202.shtml Pop punk band Psihomodo Pop
from Zagreb recorded patriotic song "Hrvatska mora pobjediti" ("Croatia must win") which was released on the Rock za Hrvatsku EP.
Another notable example from this period is what happened with the Sarajevo
based group Zabranjeno Pušenje
. The group split into two separate fractions: one in Sarajevo and the other in Belgrade. The latter received international exposure under the name No Smoking Orchestra led by Nele Karajlić
and also featuring the movie director Emir Kusturica
. They played with Joe Strummer
as well and that concert footage is included in the Super 8 Stories
film directed by Kusturica.
While Slovenia
, Croatia
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Macedonia
proclaimed themselves independent states, the leaderships of Serbia
and Montenegro
decided to form a new federal state called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which existed from 1992 until 2003, however it was not recognized as a legal successor to the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
.http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/UNMembers%20SRES777.pdf
The local scenes in the independent countries that emerged after the breakup of Yugoslavia continued to exist, some of them heavily suffering during the war. The music scene continued even in the shelters during the Sarajevo siege and a compilation album Rock under siege (Radio Zid Sarajevo, Stichting Popmuziek Nederland) was released in 1995.
and Franjo Tuđman, the former Yugoslav nations started to normalise their relations. Thus their music scenes could freely restore their former cooperation. Many of the former pop and rock stars re-emerged and toured the former Yugoslav countries: Bijelo Dugme
, Leb i Sol
, Crvena Jabuka
, Plavi Orkestar
, Massimo Savić (formerly of Dorian Gray
) and Boris Novković
(formerly of the group Boris i Noćna Straža), while Toše Proeski
recorded a duet with Anja Rupel
.
Following the reconciliation of Serbia
and Croatia
, Croatian nationalist rocker Jura Stublić
held a concert in Belgrade
in 2003. Asked by the media about "E, moj druže Zagrebački" case, Bora Đorđević replied that "it was just a joke" http://arhiva.glas-javnosti.rs/arhiva/2003/11/23/srpski/R03112202.shtml. He also expressed approbation for the Jura Stublić's comeback to Belgrade after so many years. On the other hand, Bajaga
and Đorđe Balašević had respectively made numerous concert appearances in Croatia since the 2000s.
In 2003 Igor Mirković from Croatia made the rockumentary
Sretno dijete
(Happy Child) named after a song by Prljavo Kazalište
. The movie covers the early Yugoslav Punk and Yugoslav New Wave
scene featuring eminent artists from Zagreb
, Ljubljana
and Belgrade
.
, mostly educational. The SFR Yugoslav system through its media encouraged children to practise the traditional folk music and dances, as well as to listen to pop and rock music, contrary to the kitsch
y "novokomponovana narodna muzika".
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...
and 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...
of SFR Yugoslavia (a state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
that existed until 1991), including all their genres and sub-genres. The scene included the constituent republics
Constituent country
Constituent country is a phrase sometimes used in contexts in which a country makes up a part of a larger entity. The term constituent country does not have any defined legal meaning, and is used simply to refer to a country which is a part Constituent country is a phrase sometimes used in contexts...
: SR Slovenia, SR Croatia, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Montenegro, SR Macedonia and SR Serbia and its subunits: SAP Vojvodina and SAP Kosovo. The pop and rock scene was a part of the general Music of Yugoslavia
Music of Yugoslavia
-Meaning:Music of Yugoslavia can mean:#Music of Kingdom of Yugoslavia .#Music of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which includes the music of its constituent republics: Socialist Republic of Slovenia, Socialist Republic of Croatia, Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina,...
, which also included folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
etc. Within Yugoslavia and internationally, the phrase ex Yugoslav Pop and Rock both formally and informally always refers to the SFRY period only, not including Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992–2003).
History
The Socialist Federal Republic of YugoslaviaSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
was not an 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...
country, but a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement
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...
and as such, it was far more opened to western influences comparing to the other socialist states. The western-influenced pop and rock music was socially accepted, the Yugoslav pop and rock music scene was well developed and covered in the media, which included numerous magazines, radio and TV shows. Numerous artists even played for president Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
himself, notably Bijelo Dugme
Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme was a highly influential former Yugoslav rock band, based in Sarajevo. Active between 1974 and 1989, it is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock...
, Zdravko Čolić
Zdravko Colic
Zdravko Čolić , is a pop singer popular across the entire area of former Yugoslavia. Originally from Sarajevo, since 1992 , his home is in Belgrade, Serbia...
and Rani Mraz
Rani Mraz
Rani Mraz were a former Yugoslav rock band from Novi Sad, formed in 1977 by former Žetva member Đorđe Balašević. During the initial period, the band went through several lineup changes, until Balašević and female singer Biljana Krstić remained the only official members of the band...
. SFR Yugoslavia was the only communist country which was taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
. It joined in 1961 even before some Western
Western Bloc
The Western Bloc or Capitalist Bloc during the Cold War refers to the powers allied with the United States and NATO against the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact...
and NATO nations such as Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, which joined in 1964
Eurovision Song Contest 1964
The Eurovision Song Contest 1964 was the ninth Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark after the Danish victory the previous year. Sweden did not participate because of a boycott by singers. They did however broadcast it...
, 1965
Eurovision Song Contest 1965
The Eurovision Song Contest 1965 was the 10th in the series. Luxembourg's win was their second. Belgium, Finland, Germany, and Spain each scored "null points" for the second time. The 1965 contest marked the debut of Ireland, a country which later went on to dominate the competition. This was also...
, 1974
Eurovision Song Contest 1974
The Eurovision Song Contest 1974 was the 19th Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in the seaside resort of Brighton on the south coast of the United Kingdom...
and 1975
Eurovision Song Contest 1975
The Eurovision Song Contest 1975 was the 20th edition of the contest hosted by SR and held in Stockholm, Sweden. The arena for the event was the newly built Stockholm International Fairs in Älvsjö in southern Stockholm. ABBA's victory in Brighton the previous year gave Sweden the right to host the...
respectively. Unlike the citizens of other communist countries, Yugoslavs enjoyed freedom of travel and had an easy access to Western popular culture.
1940s
One of the first stars in the former Socialist Yugoslavia and one of its first internationally acclaimed artists, was the traditional pop singer Ivo RobićIvo Robic
Ivo Robić was Croatian singer and songwriter.-Domestic career:Robić began his career as a soloist with the Radio Zagreb Orchestra, while studying at the same time in Zagreb...
from Croatia, who emerged in the Yugoslav music scene in the late 1940s. Later, he went abroad, where he made a successful international career. He was the original performer of the famous Strangers in the Night
Strangers in the Night
"Strangers in the Night" is a popular song composed by Bert Kaempfert with English lyrics by Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder. It was originally created under the title Beddy Bye as part of the instrumental score for the movie A Man Could Get Killed...
song by Bert Kaempfert
Bert Kaempfert
Bert Kaempfert was a German orchestra leader and songwriter. He made easy listening and jazz-oriented records, and wrote the music for a number of well-known songs, such as "Strangers in the Night" and "Spanish Eyes".-Biography:He was born in Hamburg, Germany - where he received his lifelong...
, predating Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
who recorded his version later in 1966.
Robić closely cooperated with Kaempfert throughout most of his career. In the early 1960s, after seeing a promising young act from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
performing at the Top Ten Club
Top Ten Club
The Top Ten Club was a music club in Hamburg, Germany owned by Peter Eckhorn. The address in Hamburg area St. Pauli was 136 Reeperbahn.-Musicians who have played here:...
in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Robić convinced Kaempfert, who was Polydor's agent, to help those youngsters in their career. Kaempfert accepted and thanks to him the group was hired to record together with the then popular Tony Sheridan
Tony Sheridan
Tony Sheridan , is an English rock and roll singer-songwriter and guitarist...
. The young group was The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
. Those were their first commercial recordings ever, including "My Bonnie
My Bonnie
My Bonnie is the name of a 1961 single, a 1962 album and a 1963 EP by Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers, better known as The Beatles.-History:...
", "Ain't She Sweet
Ain't She Sweet
Ain't She Sweet was an American album featuring four tracks recorded in Hamburg in 1961 by The Beatles featuring Tony Sheridan and cover versions of Beatles and British Invasion-era songs recorded by the Swallows...
" and "Cry for a Shadow
Cry for a Shadow
"Cry for a Shadow" is an early Beatles instrumental. It was recorded on 22 June 1961 at the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Hamburg-Harburg, Germany while they were performing as Tony Sheridan's backup band for a few tracks, under the moniker The Beat Brothers. It was written by George Harrison with John...
". That album was released in numerous versions such as In the Beginning (Circa 1960)
In The Beginning (Circa 1960)
In the Beginning is the first consolidated American packaging of the 1962 German album by Tony Sheridan, The Beatles, and The Beat Brothers called My Bonnie. In the Beginning was released by Polydor Records in 1970 It was recorded in Hamburg in 1961...
, The Beatles' First
The Beatles' First
The Beatles' First is the first British packaging of the 1962 German album by Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers called My Bonnie. It was recorded in Hamburg in 1961...
and Beatles Bop - Hamburg Days
Beatles Bop - Hamburg Days
Beatles Bop – Hamburg Days is a compilation album of the 1961 recording of Tony Sheridan and The Beatles released by Bear Family Records in 2001...
.
1950s
The rock and rollRock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
scene in Yugoslavia started to emerge in the 1950s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
influenced by the classical rock and roll and rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
acts such as Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
, Bill Haley
Bill Haley
Bill Haley was one of the first American rock and roll musicians. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and their hit song "Rock Around the Clock".-Early life and career:...
, Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
, Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
and others. Many young people started to play this new "electric music", as they called it, naming themselves "električari", but one of the first who rose to prominence was the guitarist Mile Lojpur
Mile Lojpur
Milan "Mile" Lojpur was a former Yugoslav and Serbian rock musician, arguably the first Serbian, Yugoslav rock and roll musician.-Biography:...
from Belgrade (born in Zrenjanin
Zrenjanin
Zrenjanin is a city and municipality located in the eastern part of Serbian province of Vojvodina. It is the administrative centre of the Central Banat District of Serbia...
in 1930). He was tributed by many musicians later, notably by Nikola Čuturilo
Nikola Čuturilo
Nikola Čuturilo , also known as Čutura is a Serbian musician...
. Other eminent act that started in the 1950s rock 'n' roll scene was Karlo Metikoš from 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...
, who after moving to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
started an international career under the pseudonym Matt Collins. He recorded for Philips Records
Philips Records
Philips Records is a record label that was founded by Dutch electronics company Philips. It was started by "Philips Phonographische Industrie" in 1950. Recordings were made with popular artists of various nationalities and also with classical artists from Germany, France and Holland. Philips also...
and had an opportunity to meet legends such as Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
and Paul Anka
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
.
Notable singer who emerged in the late 1950s was Đorđe Marjanović who became the first Yugoslav megastar
Megastar
-Celebrities:* Megastar, a particularly notable superstar* MegaStar, nickname of Indian Telugu film actor Chiranjeevi...
.
1960s
The beginning of the 1960s saw the emergence of numerous bands, many of them initially inspired by the then-popular Cliff RichardCliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
and The Shadows
The Shadows
The Shadows are a British pop group with a total of 69 UK hit-charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. Cliff Richard in casual conversation with the British rock press frequently refers to the Shadows by their nickname: 'The Shads'...
: Bijele Strijele and Siluete
Siluete
Siluete was a former Yugoslav and Serbian rock band from Belgrade, notable for being one of the pioneers of the former Yugoslav rock scene.-1961 - 1971:...
, formed in 1961; the Zagreb based Crveni Koralji and Belgrade's Zlatni Dečaci
Zlatni Dečaci
Zlatni Dečaci were a former Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade, notable as one of the pioneers of the former Yugoslav rock scene.- History :...
in 1962; in 1963 two other important Belgrade bands were formed, Samonikli
Samonikli
Samonikli was a former Yugoslav rock band, notable as one of the pioneers of the former Yugoslav rock scene-1963-1969:...
and Crni Biseri
Crni Biseri
Crni Biseri was a former Yugoslav rock band, notable as one of the pioneers of the former Yugoslav rock scene.- 1963 - 1980 :...
, the latter featuring Vlada Janković-Džet, a prominent Yugoslav musician, who got his nickname after Jet Harris
Jet Harris
Jet Harris, MBE was an English musician. He was the bass guitarist of The Shadows until April 1962, and had subsequent success as a soloist and as a duo with the drummer Tony Meehan....
. The Zagreb based Delfini were also formed the same year. After the British invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
, many of these bands later moved on to British rhythm and blues
British blues
British blues is a form of music derived from American blues that originated in the late 1950s and which reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1960s, when it developed a distinctive and influential style dominated by electric guitar and made international stars of several proponents of...
. In Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
, a popular 1960s rock 'n'roll group was formed named Bisbez who were considered "The Macedonian Beatles". They were formed by merging two already existing bands Biseri and Bezimeni.
The 1960s also saw the expansion of Beatlemania
Beatlemania
Beatlemania is a term that originated during the 1960s to describe the intense fan frenzy directed toward The Beatles during the early years of their success...
. Many new bands formed influenced by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
or by the Rolling Stones, both of whom had large fanbases in SFR Yugoslavia. There were frequent arguments between the fans of both groups, though not necessarily violent. One of the important source of information for the youths to stay up-to-date with the rock music developments around the world was Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
. Certain British 1960s beat music
Beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
artists played concerts across the country and also Yugoslav artists performed around Europe especially neighbouring Italy and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. On the border with Italy, several Yugoslav-Italian Beat festivals took place.
In the mid-1960s many bands such as Džentlmeni
Džentlmeni
Džentlmeni were a Serbian beat band from Belgrade.- Band formation and split :...
, Roboti and the reformed Siluete were influenced by the rhythm and blues artists, while others were more pop oriented. Mod oriented bands also emerged. The most popular foreign bands were The Animals
The Animals
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
, The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
, The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
, The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
and others. The Garage Rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
sound (also labeled as "1960s Punk") was also popular. The charismatic frontman of Siluete, Zoran Miščević, became an idol of the new generation and a sex symbol
Sex symbol
A sex symbol is a celebrity of either gender, typically an actor, musician, supermodel, teen idol, or sports star, noted for their sex appeal. The term was first used in the mid 1950s in relation to the popularity of certain Hollywood stars, especially Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte...
. The band had a bad reputation for causing scandals and riots at their concerts. Their main rivals were the group Elipse, which, after getting a new vocalist, the Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n student from Congo
Congo Basin
The Congo Basin is the sedimentary basin that is the drainage of the Congo River of west equatorial Africa. The basin begins in the highlands of the East African Rift system with input from the Chambeshi River, the Uele and Ubangi Rivers in the upper reaches and the Lualaba River draining wetlands...
Edi Dekeng, went on to play soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
.
The prominent Croatian singer Tereza Kesovija
Tereza Kesovija
Tereza Ana Kesovija is an internationally acclaimed Croatian singer, one of the most recognisable figures on the Balkan music scene, renowned for her wide vocal range and operatic style and one of the most important artists of the former Yugoslavia. She also had a very successful career in France...
represented Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
at the Eurovision Song Contest 1966
Eurovision Song Contest 1966
The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition and was held on 5 March 1966 in Luxembourg, Luxembourg. The rule stating that a country could only sing in any of its national languages was originally created in this year. This was possibly created due to the 1965 Swedish entry, "Absent...
.
One of the most eminent and influential former Yugoslav group formed in the 1960s was Indexi
Indexi
Indexi was a Bosnian rock band popular in the former Yugoslavia. It formed in 1962 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and disbanded in 2001 when singer Davorin Popović died...
. They were formed in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
in 1962. In their early beginnings they were notably influenced by The Shadows and later by The Beatles. Along with the numerous evergreen songs they wrote featuring Davorin Popović
Davorin Popovic
Davorin Popović was a Bosnian musician, well known throughout the former Yugoslavia. He was the lead singer and frontman of the progressive and pop rock band Indexi throughout most of their career. He was a popularly associated with a bohemian lifestyle. In his youth, he was a successful...
's trademark nasal voice, they also covered the famous Beatles song "Nowhere Man". In some of their songs they also experimented with the sound in a similar way to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
. Indexi gradually moved to a more psychedelic sound, with more complex guitar and keyboard solos adding occasional folk and even classical music elements. One of the band's notable members Kornelije Kovač
Kornelije Kovac
Kornelije "Bata" Kovač is a famous Serbian composer. He is a father of Aleksandra Kovač and Kristina Kovač, both successful Serbian singers.-Early life:...
, left Indeksi to form another legendary band, Korni Grupa
Korni Grupa
Korni Grupa was a former Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade. Korni Grupa was one of the first former Yugoslav rock bands to achieve major mainstream popularity. The band's first releases were commercial pop-oriented songs. Korni Grupa later turned towards progressive rock, continuing, however, to...
, in Belgrade in 1968.
As the end of the 1960s was approaching, the Hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
movement expanded around the world as well as in SFR Yugoslavia. Notable group was the Croatian based Grupa 220, which during a certain period featured Piko Stančić. Later he rose to one of the most important musicians, producers and arrangers in the whole former Yugoslav scene.
Under influences such as Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, many young people embraced the acoustic sound and thus were called "akustičari" contrary to "električari". Prominent acoustic artist was Ivica Percl, formerly of Roboti. He was an acoustic musician and peace activist playing guitar and harmonica influenced by Bob Dylan and Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
.
1968 was marked by youth protests and demonstrations around the world including massive student demonstrations in many cities all over SFR Yugoslavia.
Another popular act at the time was the group Ambasadori
Ambasadori
Ambasadori were a Yugoslav pop band from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina active from 1968 until 1980. The band is most notable for representing Yugoslavia at the Eurovision Song Contest, and for having two future pop stars Zdravko Čolić and Hari Varešanović as its one time singers.Ambasadori were...
. One of the members of both Ambasadori and Korni Grupa was Zdravko Čolić
Zdravko Colic
Zdravko Čolić , is a pop singer popular across the entire area of former Yugoslavia. Originally from Sarajevo, since 1992 , his home is in Belgrade, Serbia...
, who went solo later and was acclaimed as the biggest pop star in the former Yugoslavia. The most notable female vocalist was Josipa Lisac
Josipa Lisac
Josipa Lisac is an eminent female singer.-Biography:During the 1960s she was a vocalist of the group named Zlatni Akordi...
who still enjoys huge popularity across the former SFR Yugoslavia. Boba Stefanović was one of the most prominent Yugoslav male solo vocalists.
The Hippie era was marked by the famous musical Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
. Numerous subsequent productions were staged around the world since its American debut in 1967, for example in 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...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The Yugoslav production was the first staged in a communist state
Communist state
A communist state is a state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party rule of a communist party and a professed allegiance to a Leninist or Marxist-Leninist communist ideology as the guiding principle of the state...
, and it was highly praised by the Hairs original authors Gerome Ragni
Gerome Ragni
Gerome Bernard Ragni was an American actor, singer and songwriter, best known as the co-author of the groundbreaking 1960s Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical.-Early life:...
and James Rado, who were travelling from one country to another to watch each of the performances. As Ragni said, they found the Belgrade show "so beautiful, so spontaneous that we had to go right on the stage to share their enthusiasm". While being in Belgrade he also added "There exist no middle-class prejudices here".http://www.michaelbutler.com/hair/holding/articles/HairArticles/Newsweek7-7-69.html
Festivals
Many pop music festivals existed across SFR Yugoslavia including the Split FestivalSplit Festival
The Split Festival is a pop music festival held annually in Split, Croatia. It has been held since 1960. It is one of the premier Croatian music festivals...
, Opatija
Opatija
Opatija is a town in western Croatia, just southwest of Rijeka on the Adriatic coast. , the town proper had a population of 7,850, with the municipality having a total 12,719 inhabitants.-Geography:...
Festival, Beogradsko proleće in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, Skopje Fest
Skopje Fest
Skopje Fest or Festival na zabavni melodii Skopje is one of the main musical events in the Republic of Macedonia....
, Vaš šlager sezone in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
, and later also Makfest
MakFest
MakFest founded in 1986, is the largest festival of Macedonian popular music. It is held every year in November, in Štip, Republic of Macedonia, at the Cultural Center "Aco Šopov" . MakFest is a member of FIDOF with headquarters in Los Angeles, CA, USA. In 1997, MakFest was awarded the "Festival...
in Štip
Štip
Štip is the largest urban agglomeration in the eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia, serving as the economic, industrial, entertainment and educational focal point for the surrounding municipalities. As of the 2002 census, the Štip municipality alone had a population of about 47,796...
was established. The family-friendly pop music played at those festivals was comparable to older Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
s, the German schlager
Schlager
Schlager music is a style of popular music prevalent in Central and Northern Europe and the Balkans and also in France and Poland. In Portugal, it was adapted and became pimba music...
genre, the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Sanremo Music Festival or the adult oriented pop music
Adult oriented pop music
Adult Oriented Pop Music is a term used in music radio programming. Although the specific composition of this genre of radio programming is debatable, it generally combines music selections from established formats such as Adult Contemporary , Hot Adult Contemporary , Contemporary Hit Radio , Album...
category. The specific Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
n pop sound featuring local folk elements performed at festivals held along the touristy Adriatic coast was very popular and some of its most notable exponents were Oliver Dragojević
Oliver Dragojevic
Oliver Dragojević is one of the most popular Croatian pop singers. A native of Vela Luka from the island of Korčula, he emerged onto the music scene in the 1970s thanks to the popular Split Festival, one of several musical annual events which began in the former Yugoslavia and still is being held...
and Mišo Kovač
Mišo Kovac
Mišo Kovač is a Croatian singer who was one of the most popular musical icons of the former Yugoslavia, and still popular today in Croatia.-Biography:...
.
1970s
The 1970s were marked by rock genres such as hard rockHard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
, progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, jazz rock, art rock
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
, glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
, folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
and symphonic rock
Symphonic rock
Symphonic rock is a sub-genre of progressive rock. Since early in progressive rock's history, the term has been used sometimes to distinguish more classically influenced progressive rock from the more psychedelic and experimental forms of progressive rock....
. In that period, some of the greatest Yugoslav stadium rock bands
Arena rock
Arena rock is a term used to describe rock music that utilised large arena venues, particularly sports venues, for concerts or series of concerts linked in tours...
emerged: YU grupa
YU grupa
YU grupa is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. One of the pioneers in combining rock music with the elements of the traditional music of the Balkans, YU grupa is considered the longest-lasting rock band to come from Serbia....
, Time
Time (rock band)
Time was a rock band from Yugoslavia that was formed in 1971 by Dado Topić after leaving his previous band Korni Grupa. The original lineup consisted of, in addition to Topić, Tihomir Pop Asanović , Vedran Božić , Mario Mavrin , Ratko Divjak and Brane Lambert Živković...
, Smak
Smak
Smak is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. The group reached the peak of popularity in the 1970s when it was one of the top acts of the former Yugoslav rock scene...
, Atomsko Sklonište
Atomsko sklonište
Atomsko sklonište is a Croatian and former Yugoslav hard rock band, formed in Pula in 1977. The band is known primarily for its strong anti-war lyrics.-1977-1987:...
, Leb i Sol
Leb i sol
Leb i sol is a Macedonian rock group founded in the 1970s by Vlatko Stefanovski , Bodan Arsovski , Nikola Kokan Dimuševski and Garabet Tavitjan . Tavitjan ceded the drumwork to Dragoljub Đuričić for some of the albums, while Kiril Džajkovski replaced Kokan on Kao Kakao and Putujemo...
and Galija
Galija
Galija is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band from Niš. The central figures of the band are brothers Nenad Milosavljević and Predrag Milosavljević...
.
In 1974 one of greatest bands ever formed in SFR Yugoslavia came to prominence, the Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
based Bijelo Dugme
Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme was a highly influential former Yugoslav rock band, based in Sarajevo. Active between 1974 and 1989, it is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock...
with its first charismatic singer/frontman Željko Bebek
Željko Bebek
Želimir "Željko" Bebek is a popular Bosnian Croat singer most notable for being the lead vocalist of Bijelo dugme from 1974 to 1984....
. Bijelo Dugme are often considered as the most popular band ever to exist in the former Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav Rock scene.
Many foreign pop and rock stars visited Yugoslavia, including the Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
concerts in Zagreb and Belgrade in 1975 with the local support acts Hobo and Smak in each of the cities respectively, and the Rolling Stones concert in Zagreb in 1976.
1975 saw the emergence of a very influential act, Buldožer
Buldožer
Buldožer was Yugoslav-Slovenian progressive rock band from 1970s and 1980s. They were one of the first bands in communist Yugoslavia that could be considered alternative, and forefathers of the Yugoslav New Wave...
from Slovenia. Because of their unique experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
, alternative and avantguarde style which was a reaction pointed against the rock scene of the time, many consider them as a former Yugoslav "Proto-New Wave" band.
Several rock music festivals existed of which BOOM was one of the most popular. A rock music event that marked the decade, but also the Yugoslav rock history in general, was the Bijelo Dugme's concert at Hajdučka česma in Košutnjak Park in Belgrade on August 22, 1977, which was attended by around 80,000 people. (Parts of) the recorded material were released on the live album Koncert kod Hajdučke česme
Koncert kod Hajducke cesme
Koncert kod Hajdučke česme is the first live release by Yugoslav rock band Bijelo dugme...
.
Singer-songwriters
The Yugoslav scene also featured several notable singer-songwriterSinger-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
s, who emphasized their poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
over music, and usually performed accompanying themselves by an acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
or piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. Some of them were inspired by the French chanson
Chanson
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...
or folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
. One of the first critically acclaimed singer-songwriters was the Croatian artist Arsen Dedić
Arsen Dedic
Arsen Dedić is a Croatian singer-songwriter who has been prominent in the Croatian as well as former Yugoslav music scene. Dedić writes and performs chansons as well as film music...
who started his career in the 1960s and is still popular in his homeland and around the former Yugoslav countries, especially among the older generation. Another important author was also Đorđe Balašević from Novi Sad
Novi Sad
Novi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain on the Danube river....
. He started his music career in the 1970s as a member of Žetva and Rani Mraz
Rani Mraz
Rani Mraz were a former Yugoslav rock band from Novi Sad, formed in 1977 by former Žetva member Đorđe Balašević. During the initial period, the band went through several lineup changes, until Balašević and female singer Biljana Krstić remained the only official members of the band...
, before beginning a very successful solo career that continues up to the present. Despite being into acoustic rock initially, later he often used various elements of 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...
and rock
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...
often spiced up either with typical Vojvodinian humour or a ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
type of melancholy. A notable female artist in this category was Jadranka Stojaković
Jadranka Stojakovic
Jadranka Stojaković is a Bosnian singer-songwriter popular in the former Yugoslavia, known for her unique, beautiful voice...
from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She was an author of the main music theme for the 1984 Winter Olympics
1984 Winter Olympics
The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated from 8–19 February 1984 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. Other candidate cities were Sapporo, Japan; and Gothenburg, Sweden...
held in Sarajevo. Since 1988, she resides in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. An artist notable for socially engaged lyrics was Marko Brecelj, formerly a member of Buldožer
Buldožer
Buldožer was Yugoslav-Slovenian progressive rock band from 1970s and 1980s. They were one of the first bands in communist Yugoslavia that could be considered alternative, and forefathers of the Yugoslav New Wave...
.
Disco
The discoDisco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
craze spread around the world in the 1970s conquering Yugoslavia as well. Similarly to the disco movie Saturday Night Fever
Saturday Night Fever
Saturday Night Fever is a 1977 drama film directed by John Badham and starring: John Travolta as Tony Manero, an immature young man whose weekends are spent visiting a local Brooklyn discothèque; Karen Lynn Gorney as his dance partner and eventual friend; and Donna Pescow as Tony's former dance...
, Zdravko Čolić
Zdravko Colic
Zdravko Čolić , is a pop singer popular across the entire area of former Yugoslavia. Originally from Sarajevo, since 1992 , his home is in Belgrade, Serbia...
became a sort of "Yugoslav John Travolta
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
" dancing in stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
s across the country, dressed in a tight white suit and the then-fashionable bell-bottoms
Bell-bottoms
Bell-bottoms are trousers that become wider from the knees downward. Related styles include flare, loon pants and boot-cut/leg trousers. Hip-huggers are bell-bottomed, flare, or boot-cut pants that are fitted tightly around the hips and thighs.-Naval origins:Bell-bottoms' precise origins are...
. At the legendary concert at the Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
stadium Marakana
Stadion Crvena Zvezda
The Red Star Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Belgrade, Serbia. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Red Star Belgrade. The stadium is all-seated and the capacity is 51,328. It was opened in 1963 after construction which had started three years...
on September 5, 1978, about 70,000 people gathered to see him. The concert was also attended by representatives of a West German record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. Impressed by Čolić's popularity they offered him a record contract. He released the songs "Jedina" and "Zagrli me" for the Western German market and also an English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
single featuring the songs "I'm not a Robot Man" and "Light Me". Čolić was offered to move to West Germany and start a career there, but he refused favouring the popularity he had at home. His song about a relationship with a posh girl "Pusti, Pusti modu" became a nationwide disco megahit in 1980. Despite that the disco fashion soon faded, Čolić continued his successful career as a pop music
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...
singer occasionally using folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
elements and remained popular in the former Yugoslav countries up to this day.
This era also brought in a one-hit wonder
One-hit wonder
A one-hit wonder is a person or act known mainly for only a single success. The term is most often used to describe music performers with only one hit single.-Characteristics:...
called Mirzino Jato, labeled by the media as kitschy euro disco
Euro disco
Euro disco is an all encompassing colloquial term used to describe a variety of European electronic dance music that first originated from disco in the 1970s; incorporating elements of pop, New Wave and rock into disco-like continuous dance atmosphere...
band obviously influenced by Boney M., who were quite popular in Yugoslavia especialsy after their only male member Bobby Farrell
Bobby Farrell
Roberto "Bobby" Alfonso Farrell was an Aruban dancer and performer, best known as the male member of the successful 1970s pop and disco group Boney M.-Early years:...
married a girl from Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
's predominantly Roma inhabited municipality Šuto Orizari.http://www.bhdani.com/arhiva/170/citanka170.htm Mirzino Jato's style encompassed the deep, subwoofer shaking voice of Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and classical choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
singer Mirza Alijagić ANT the three sexy back vocalists called "Jato" (trans. Flock
Flock
-Computing:* Flock , a defunct web browser* Flock system call, used for computer file locking* F-Lock, a function lock key on a computer keyboard-Entertainment:* Flock , a sculpture by Michael Christian...
). Music was written and produced by Divlje Jagode
Divlje jagode
Divlje Jagode is a Yugoslav and Bosnian hard rock and heavy metal band.-1970s:Divlje Jagode were formed in 1977 in Bihać by guitarist Zele Lipovača...
guitarist Sead Lipovača
Sead Lipovaca
Zele Lipovača , is the lead guitarist and founder of the popular former Yugoslav hard rock band Divlje Jagode....
, while the author of most lyrics was Marina Tucaković
Marina Tucaković
Marina Tucaković is a Serbian songwriter who has composed several hit albums in former Yugoslavia. She is a known collaborator with Ceca, Lepa Brena, Jelena Karleusa among others...
, who later became famous writing lyrics for other musical styles. Despite their huge popularity at the time, Mirzino Jato never got past the first album. Its only considerable hit was "Apsolutno tvoj".
One of the best known dance songs in this period was also the Dado Topić
Dado Topic
Adolf "Dado" Topić is a singer who sang the entry from Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 together with the band Dragonfly. He is one of the most popular rock musicians of Croatia and the former Yugoslavia. He was the lead singer of Time, a 1970s progressive rock band...
's opening track of the 1979 film Nacionalna klasa starring Dragan Nikolić as Floyd, the fanatic car racer.
Hard rock and heavy metal
Gordi
Gordi were a former Yugoslav heavy metal band from Belgrade. Although only their last two studio albums, Pakleni trio and Kraljica smrti, were truly heavy metal oriented, these are the albums for which Gordi are generally most remembered.-Band history:The band was formed in November 1977 by former...
were one of the first Yugoslav heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
bands and are considered one the pioneers of classic heavy metal in Yugoslavia. Hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
group Riblja Čorba
Riblja Corba
Riblja Čorba is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. Their presence on the scene has lasted from 1978 to today. They reached their peak of popularity in the 1980s, but it has declined in the 1990s, partly due to controversial political attitudes of the band's leader Bora Đorđević...
, known for their provocative social-related lyrics and controversial political attitudes of the band's frontman Bora Đorđević was one of the most important groups of the Yugoslav and Serbian rock
Serbian rock
Serbian rock is the rock music scene of Serbia. During the 1960s, 1970s and the 1980s, while Serbia was a constituent republic of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbian rock scene was a part of the SFR Yugoslav rock scene....
in general. Riblja Čorba drummer Vicko Milatović
Vicko Milatovic
Miroslav "Vicko" Milatović is a Serbian musician best known as the drummer for the Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band Riblja Čorba.-Early career:...
formed heavy metal band Warriors
Warriors (band)
Warriors were a former Yugoslav/Canadian heavy metal band. They were originally known as Ratnici and changed their name to Warriors in 1983.-Band history:...
, which later moved to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and recorded an album for the foreign market. The eminent heavy metal group Divlje Jagode
Divlje jagode
Divlje Jagode is a Yugoslav and Bosnian hard rock and heavy metal band.-1970s:Divlje Jagode were formed in 1977 in Bihać by guitarist Zele Lipovača...
from Bihać, led by guitarist Sead "Zele" Lipovača
Sead Lipovaca
Zele Lipovača , is the lead guitarist and founder of the popular former Yugoslav hard rock band Divlje Jagode....
started a short-lasting international career in 1987 under the name Wild Strawberries. Another notable Bosnian hard rock group was Vatreni Poljubac led by charismatic Milić Vukašinović
Milic Vukašinovic
Milić Vukašinović, a.k.a. Mitch Valiant is a musician from Serbia of Yugoslavian ethnicity. He was the founder of the rock band Vatreni Poljubac and drummer of the famous Yugoslav band Bijelo dugme.Born in Belgrade, he moved with his family to Peć when he was 6 years old...
, formerly a member of Bijelo Dugme
Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme was a highly influential former Yugoslav rock band, based in Sarajevo. Active between 1974 and 1989, it is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock...
. Other notable hard rock and heavy metal bands include Generacija 5
Generacija 5
Generacija 5 is a Serbian and former Yugoslav hard rock band from Belgrade.-1977—1982:...
, Rok Mašina
Rok Mašina
Rok Mašina was a short-lasting former Yugoslav hard rock band from Belgrade. Rok Mašina was formed in 1980 by former members of the progressive/hard rock band Pop Mašina, and it is often considered a continuation of Pop Mašina.-1980 - 1982:The band was formed in 1980 by former Pop Mašina members...
, Kerber
Kerber
Kerber is a Serbian and former Yugoslav hard rock band from Niš.-1980s:The original members of Kerber were Goran Šepa "Gale" , Tomislav Nikolić , Branislav "Bane" Božinović , Zoran Stamenković and Zoran Madić . In 1981, formerly known as Top Kerber (Serbian Cyrillic: Кербер; trans. Cerberus) is a...
and Griva
Griva
Griva was a Serbian and former Yugoslav hard rock band from Novi Sad.-1982—1992:The band was formed in 1982 by former Ibn Tup members, Zlatko Karavla and Josip Sabo . The first lineup also featured Zoran Gogić , Laslo Novak , and Đorđe Jovanović...
from Serbia; Osmi Putnik
Osmi putnik
Osmi putnik is a Croatian and former Yugoslav hard rock/heavy metal band.-1985 - 1989:...
(whose frontman Zlatan Stipišić, better known as Gibonni, later started a successful pop music career) and Crna Udovica (later changed their name to Big Blue) from Croatia; Pomaranča from Slovenia, Concorde from Macedonia http://www.discogs.com/Concorde-Have-The-Blues/release/1305721 and others. Yugoslav glam metal
Glam metal
Glam metal is a subgenre of hard rock and heavy metal that arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, particularly on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip music scene...
scene featured few acts, most notable being Karizma and Osvajači
Osvajaci
Osvajači were a Serbian and former Yugoslav hard rock/heavy metal band from Kragujevac.Osvajači were originally formed in 1990. They recorded two studio albums, Krv i led and Sam, and disbanded in 1997...
.
Punk rock
The Yugoslav punk rockPunk 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...
scene emerged in the late 1970s, influenced by the first wave of 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...
bands from the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, such as Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
and The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
and others, but also the proto-punk bands such as MC5
MC5
The MC5 is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan and originally active from 1964 to 1972. The original band line-up consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson...
, The Stooges
The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
and New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
. The DIY
Do it yourself
Do it yourself is a term used to describe building, modifying, or repairing of something without the aid of experts or professionals...
punkzine scene also started to develop. The Yugoslav punk bands were the first punk bands ever formed in a socialist state. Some of the first ones were formed in SR Slovenia and SR Croatia: 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"...
from 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...
(formed in 1977) 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 :...
from Rijeka
Rijeka
Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants...
(depending on the source, formed in 1976 or 1977). The Slovenian and Croatian scene of that period is featured in the compilation album 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...
, compiled by Igor Vidmar
Igor Vidmar
Igor Vidmar is a prominent Slovenian and former Yugoslav journalist, rock music promoter and manager, music producer and political activist.-Biography:...
. Late 1970s-early 1980s Belgrade scene included: Urbana Gerila
Urbana gerila
Urbana Gerila was a former Yugoslav punk rock and New Wave band from Belgrade. The band is notable as the participant of the Artistička radna akcija project in 1981...
, Radnička Kontrola
Radnicka kontrola
Radnička Kontrola was a former Yugoslav punk rock/New Wave band from Belgrade, active in the late 1970s and early 1980s and notable for its appearance on the compilation album Artistička radna akcija.After the band ceased to exist, vocalist Zoran Kostić "Cane" rose to nationwide and popularity as...
and many others. This generation of bands was included on the Artistička Radna Akcija
Artisticka radna akcija
Artistička radna akcija is a new wave and punk rock compilation album released in late 1981 by Jugoton in SFR Yugoslavia...
compilation. Pekinška Patka
Pekinška Patka
Pekinška Patka is an eminent Serbian and former Yugoslav punk rock band from Novi Sad. Their debut album, Plitka poezija, released in 1980, is considered the first punk rock album by a band coming from Serbia...
was a cult band coming from Novi Sad
Novi Sad
Novi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain on the Danube river....
. Some of the notable punk bands in SR Macedonia included: Fol Jazik
Fol Jazik
The Fol Jazik is considered to be the first Macedonian punk rock band founded in Skopje by Vlado Hristov - KRLE in 1978. The band members were: Vlado Hristov - KRLE , Saso Nikolovski - GZLA , Petar Georgievski - PERO KAMIKAZA , Bratislav Grkovic - BATA PANKER...
, arguably the first punk band in Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
, formed in 1978; Afektiven naboj
Afektiven Naboj
Afektiven Naboj was one of the two punk rock bands formed in 1979 by guitar player Klime Kovaceski and Goran Trajkoski, now an eminent musician from Republic of Macedonia, who rose to international prominence as a frontman of the group Anastasia featured on the soundtrack album for the Academy...
from Struga
Struga
Struga is a town and popular tourist destination situated in the south-western region of the Republic of Macedonia, lying on the shore of Lake Ohrid. The town of Struga is the seat of Struga Municipality.-Etymology:...
formed in 1979 feat. Goran Trajkoski
Goran Trajkoski
Goran Trajkoski is an eminent Macedonian musician. He rose to international prominence as a frontman of the group Anastasija which was featured on the soundtrack album for the Academy Award nominated movie Before the Rain directed by Milčo Mančevski. He started his musical career as a member of...
; Other notable acts from Skopje included Badmingtons
Badmingtons
Badmingtons is a prominent Macedonian punk rock band in Macedonia.-Biography:The group was formed in the 1980s in Skopje, then SR Macedonia with the unconventional line-up: Vladimir Petrovski- Karter , Dean Škartov - Deko and Boris Georgiev- But .Previously, Karter played in one...
and Saraceni, both led by Vladimir Petrovski Karter. In Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, the following artists emerged: SCH
SCH (band)
SCH is the musical and artistic project and band of Senad Hadžimusić, who is better known by his nickname Teno. Formed in the early-eighties in Sarajevo, the band has had an intensive creative and live existence...
(still active cult alternative and experimental band that evolved from post Punk and New Wave into Noise, Industrial and eventually into Techno and Goth-Electronica, led by the charismatic Senad Hadžimusić Teno
Senad Hadžimusić Teno
Senad Hadžimusić is a musician, songwriter and poet best known as the founder, mastermind, songwriter, producer, singer and guitarist of the Sarajevo alternative industrial band SCH. With SCH, his band-alterego, Teno has authored, performed, produced and recorded 11 official albums...
), Ozbiljno Pitanje (which later evolved into the pop-rock star band Crvena Jabuka
Crvena jabuka
Crvena jabuka is a Sarajevo-based pop band that originated in 1985, and since then has remained very popular. They were also a part of the so called New Primitives movement that occurred in the 1980s in the Former Yugoslavia territory....
), Ševa (which later evolved into Bombaj Štampa
Bombaj Štampa
"Bombaj štampa" is the pop-rock group from Sarajevo dating from 1982, which, together with "Zabranjeno Pušenje" and Elvis J. Kurtović, participated in creating a new movement known as New Primitivisam in Ex-Yugoslavia. The group was founded by Nedim Babović, guitarist and Branko Đurić, actor and...
led by the charismatic Branko Đurić), and the cult band Zabranjeno Pušenje
Zabranjeno pušenje
Zabranjeno Pušenje is a Yugoslavian garage rock band from Sarajevo, closely associated with the New primitivism cultural movement and the radio and television satire show Top Lista Nadrealista...
. These Sarajevian bands later formed the punk-inspired New Primitives
New Primitives
New Primitivism was an urban subcultural movement that originated in Sarajevo during early-to-mid 1980s. The movement was identified with Zabranjeno pušenje and Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors bands, whose members were the driving forces behind it. Its creators and most notable personalities...
movement, an important phenomenon in the former Yugoslav culture.
In the late 1970s, some punk bands were affiliated with the New Wave music
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
scene, and were labeled as both punk rock and new wave. During a certain period, the term "New Wave music" was interchangeable with "punk".
The end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s saw the emergence of various subgenres of punk rock, such as streetpunk and Oi!
Oi!
Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths ....
. Later came hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
, followed by various extreme styles such as crust punk
Crust punk
Crust punk is a form of music influenced by anarcho-punk, hardcore punk and extreme metal. The style, which evolved in the mid-1980s in England, often has songs with dark and pessimistic lyrics that linger on political and social ills...
, crossover thrash
Crossover thrash
__FORCETOC__Crossover thrash, often abbreviated to crossover, is a form of thrash metal that contains more hardcore punk elements than standard thrash. The genre lies on a continuum between heavy metal and punk rock...
all the way to grindcore
Grindcore
Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....
. Notable hardcore punk acts during the 1980s included: Niet
Niet
Niet is a punk rock and hardcore punk band from Ljubljana, Slovenia. They were one of the most iconic and influential music groups of the Slovenian punk movement and the Punk in Yugoslavia in general...
, Patareni
Patareni
Patareni are a punk rock / noise / grindcore band from Croatia, formed in 1983. Owing to their formation at such an early date, they are considered to be one of the earliest grindcore bands. Their name comes from Pataria, a medieval sect....
, KBO!
KBO!
KBO! is a Serbian punk rock band from Kragujevac. They are one of the first hardcore punk acts on the former Yugoslav punk scene. Since the very beginning, the band accepted the DIY ethic by forming their own record label KBO! Records, through which they have released all their official releases...
and others. A notable mainstream pop punk
Pop punk
Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars...
band was Psihomodo Pop
Psihomodo Pop
Psihomodo Pop is a Croatian pop punk group. The band was formed in 1983 in Zagreb and has since achieved a somewhat cult following across the area of former Yugoslavia....
from Croatia (heavily influenced by The Ramones). Many eminent foreign punk bands played concerts around former Yugoslavia including: The Ruts
The Ruts
The Ruts were a reggae-influenced British punk rock band, notable for the 1979 Top 10 hit "Babylon's Burning", and an earlier single "In a Rut", which was not a hit but was much played and highly regarded by the UK BBC Radio 1 disc jockey, John Peel.-Career:...
, Siouxsie and the Banshees, 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...
, 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...
, The Exploited
The Exploited
The Exploited are a Scottish punk band from the second wave of UK punk, formed in 1979. Originally a street punk band, they transformed into a faster hardcore punk band with a heavy political influence. From about 1987 on they changed into a crossover thrash band...
and The Anti-Nowhere League
The 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:...
. In 1983 The Anti-Nowhere League released their album Live in Yugoslavia
Live in Yugoslavia
Live in Yugoslavia is a live album from the punk band the Anti-Nowhere League. It was recorded in Moša Pijade Hall in Zagreb, Yugoslavia on April 24, 1983 and released and pressed later in the same year in England on I.D Records...
, while Angelic Upstarts released a live album with the same title in 1985. Beside musicians, the Yugoslav punk subculture
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
also included punk writers
Punk literature
Punk literature is a form of literature that emerged from the punk subculture. The attitude and ideology of punk rock gave rise to distinctive characteristics in the writing it manifested...
and artists
Punk visual art
Punk visual art is artwork which often graces punk rock album covers, flyers for punk shows, and punk zines. It is characterised by deliberate violation, such as the use of letters cut out from newspapers and magazines, a device previously associated with kidnap and ransom notes, so the sender's...
, with Ivan Glišić
Ivan Glišic
Ivan Glišić , born in 1942 in Pirot, Serbia, is an intellectual, writer, artist, journalist and song-writer who achieved prominence both in Serbia and across the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
from Šabac
Šabac
Šabac is a city and municipality in western Serbia, along the Sava river, in the historic region of Mačva. It is the administrative center of the Mačva District. The city has a population of 52,822 , while population of the municipality is 115,347...
being one of the notable ones.
New Wave music
The New Wave musicNew Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
scene emerged in the late 1970s and had a significant impact on Yugoslav culture. As its counterparts - The British and the US New Wave music scenes, from which the main influences came from, the Yugoslav New Wave scene was also closely related to 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...
, Ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
, Reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, Two Tone, Power pop
Power pop
Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...
, Mod Revival
Mod Revival
The mod revival was a music genre and subculture that started in England in 1978 and later spread to other countries . The mod revival's mainstream popularity was relatively short, although its influence has lasted for decades...
etc. The New Wave was especially advocated by the music magazines Polet from 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...
and Džuboks from Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, and by the TV show Rokenroler, which was famous for its artistic music videos
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
.
Important bands of the Yugoslav New wave are: Riblja Čorba
Riblja Corba
Riblja Čorba is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. Their presence on the scene has lasted from 1978 to today. They reached their peak of popularity in the 1980s, but it has declined in the 1990s, partly due to controversial political attitudes of the band's leader Bora Đorđević...
, Šarlo Akrobata
Šarlo Akrobata
Šarlo Akrobata were a seminal Yugoslav rock band often categorized as late punk or New Wave, particularly art-oriented. Short-lived but extremely influential, in addition to being one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav New Wave scene, the three piece left an indelible mark on the entire...
, Idoli, Parni valjak
Parni Valjak
Parni valjak 1975 is a Croatian and former Yugoslav rock band. They were one of the top acts of the former Yugoslav Rock scene, and currently one of the top rock-and-roll bands in Croatia.-Biography:Parni valjak was founded in 1975...
, Azra
Azra
Azra was a rock band from Zagreb that was popular across Yugoslavia in the 1980s. Azra was formed in 1977 by its frontman Branimir "Johnny" Štulić. The other two members of the original line-up were Mišo Hrnjak and Boris Leiner . The band is named after a verse from "Der Asra" by Heinrich Heine...
, Električni orgazam
Električni Orgazam
Električni Orgazam is a Serbian rock band from Belgrade. Originally starting as a combination of New Wave, punk rock and post-punk, the band later slowly changed their style, becoming a mainstream rock act.- New Wave years :...
, Haustor
Haustor
Haustor was a rock band from Zagreb, SR Croatia, a member of the Novi val movement, and an important act of the former Yugoslav Rock scene.- Biography :...
, Film
Film (music group)
Film was a Croatian rock group founded in 1978 in Zagreb. Film was one of the most popular rock groups of the former Yugoslav New Wave in the late 1970s to early 1980s.- New Wave years :...
, Laboratorija Zvuka
Laboratorija Zvuka
Laboratorija Zvuka , sometimes credited as Laboratorija only, was a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band...
, Lačni Franz
Lacni Franz
Lačni Franz was a rock band from Slovenia. The band was formed in Maribor in June 1979. Their name, meaning hungry Franz, is a pun on the name of a character from the novel Catch-22, Hungry Joe, and describes hunger for rock music....
, Cilindar
Cilindar
Cilindar is a New Wave, Ska, 2 Tone and Reggae band from Skopje, the Republic of Macedonia formed in the early 1980s, in the then SR Macedonia, SFR Yugoslavia.Today its former members are respectable solo or band artists in the Macedonian music scene:...
and many others. This period in the former Yugoslav music is considered a "Golden age". All of these artists still have status of cult bands.
Symbols of the Yugoslav New Wave era are the compilation albums Paket aranžman
Paket aranžman
Paket aranžman is a New Wave music compilation album released in 1980 by Jugoton and its one of the most important and influential records ever made in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It features the eminent Belgrade artists: Šarlo Akrobata, Električni Orgazam and Idoli...
, 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...
, Artistička Radna Akcija
Artisticka radna akcija
Artistička radna akcija is a new wave and punk rock compilation album released in late 1981 by Jugoton in SFR Yugoslavia...
and especially movies Davitelj protiv davitelja
Davitelj protiv davitelja
Strangler vs. Strangler is a 1984 Yugoslav film featuring elements of comedy, thriller and horror genres.-Plot:In the mid 1980s Belgrade finally gets its first serial killer: an awkward carnations seller named Pera Mitić . Mitić is an overweight 48-year-old man who is in an Oedipus kind of way...
(starring Idoli member Srđan Šaper) and Dečko koji obećava (starring Aleksandar Berček and featuring appearances by members of Šarlo Akrobata and Idoli).
An important rockumentary
Rockumentary
The term rockumentary is a neologism denoting a documentary about rock music or its musicians. The term was used by Bill Drake in the 1969 History of Rock & Roll radio broadcast, and by Rob Reiner in the 1984 mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap....
covering this period is Sretno dijete
Sretno dijete
Sretno dijete is a documentary film directed by Igor Mirković, and produced by Rajko Grlić, an Ohio University professor of film, in 2003...
.
1980s
As the New Wave perished in the beginning of the 1980s, some of the bands split or took different musical directions. The period around 1982 is considered especially crucial concerning the decline of the New Wave in Yugoslavia, but also around the world. Many new important bands formed in 1982 after the New Wave faded: Dušan Kojić-Koja, the former bass player of Šarlo AkrobataŠarlo Akrobata
Šarlo Akrobata were a seminal Yugoslav rock band often categorized as late punk or New Wave, particularly art-oriented. Short-lived but extremely influential, in addition to being one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav New Wave scene, the three piece left an indelible mark on the entire...
formed the legendary group Disciplina Kičme
Disciplina Kičme
Disciplina Kičme , is a Serbian band, one of the two spin-offs of the seminal Yugoslav New Wave and later post-punk band Šarlo Akrobata, the other being Ekatarina Velika...
(a unique noisy mix of punk rock, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
and many other styles). The band later rose to international prominence and appeared on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
. Zoran Kostić-Cane
Cane (musician)
Zoran Kostić widely known by his nickname Cane is Serbian rock and punk-rock musician known primarily as the leader and vocalist for Serbian punk group Partibrejkers.-Early years:...
, the former vocalist of Radnička Kontrola
Radnicka kontrola
Radnička Kontrola was a former Yugoslav punk rock/New Wave band from Belgrade, active in the late 1970s and early 1980s and notable for its appearance on the compilation album Artistička radna akcija.After the band ceased to exist, vocalist Zoran Kostić "Cane" rose to nationwide and popularity as...
, formed the furious garage punk
Garage punk
Garage punk is a fusion of garage rock and punk rock. It is fast-paced lo-fi music characterized by a dirty, choppy guitar sound—usually played by bands who are on independent record labels or who are unsigned...
group Partibrejkers
Partibrejkers
Partibrejkers is a prominent Serbian rock band from Belgrade, as well as an acclaimed act of the former Yugoslav rock scene....
and achieved huge success. Idoli, Prljavo Kazalište
Prljavo kazalište
Prljavo kazalište is a rock and roll band from Zagreb, Croatia. Since its formation in 1977, the group changed several music styles and line ups but remained one of the top acts of both the Croatian and the former Yugoslav rock scenes.-Beginnings:Prljavo kazalište was formed in 1977 in Dubrava,...
and Film (the latter under the moniker Jura Stublić
Jura Stublic
Jurislav "Jura" Stublić is a Croatian singer and songwriter.-Biography:In 1961, he moved with his parents Tomislav and Vesna to Sesvetski Kraljevec near Zagreb. His father was from Sesvetski Kraljevec and he too was a singer. His mother was a tailor.In Zagreb, Stublić studied philosophy, but he...
i Film) became pop-rock and all of them respectively achieved great mainstream success; The cult band Azra
Azra
Azra was a rock band from Zagreb that was popular across Yugoslavia in the 1980s. Azra was formed in 1977 by its frontman Branimir "Johnny" Štulić. The other two members of the original line-up were Mišo Hrnjak and Boris Leiner . The band is named after a verse from "Der Asra" by Heinrich Heine...
gradually moved on to a more conventional rock sound with occasional use of folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
. Johnny Štulić's poetic trademarks were still notable throughout their lyrics. Električni Orgazam
Električni Orgazam
Električni Orgazam is a Serbian rock band from Belgrade. Originally starting as a combination of New Wave, punk rock and post-punk, the band later slowly changed their style, becoming a mainstream rock act.- New Wave years :...
went through a psychedelic phase and later became a successful mainstream rock band inspired mostly by the 1960s sound.
One of the most prominent mainstream dance pop acts during the decade, especially in the early 1980s, was Oliver Mandić
Oliver Mandic
Oliver Mandić is a Serbian pop musician, composer, and producer - very prominent and popular throughout the 1980s.-Early biography:...
. He used transvestite elements in his stage and video performances long before Boy George
Boy George
Boy George is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...
emerged. His music utilized lots of funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
dance music. The national Radio-Television Belgrade filmed the famous TV show featuring a collection of his music videos called Beograd noću (Belgrade by Night) directed by Stanko Crnobrnja. The ambitiously avantgarde program won Rose d'Or
Rose d'Or
The Rose d’Or is one of the most important international festivals in entertainment television. It was founded in Montreux in 1961 and has taken place in Lucerne since 2004. Producers, executives from independent and public service broadcasters and heads of production companies from over 40...
award at the 1981 Montreux
Montreux
Montreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps and has a population, , of and nearly 90,000 in the agglomeration.- History :...
TV festival. Mandić's controversial image in the show, created by the conceptual artist Kosta Bunuševac, raised quite a public furor due to the singer's cross-dressing
Cross-dressing
Cross-dressing is the wearing of clothing and other accoutrement commonly associated with a gender within a particular society that is seen as different than the one usually presented by the dresser...
and aggressive makeup.
1983 was marked by Danijel Popović, the Yugoslav performer at the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 1983
The Eurovision Song Contest 1983, the 28th in the series, was held in Munich, then West Germany, on 23 April 1983. The presenter was Marlene Charell. Corinne Hermes was the winner of this Eurovision with the song, "Si la vie est cadeau". This was Luxembourg's fifth victory in the contest which...
in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. He instantly became a nationwide pop star, but was also acclaimed around Europe. Certain artists from West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
as well as other countries released cover versions of his song "Džuli
Džuli
"Džuli" was the Yugoslav entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1983, performed in Croato-Serbian by Montenegrin singer Daniel Popović...
". Other popular pop acts during the 1980s were Novi Fosili
Novi fosili
Novi fosili was a Croatian pop band, one of the most popular music acts in former Yugoslavia.The group was formed in Zagreb in 1969. Their first successes came in 1976 when the composer Rajko Dujmić joined the band. That same year Novi Fosili played at the Split Festival, where their song...
and the Split
Split (city)
Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...
based group Magazin
Magazin
Magazin is a Croatian pop band from Split.Founded in the 1970s under the name Dalmatinski magazin , the band quickly began to make a mark on local pop music festivals with its songs influenced by Dalmatian folk music...
. In 1984 at the national pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest (Jugovizija) in Skopje, the frontman of Time, Dado Topić
Dado Topic
Adolf "Dado" Topić is a singer who sang the entry from Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 together with the band Dragonfly. He is one of the most popular rock musicians of Croatia and the former Yugoslavia. He was the lead singer of Time, a 1970s progressive rock band...
, performed a duet with the charismatic Slađana Milošević, known for her extravagant style similar to that of Nina Hagen
Nina Hagen
Nina Hagen is a German singer and actress.-Early years:Hagen was born as Catharina Hagen in the former East Berlin, East Germany, the daughter of Hans Hagen , a scriptwriter, and Eva-Maria Hagen, an actress and singer...
. Although their song "Negde izvan planeta" (known as "Princeza") did not make it to the Eurovision (Vlado Kalember and Izolda Barudžija won), the song became a Yugoslav hit and it is still an evergreen pop ballad. A notable music producer, composer and musician often involved in the Eurovision Song Contest during the 1980s was Zrinko Tutić. Popular female solo singers were Neda Ukraden
Neda Ukraden
Neda Ukraden is a famous Serbian pop-folk singer across all of the former Yugoslavia, whose professional career stretches back over 30 years. She sings in the ijekavian form of the Serbo-Croatian language....
, Tereza Kesovija
Tereza Kesovija
Tereza Ana Kesovija is an internationally acclaimed Croatian singer, one of the most recognisable figures on the Balkan music scene, renowned for her wide vocal range and operatic style and one of the most important artists of the former Yugoslavia. She also had a very successful career in France...
and Lepa Brena
Lepa Brena
Fahreta Jahić Živojinović is Yugoslavian pop-folk singer, better known as Lepa Brena , . Born in Tuzla and raised in Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina , she moved to Novi Sad in 1980 to pursue her career in singing. In 1982...
.
A former member of the hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
cult band Riblja Čorba
Riblja Corba
Riblja Čorba is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. Their presence on the scene has lasted from 1978 to today. They reached their peak of popularity in the 1980s, but it has declined in the 1990s, partly due to controversial political attitudes of the band's leader Bora Đorđević...
, Momčilo Bajagić Bajaga
Momcilo Bajagic
Momčilo Bajagić "Bajaga" is a highly popular Serbian rock musician born in Bjelovar. He is best known as the leader of the Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band Bajaga i Instruktori, as well as a former member of the hard rock band Riblja Čorba.-Early career:Bajagić started his musical career as a...
formed one of the most popular ex-Yugoslav acts ever, Bajaga i Instruktori
Bajaga i Instruktori
Bajaga i Instruktori are a highly popular Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band...
. Their first album Pozitivna geografija which featured certain new wave traces rose to nationwide popularity, but their second album Sa druge strane jastuka is considered one of the most important records of the former Yugoslav pop and rock music ever. Later, Dejan Cukić
Dejan Cukic
Dejan Cukić is a Serbian rock musician, journalist and writer.During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Cukić was the frontman of the New Wave band Bulevar, releasing two albums with the band. After Bulevar disbanded in 1982, he retired from music...
, one of the members of Bajaga i Instruktori left the band and started a successful solo career.
Notable artist from the Albanian minority was Zana Nimani
Zana Nimani
Zana Nimani is a former singer from Serbia. She is an ethnic Albanian born in Belgrade. Throughout her carrier she sang in Serbian language and resided in Belgrade, and she was the first frontress of the prominent Yugoslav band Zana from 1980 to 1985 as well as a successful solo artist...
the popular frontress of the band Zana
Zana (band)
Zana is a popular music group from Belgrade, Serbia, which was especially successful during the 1980s in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Early years:...
from Belgrade.
The most popular TV was Hit meseca (Hit of the Month) which was a sort of Yugoslav Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
. The host of the show was Dubravka "Duca" Marković. A popular magazine among the youths was ITD, which also had a version called Super ITD in a bigger format. The most prominent rock music magazine was Rock.
Musical genres such as Post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
, Gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
, Darkwave
Darkwave
Dark Wave or darkwave is a music genre that began in the late 1970s, coinciding with the popularity of New Wave and post-punk. Building on those basic principles, dark wave added dark, introspective lyrics and an undertone of sorrow for some bands...
, New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
and 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...
were already expanded across the globe as well as in SFR Yugoslavia during the early 1980s:
Post-punk
The former punks Pekinška PatkaPekinška Patka
Pekinška Patka is an eminent Serbian and former Yugoslav punk rock band from Novi Sad. Their debut album, Plitka poezija, released in 1980, is considered the first punk rock album by a band coming from Serbia...
moved to post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
and darkwave
Darkwave
Dark Wave or darkwave is a music genre that began in the late 1970s, coinciding with the popularity of New Wave and post-punk. Building on those basic principles, dark wave added dark, introspective lyrics and an undertone of sorrow for some bands...
on their second, less acclaimed album Strah od monotonije
Strah od monotonije
- Personnel :* Mare — Marinko Vukmanović; bass, voice [hypnotic voices], backing vocals* Cila — Laslo Pihler; drums* Bale — Zoran Bulatović; guitar, keyboards, backing vocals* Čonta — Nebojša Čonkić; vocals, performer [Čontajzer]- References :*...
released in 1981 and soon disbanded. Another legendary band, 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 :...
, moved from their initial punk rock phase and released their psychedelic album Izleti in 1982 with elements of post-punk and gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
. Električni Orgazam
Električni Orgazam
Električni Orgazam is a Serbian rock band from Belgrade. Originally starting as a combination of New Wave, punk rock and post-punk, the band later slowly changed their style, becoming a mainstream rock act.- New Wave years :...
had a notable psychedelic phase, during which, they released their album Lišće prekriva Lisabon
Lišće prekriva Lisabon
Lišće prekriva Lisabon is the second studio album by Serbian/Yugoslavian New wave band Električni orgazam. It was released in 1982 by Jugoton.-"A" side:#"Pođimo"#"Alabama" #"Žuto"# "Sam"# "Glave"...
in 1982.
Milan Mladenović
Milan Mladenovic
Milan Mladenović was a Yugoslav and Serbian musician best known as the frontman of Serbian art rock band Ekatarina Velika.-Early life:...
, formerly a guitarist of Šarlo Akrobata
Šarlo Akrobata
Šarlo Akrobata were a seminal Yugoslav rock band often categorized as late punk or New Wave, particularly art-oriented. Short-lived but extremely influential, in addition to being one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav New Wave scene, the three piece left an indelible mark on the entire...
, in that same 1982 formed the cult band Ekatarina Velika
Ekatarina Velika
Ekatarina Velika , sometimes referred to as EKV for short, was a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock group from Belgrade, being one of the most successful and influential music acts coming out of former Yugoslavia....
, initially named Katarina II. The band is remembered for its darker poetic post-punk sound and its intellectual attitude. Some of its members included the bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
player Bojan Pečar
Bojan Pecar
Bojan Pečar was a Yugoslav and Serbian musician, best known as bass player of the cult Yugoslav rock band Ekatarina Velika. Previously he was a member of the New Wave group Via Talas, who were featured on the Yugoslav New Wave compilation album Artistička radna akcija...
, formerly a member of Via Talas and the drummer Srđan Todorović, who later rose to internationally acclaimed film actor. Margita Stefanović-Magi, the keyboard player, and Milan, the frontman both rose to a status of "alternative celebrities". Later, both died.
Art rock
Notable art rockArt rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
groups included the arty and extravagant Dorian Gray
Dorian Gray (band)
Dorian Gray was an 1980s Yugoslav music group which achieved great prominence in the former Yugoslav rock scene for its artistic and extravagant style and stage performances. It was led by Massimo Savić, who later started a successful solo career...
and BOA
BOA (band)
BOA is a Croatian music group, which was especially prominent during the 1980s around the former SFR Yugoslavia.-History:The band's early history started in Zagreb, then SR Croatia in 1974, when its founding members Mladen Puljiz and Slavko Remenarić, switched their interest from classical music to...
, both from 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...
. The former, named after Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
's Dorian Gray
Dorian Gray
Dorian Gray is the main character of Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.It may also refer to:* Dorian Gray , an Italian film starring Helmut Berger...
, formed in 1982, influenced by Roxy Music
Roxy Music
Roxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...
and Japan
Japan (band)
Japan were a British New Wave group, formed in 1974 in Catford, South London. The band achieved success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when they were often associated with the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement .- History :The band began as a group of friends...
. It was led by Massimo Savić, later a successful pop singer
Pop Singer
"Pop Singer" is the début single from London-based glam rockers Rachel Stamp. It was released in February, 1996 through WEA. The single was released as a 2 track CD Single and limited edition pink 7" vinyl of 1000 copies...
. BOA formed in the 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
, influenced by Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
, King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
and Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
, but later turned to New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
. In 1990, it performed as David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
's opening act
Opening act
An opening act or warm-up act is an entertainer or entertainment act that performs at a concert before the featured entertainer...
at Maksimir stadium
Maksimir Stadium
Maksimir Stadium is a stadium in the Croatian capital of Zagreb. It takes its name from the neighbourhood of Maksimir. It is primarily the home of Dinamo Zagreb, the top football team in the country. It is also home to Dinamo Zagreb's farm team NK Lokomotiva....
.
New Romantic
During the New RomanticNew Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
era popularized around the world by Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
and Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...
, prominent acts in Yugoslavia were the aforementioned Zagreb based group BOA
BOA (band)
BOA is a Croatian music group, which was especially prominent during the 1980s around the former SFR Yugoslavia.-History:The band's early history started in Zagreb, then SR Croatia in 1974, when its founding members Mladen Puljiz and Slavko Remenarić, switched their interest from classical music to...
and Jakarta
Jakarta (band)
-Band history:The band was formed in 1981 in Belgrade. During the initial period the band went through numerous lineup changes, before original members Igor Popović and Jane Parđovski started performing with Rade Bulatović , Miloš Petrović and Ivan Fece .They released their debut album Maske za...
from Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
.
Synthpop
Notable synthpopSynthpop
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...
artists in the former Yugoslavia included: Beograd
Beograd (band)
Beograd was a Serbian and former Yugoslav synthpop band, notable as one of the pioneers of the former Yugoslav electronic music scene.- History :...
, formed in 1981, named after their hometown Belgrade; Videosex
Videosex
Videosex was a prominent synthpop group based in Yugoslavia . The group was led by the singer Anja Rupel. They recorded four albums. Their debut album, Videosex 84 appeared in 1983 and they played with bands such as Ekatarina Velika and Otroci socializma in Belgrade...
from Ljubljana, Slovenia, led by their charismatic frontress Anja Rupel
Anja Rupel
Anja Rupel is a Slovene pop singer, songwriter, radio announcer, and journalist. Her father Fedja Rupel is a flautist and a professor at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, and her uncle is the politician and diplomat Dimitrij Rupel....
; the duo Denis & Denis from Croatia featuring the sex-symbol Marina Perazić, who later started a solo career, and her boyfriend Davor Tolja; the humorous bunch Laki Pingvini
Laki Pingvini
Laki Pingvini were a Serbian rock band from Belgrade. While initially being a New Wave act, throughout their later career, the band turned towards synthpop and pop rock....
and a similar act named D' Boys
D' Boys
-1982 - 1985:The band was formed in 1982, consisting of two musicians: Peđa D'Boy and Miško Mihajlovski, who reportedly "played the drum machine" and percussion...
led by Peđa D' Boy, formerly a vocalist of the West German rock band Jane
Jane (band)
Jane is a German Progressive Rock Krautrock band that was formed in October 1970 in Hanover, Germany.-Band history:Their debut album 'Together' is considered by fans to be one of the most iconic German Progressive Rock albums of all time...
. In Macedonia, a notable synthesizer-led act was the group Bastion
Bastion (band)
Bastion was an eminent electronic music group from Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, notable for its member Kiril Džajkovski , who later rose to international prominence as a solo musician, DJ and a composer of the soundtrack album for Milčo Mančevski's movie Dust.The trio was formed in 1983 in...
which featured the now internationally acclaimed electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
ian Kiril Džajkovski
Kiril Dzajkovski
Kiril Džajkovski , often credited as simply Kiril, is an internationally acclaimed Macedonian electronic musician and music composer.-Biography:...
on electronic keyboard
Electronic keyboard
An electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
s and Milcho Manchevski as a lyrics writer. Many Yugoslav artists in this period were already experimenting with the use of personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s in creating of their music. The cover of the single "Neka ti se dese prave stvari" / "Ne zovi to ljubavlju" by the Belgrade based group Data featured the then popular Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
.
New Primitives
The New Primitivism was an urban subculturalSubculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
movement in Sarajevo in the early 1980s. Some of projects that came from the New Primitives were the band Zabranjeno Pušenje
Zabranjeno pušenje
Zabranjeno Pušenje is a Yugoslavian garage rock band from Sarajevo, closely associated with the New primitivism cultural movement and the radio and television satire show Top Lista Nadrealista...
, the Top lista nadrealista
Top lista nadrealista
Top lista nadrealista also known as Nadrealisti was a comedy radio broadcast on Radio Sarajevo during early 1980s and later a sketch comedy and variety show on TV Sarajevo in three separate installments from 1984 until 1991.'Top lista nadrealista' started as a segment on Boro Kontić's programme...
TV and radio show, the legendary group Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors, Bombaj Štampa
Bombaj Štampa
"Bombaj štampa" is the pop-rock group from Sarajevo dating from 1982, which, together with "Zabranjeno Pušenje" and Elvis J. Kurtović, participated in creating a new movement known as New Primitivisam in Ex-Yugoslavia. The group was founded by Nedim Babović, guitarist and Branko Đurić, actor and...
and others. Its creators include Elvis J. Kurtović, dr. Nele Karajlić
Nele Karajlic
dr. Nele Karajlić a.k.a. Nele Karajlić, born on December 11, 1962 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, , is a Bosnian Serb rock and roll musician, composer, actor and television director living and working in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia.One of the founders of New Primitivism movement in Sarajevo,...
, mr. Sejo Sexon
Sejo Sexon
Sejo Sexon is the stage name of Davor Sučić, Bosnian Croat rock and roll musician, composer, actor and television director....
, Bombaj Stampa
Bombaj Štampa
"Bombaj štampa" is the pop-rock group from Sarajevo dating from 1982, which, together with "Zabranjeno Pušenje" and Elvis J. Kurtović, participated in creating a new movement known as New Primitivisam in Ex-Yugoslavia. The group was founded by Nedim Babović, guitarist and Branko Đurić, actor and...
(featuring actor/director Branko Đurić — Đuro), Boris Šiber, Zenit Đozić from Sarajevo neighbourhood of Koševo. The famous film director Emir Kusturica
Emir Kusturica
Emir Nemanja Kusturica , is a Serbian filmmaker, actor and musician, recognized for several internationally acclaimed feature films...
was an associate and friend of the crew.
The fresh spirit that the group left in the urban Bosnian culture and a quite new way of expression, flooding directly from street subculture, attracted significant popularity and made it one of monuments of modern Bosnian culture.
The discourse of New Primitivism was primarily humorous, based on the spirit of Bosnian ordinary people from the cultural underground. They introduced the jargon, rich in Turcisms, of Sarajevo "mahalas" (suburban neighborhoods) into the official musical and TV scene. Most of their songs and sketches involve stories about small people - coalmine workers, petty criminals, provincial girls etc. - put in unusual or even absurd situations. There are comparisons between Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
show and New Primitives methods, as they share the form of short sketches and utilize absurdity
Surreal humour
Surreal humour is a form of humour based on violations of causal reasoning with events and behaviours that are logically incongruent. Constructions of surreal humour involve bizarre juxtapositions, non-sequiturs, irrational situations, and/or expressions of nonsense.The humour arises from a...
as means to illicit laughs from the audience.
The name of the movement arguably came as a reaction to two then-actual movements: New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
in global pop music and Slovenian 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...
(NSK).
Band Aid
In the late 1984 Bob GeldofBob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
and Midge Ure
Midge Ure
James "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...
organized the famous famine relief campaign named Band Aid
Band Aid (band)
Band Aid was a charity supergroup featuring British and Irish musicians and recording artists. It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia by releasing the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the Christmas market that year. The single...
, which continued throughout 1985 until its finale - the historical Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
concert on 13 July 1985. The concert was broadcast worldwide including SFR Yugoslavia. Beside "Do They Know it's Christmas?
Do They Know It's Christmas?
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure and released by Band Aid on 29 November 1984....
" and USA for Africa
USA for Africa
USA for Africa was the name under which forty-seven predominantly U.S. artists, led by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, recorded the hit single "We Are the World" in 1985. The song was a US and UK Number One for the collective in April of that year...
projects from the UK and USA respectively, plenty of other countries also joined in. For example: Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, West Germany, then Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
etc. The SFR Yugoslav pop and rock elite also joined Geldof's campaign and formed a Yugoslav Band Aid under the name YU Rock Misija
YU Rock Misija
YU Rock Misija was the contribution of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the famous Bob Geldof's Band Aid famine relief campaign which culminated with the historical Live Aid concert on July 13, 1985.Beside the British "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and the corresponding USA...
. The group included Oliver Mandić
Oliver Mandic
Oliver Mandić is a Serbian pop musician, composer, and producer - very prominent and popular throughout the 1980s.-Early biography:...
, Željko Bebek
Željko Bebek
Želimir "Željko" Bebek is a popular Bosnian Croat singer most notable for being the lead vocalist of Bijelo dugme from 1974 to 1984....
, Momčilo Bajagić
Momcilo Bajagic
Momčilo Bajagić "Bajaga" is a highly popular Serbian rock musician born in Bjelovar. He is best known as the leader of the Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band Bajaga i Instruktori, as well as a former member of the hard rock band Riblja Čorba.-Early career:Bajagić started his musical career as a...
, Slađana Milošević, Jura Stublić
Jura Stublic
Jurislav "Jura" Stublić is a Croatian singer and songwriter.-Biography:In 1961, he moved with his parents Tomislav and Vesna to Sesvetski Kraljevec near Zagreb. His father was from Sesvetski Kraljevec and he too was a singer. His mother was a tailor.In Zagreb, Stublić studied philosophy, but he...
, Dado Topić
Dado Topic
Adolf "Dado" Topić is a singer who sang the entry from Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 together with the band Dragonfly. He is one of the most popular rock musicians of Croatia and the former Yugoslavia. He was the lead singer of Time, a 1970s progressive rock band...
, Zdravko Čolić
Zdravko Colic
Zdravko Čolić , is a pop singer popular across the entire area of former Yugoslavia. Originally from Sarajevo, since 1992 , his home is in Belgrade, Serbia...
, Izolda Barudžija
Izolda Barudžija
Izolda Barudžija is a Yugoslav singer born in Split.She represented Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 with her band Aska, and won 14th place. In 1983, she and her sister Eleonora were Daniel Popović's backing vocals. Their song Džuli won the 4th place and became a huge hit. In 1984,...
, Snežana Mišković, Alen Islamović
Alen Islamovic
Alen Islamović is a well-known and popular Bosnian singer in Bosnia and Herzegovina and other former Yugoslav republics...
, Sead Lipovača
Sead Lipovaca
Zele Lipovača , is the lead guitarist and founder of the popular former Yugoslav hard rock band Divlje Jagode....
, Dejan Cukić
Dejan Cukic
Dejan Cukić is a Serbian rock musician, journalist and writer.During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Cukić was the frontman of the New Wave band Bulevar, releasing two albums with the band. After Bulevar disbanded in 1982, he retired from music...
, Doris Dragović
Doris Dragovic
Dorotea "Doris" Dragović is a Croatian singer-songwriter. She represented Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1986 with the song "Željo moja", finishing the 11th with 49 points, and Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 with the song "Marija Magdalena", finishing fourth with 118...
, Anja Rupel
Anja Rupel
Anja Rupel is a Slovene pop singer, songwriter, radio announcer, and journalist. Her father Fedja Rupel is a flautist and a professor at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, and her uncle is the politician and diplomat Dimitrij Rupel....
, Srđan Šaper, Vladimir Divljan, Peđa D' Boy, Zoran Predin
Zoran Predin
Zoran Predin is a Slovenian singer-songwriter from Maribor. In the 1980s, he was the front man of the folk-rock band Lačni Franz. He also writes music for film, television and theatre....
and other eminent musicians. They recorded the Yugoslav Band Aid song "Za million godina" ("For a Million Years") written by former Generacija 5
Generacija 5
Generacija 5 is a Serbian and former Yugoslav hard rock band from Belgrade.-1977—1982:...
leader Dragan Ilić and Mladen Popović. The guitar solo in the song is played by Vlatko Stefanovski
Vlatko Stefanovski
Vlatko Stefanovski is Macedonian ethno-rock jazz fusion guitar player.-Biography:Born in Prilep in 1957, he started playing guitar at the age of 13. Stefanovski was one of the founding members of Leb i sol with whom he recorded 13 albums between 1978 and 1991...
. Also a corresponding video was filmed. Prominent artists who openly refused to take part in the Yugoslav band Aid were Riblja Čorba
Riblja Corba
Riblja Čorba is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. Their presence on the scene has lasted from 1978 to today. They reached their peak of popularity in the 1980s, but it has declined in the 1990s, partly due to controversial political attitudes of the band's leader Bora Đorđević...
leader Bora Đorđević and Bijelo Dugme
Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme was a highly influential former Yugoslav rock band, based in Sarajevo. Active between 1974 and 1989, it is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock...
leader Goran Bregović
Goran Bregovic
Goran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...
. At the end of the campaign, the Yugoslav musicians played a big 8 hour stadium concert on June 15, 1985 in Belgrade. The video for "Za million godina" was played on many TV stations worldwide and also, on July 13 at the Wembley Stadium on large video screens during a video interlude
Video interlude
A video interlude is an interlude during a performance that shows a video. Video interludes are often played on concerts, showing a music video of on of the artists while the artist takes a break or costume change....
. It is included, though not completely, in the Overseas contributors section in the official Live Aid DVD that was released in the 2004 by Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
.
Sarajevo school of Pop Rock
The Sarajevo school of pop rockSarajevo school of pop rock
The Sarajevo school of pop rock collectively refers to the popular music created between 1960 and 1991 by artists and bands native to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina ....
developed in the city between 1961 and 1991. This type of music began with bands like Indexi
Indexi
Indexi was a Bosnian rock band popular in the former Yugoslavia. It formed in 1962 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and disbanded in 2001 when singer Davorin Popović died...
, Pro Arte and singer/song writer Kemal Monteno
Kemal Monteno
Kemal Monteno is a popular Bosnian singer-songwriter. He was born to an Italian father and a Bosniak mother. He recorded his first song Lidija in 1967 and has enjoyed a prosperous career in the former Yugoslavia...
. It continued into the 1980s, with bands such as Plavi Orkestar
Plavi orkestar
Plavi orkestar is one of the most popular bands from former Yugoslavia. The band was founded in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1983.The band has remained popular to the present day with 8 albums and more than 3500 concerts worldwide...
, Crvena Jabuka
Crvena jabuka
Crvena jabuka is a Sarajevo-based pop band that originated in 1985, and since then has remained very popular. They were also a part of the so called New Primitives movement that occurred in the 1980s in the Former Yugoslavia territory....
and Vatreni Poljubac ending with the war in 1992. Sarajevo was also the birthplace of the most popular Yugoslav rock band of all time, Bijelo Dugme
Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme was a highly influential former Yugoslav rock band, based in Sarajevo. Active between 1974 and 1989, it is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock...
, somewhat of a Bosnian parallel to the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, in both popularity and fame. Sarajevo was also the home of a very notable post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
urban subculture known as the New Primitives
New Primitives
New Primitivism was an urban subcultural movement that originated in Sarajevo during early-to-mid 1980s. The movement was identified with Zabranjeno pušenje and Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors bands, whose members were the driving forces behind it. Its creators and most notable personalities...
, which began during the early 1980s and was brought into the mainstream through bands such as Zabranjeno Pušenje
Zabranjeno pušenje
Zabranjeno Pušenje is a Yugoslavian garage rock band from Sarajevo, closely associated with the New primitivism cultural movement and the radio and television satire show Top Lista Nadrealista...
and Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors, as well as the Top Lista Nadrealista
Top lista nadrealista
Top lista nadrealista also known as Nadrealisti was a comedy radio broadcast on Radio Sarajevo during early 1980s and later a sketch comedy and variety show on TV Sarajevo in three separate installments from 1984 until 1991.'Top lista nadrealista' started as a segment on Boro Kontić's programme...
radio, and later television show. Other notable bands considered to be part of this subculture are Bombaj štampa
Bombaj Štampa
"Bombaj štampa" is the pop-rock group from Sarajevo dating from 1982, which, together with "Zabranjeno Pušenje" and Elvis J. Kurtović, participated in creating a new movement known as New Primitivisam in Ex-Yugoslavia. The group was founded by Nedim Babović, guitarist and Branko Đurić, actor and...
and Šume i Gore. Besides and separately from the New Primitives, Sarajevo is the hometown of one of the most significant ex-Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
n alternative industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
-noise bands, SCH
SCH (band)
SCH is the musical and artistic project and band of Senad Hadžimusić, who is better known by his nickname Teno. Formed in the early-eighties in Sarajevo, the band has had an intensive creative and live existence...
(1983–current).
Sarajevo also greatly influensed the pop scene of Yugoslavia with Hari Mata Hari
Hari Mata Hari
Hari Mata Hari is a popular music band from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hari Mata Hari is the stage name for the singer Hajrudin "Hari" Varešanović. The group originated from the city of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The group has performed over 1,000 concerts and sold 5,000,000...
, Valentino, the very popular Dino Merlin
Dino Merlin
Edin Dervišhalidović , stage name Dino Merlin, , is a prominent Bosnian singer-songwriter and musician. He is a popular singer/songwriter in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is also popular in the other countries of the former Yugoslavia such as Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia and...
and the most popular pop star of the former country Zdravko Colic
Zdravko Colic
Zdravko Čolić , is a pop singer popular across the entire area of former Yugoslavia. Originally from Sarajevo, since 1992 , his home is in Belgrade, Serbia...
who together with Dino merlin
Dino Merlin
Edin Dervišhalidović , stage name Dino Merlin, , is a prominent Bosnian singer-songwriter and musician. He is a popular singer/songwriter in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is also popular in the other countries of the former Yugoslavia such as Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia and...
is still filling up stadiums and arenas i EX-Yugoslav countries.
Several new bands has raised up in Sarajevo after 1992 some of them being Regina
Regina (band)
Grupa Regina is a rock band founded in 1990 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, then Yugoslavia.- Band career :Three of the members, Aleksandar, Bojan and Denis, started a garage band. It was hard for them to find the right lead singer, but after a long while of searching, they found Davor Ebner....
who also had an album out in Yugoslavia and Letu Stuke who actually formed their band in Yugoslavia including the famous Bosnian-American writer Aleksandar Hemon
Aleksandar Hemon
Aleksandar Hemon is a Bosnian-American fiction writer. He is the winner of a MacArthur Foundation grant. He has written four acclaimed books: Love and Obstacles: Stories , The Lazarus Project: A Novel , which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle...
and got their real breaktrough later in the 2000's.
Neo-Rockabilly
The Yugoslav scene also included numerous neo-rockabillyRockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
, psychobilly
Psychobilly
Psychobilly is a fusion genre of rock music that mixes elements of punk rock, rockabilly, and other genres. It is one of several subgenres of rockabilly which also include thrashabilly, trashabilly, punkabilly, surfabilly and gothabilly...
and retro-rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
acts.
A noted artist was controversial Velibor "Bora" Miljković
Toni Montano
Toni Montano , real name Velibor Miljković is a Serbian rock musician. One of pioneers of psychobilly on the former Yugoslav rock scene, Toni Montano is better known for his controversial statements.-Radost Evrope:Miljković started his career as a vocalist of the band Radost Evrope Toni Montano...
, better known as Toni Montano, nicknamed after Tony Montana
Tony Montana
Antonio Raimundo "Tony" Montana is a fictional character from the 1983 film Scarface. He is portrayed by Al Pacino in the movie, and is voiced by André Sogliuzzo in the 2006 video game Scarface: The World Is Yours. Tony Montana has become a cultural icon and is one of the most famous movie...
, the main character of the movie Scarface
Scarface (1983 film)
Scarface is a 1983 American epic crime drama movie directed by Brian De Palma, written by Oliver Stone, produced by Martin Bregman and starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana...
. He was a former vocalist of 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...
group Radost Evrope, ironically named after the famous international children's music
Children's music
Children's music is used here to refer to music composed and performed for children by adults. In European influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has historically held both entertainment...
festival Joy of Europe held annually in Belgrade. Toni often stirred controversy in his interviews and frequently attacked other musicians, like Ekaterina Velika and such, whom he considered pseudointellectuals who alienated themselves from the "street", where, according to him, the real rock music should emerge from. He arrogantly proclaimed himself a "real rock star" whose time is yet to come. However, he never really managed to achieve the success of his adversaries, who never bothered much with him anyway. His albums often included cover versions of famous punk rock tracks, such as the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
' "Friggin' in the Riggin'" and "Lonely Boy". Espousing an old school macho rocker attitude and image, Toni's songs often featured sexist lyrics.
On the other hand, the group Đavoli from Split led by Nenad "Neno" Belan
Neno Belan
Neno Belan is a Croatian rock musician, known as the frontman of Đavoli, as well as for his solo work.-Early career:Neno Belan started his career as a teenager in the band Losos, Kavijar i Marsovi Bizoni...
were a softer retro-rock 'n' roll act, they released several summer hits and also twist
Twist (dance)
The Twist was a dance inspired by rock and roll music. It became the first worldwide dance craze in the early 1960s, enjoying immense popularity among young people and drawing fire from critics who felt it was too provocative. It inspired dances such as the Jerk, the Pony, the Watusi, the Mashed...
or surf music
Surf music
Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music...
influenced tracks. Some of its members also had punk rock background.
The rockabilly group Fantomi was another act in Croatia, while in Serbia the group called Vampiri
Vampiri
Vampiri were a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade. The band was formed in 1988, and performed music influenced by the 1950s doo-wop and rockabilly. After releasing two studio albums, they disbanded in 1993...
emerged with their trademark doo-wop
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
style of singing and performed as a support act of the internationally acclaimed retro jazzy pop group Vaya Con Dios
Vaya Con Dios (band)
Vaya Con Dios is a Belgian musical group founded in 1986 by Dani Klein, Dirk Schoufs, and Willy Lambregt . Their name is Spanish for "Go with God"...
at their concert in Belgrade.
Neue Slowenische Kunst
In Slovenia, the cult avant-garde band LaibachLaibach (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...
emerged in 1980. Experimenting with various styles such as industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
, martial
Martial music
Martial industrial, also known as martial music, is a music genre originating in late 20th century Europe. It often borrows musically from classical music, neofolk, neoclassical, traditional European marches and from elements of industrial and dark ambient.-Origins:The genre name military pop was...
and neo-classical
Neoclassical (Dark Wave)
Neoclassical Dark Wave refers to a music genre within the Dark Wave movement. It is characterized by the use of ethereal atmosphere and angelic female voices but also adds strong influences from classical music. Neoclassical Dark Wave is distinct from the academic art music form known as...
music they rose to international prominence and influenced acts such as the famous group Rammstein
Rammstein
Rammstein is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band from Berlin, formed in 1994. The band consists of members Till Lindemann , Richard Z. Kruspe , Paul H. Landers , Oliver "Ollie" Riedel , Christoph "Doom" Schneider and Christian "Flake" Lorenz...
for instance. They appeared on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
with their cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "Across the Universe
Across the Universe
"Across the Universe" is a song by the English group The Beatles. It was written by John Lennon, and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song first appeared on the various artists charity compilation album No One's Gonna Change Our World in December 1969, and later, in different form, on Let It Be,...
" by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, featuring a guest-appearance by Anja Rupel
Anja Rupel
Anja Rupel is a Slovene pop singer, songwriter, radio announcer, and journalist. Her father Fedja Rupel is a flautist and a professor at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, and her uncle is the politician and diplomat Dimitrij Rupel....
.
Other notable industrial music acts in Yugoslavia were Autopsia
Autopsia
Autopsia is an art project dealing with music and visual production. Autopsia gathers authors of different professions in realization of multimedia projects. Its art practice began in London in the late 1970s, continued during the 80s in the art centers of former Yugoslavia. Since 1990, Autopsia...
from Ruma
Ruma
Ruma is a town and municipality located in Vojvodina, Serbia at . In 2002 the town had a total population of 34,229, while Ruma municipality had a population of 60,006.-History:...
, Serbia and Abbildungen Variete from Maribor
Maribor
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....
, Slovenia.
The most notable electronic body music
Electronic body music
Electronic body music or industrial dance is a music genre that combines elements of industrial music and electronic dance music...
act was Borghesia
Borghesia
Borghesia is a Slovenian electronic music / rock music group, created in Ljubljana in 1982. The band was formed by members of the alternative theatre group Theatre FV-112/15. Borghesia created its aesthetics using the imagery of prohibited, tabooed and repressed...
, from Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Macedonian Darkwave and Gothic scene
While Slovenia had the Neue Slowenische KunstNeue 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...
movement, in Macedonia, the collective Makedonska Streljba was formed. The Macedonian darkwave
Darkwave
Dark Wave or darkwave is a music genre that began in the late 1970s, coinciding with the popularity of New Wave and post-punk. Building on those basic principles, dark wave added dark, introspective lyrics and an undertone of sorrow for some bands...
and gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
scene featured some of the most prominent Macedonian acts ever, such as Mizar
Mizar (band)
Mizar is a Macedonian rock band from Skopje. They achieved a status of a cult band, especially in Macedonia and across the former Yugoslavia....
and Padot na Vizantija
Padot na Vizantija
Padot na Vizantija was an influential 1980s post-punk, darkwave and gothic rock band with occasional Byzantine music elements and Orthodox Christian beliefs from Skopje, SR Macedonia, then a constituent republic of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
, the latter featuring the former 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...
er Goran Trajkoski
Goran Trajkoski
Goran Trajkoski is an eminent Macedonian musician. He rose to international prominence as a frontman of the group Anastasija which was featured on the soundtrack album for the Academy Award nominated movie Before the Rain directed by Milčo Mančevski. He started his musical career as a member of...
.
Extreme Metal
The Extreme metalExtreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. The term usually refers to a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal,...
music scene across SFR Yugoslavia was also developed. It included various thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
, speed metal
Speed metal
Speed metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from NWOBHM and hardcore punk roots. It is described by Allmusic as "extremely fast, abrasive, and technically demanding" music....
and death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
acts. A festival called Hard Metal was taking place in Belgrade and also a magazine with the same name was published.
Notable acts included speed metal band Bombarder
Bombarder
Bombarder is a Serbian and former Yugoslav speed/thrash metal band. Originally formed in 1986 in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the time part of SFR Yugoslavia, the band, during the Bosnian War, during which guitarist Maho Šiljdedić lost his life, vocalist Nenad Kovačević moved to...
(initially formed in Sarajevo, later moved to Belgrade), Bloodbath (not to be confused with the Swedish band Bloodbath
Bloodbath
Bloodbath is a Swedish death metal supergroup from Stockholm formed in 1998.-History:A year after being formed, the band, then consisting of Mikael Åkerfeldt on vocals, Dan Swanö on drums, Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström on guitar, and Jonas Renkse on bass, released their EP Breeding...
), Heller
Heller (band)
Heller was a Serbian and former Yugoslav speed/thrash metal band from Belgrade, notable as one of the first Yugoslav thrash metal bands and one of the pioneers of former Yugoslav extreme metal...
(the pioneers of Yugoslav thrash metal) and others. The thrash metal band Sanatorium
Sanatorium (band)
Sanatorium is a Macedonian thrash metal band from Skopje, Republic of Macedonia-Members:Pero Stefanovski , Konstantin Kačev , Goran Stanković and Goran Atanasov on drums.-Biography:...
was formed in Skopje in 1987. During its 20 years of existence, it shared stage with many prominent international stars such as Motörhead, Halford
Halford (band)
Halford is a heavy metal band formed in 1999 by Rob Halford, the lead vocalist for Judas Priest. Halford formed the band to return to his heavy metal roots...
, Soulfly
Soulfly
Soulfly is a heavy metal band formed in 1997 based in Phoenix, Arizona. The original lyrical content revolved around spirituality and religious themes, with later albums encompassing other themes including war, violence, aggression, hatred and anger. Soulfly is led by former Sepultura frontman Max...
and others.
Rap music
Many rap music artists emerged in SFR Yugoslavia throughout the 1980s. Breakdance groups also existed especially in the first half of the 1980s. A prominent breakdance rap act was The Master Scratch BandThe Master Scratch Band
The Master Scratch Band are a group considered to have started Serbian hip hop in the early 1980s with their Degout EP, which was released through Jugoton in the year 1984. The release had five electro-breakbeat tracks with rap in English and Serbian...
. They have released some works for Jugoton
Jugoton
Jugoton was the largest record label and chain record store in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia based in Zagreb, Socialist Republic of Croatia. After the breakup of Yugoslavia the company continued to work in independent Republic of Croatia under the name Croatia...
in 1984 including the track Break War featuring Hit Meseca host Dubravka "Duca" Marković. Disciplina Kičme
Disciplina Kičme
Disciplina Kičme , is a Serbian band, one of the two spin-offs of the seminal Yugoslav New Wave and later post-punk band Šarlo Akrobata, the other being Ekatarina Velika...
also used rap music elements, though in their own specific way, always mixed with numerous other styles.
But there was an artist who utilized rap music in a very distinguishable manner. In the late 1980s, a charismatic musician of Montenegrin origin came into nationwide prominence: Rambo Amadeus
Rambo Amadeus
Rambo Amadeus is the stage name of the Belgrade-based Montenegrin singer-songwriter Antonije Pušić, popular all over the former Yugoslavia...
. His pseudonym as well as his music encompassed an intellectual attitude on one side, but also a distinguishable Balkan-flavoured humour and macho
Macho
Macho typically refers to machismo. Other uses include:*Macho , a short-lived disco group in the late 1970s*Pique macho, Bolivian dish*Macho Man , a 1978 disco song performed by the Village People...
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"...
on the other. He often, if not always used rap music combined with folk music parody and political and social satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
, although he doesn't fit into the conventional rap music category because he went beyond the style. He is also famous for coining the term "turbo folk", though he was one of its greatest enemies. He is still a cult personality in the ex-Yugoslav territories.
He often closely cooperated with another musician, Dino Dvornik
Dino Dvornik
Miljenko "Dino" Dvornik was a Croatian singer, songwriter, music producer, actor and reality television star.-Early life:...
, the son of the famous Croatian actor Boris Dvornik
Boris Dvornik
Boris Dvornik was a Croatian actor.Born in Split to the family of a carpenter, Boris Dvornik discovered acting talent at an early age, while performing in children's plays. After studying to become an electrician, he began to pursue a full-time acting career...
. Dino Dvornik was a popular funk-inspired dance-pop
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
artist.
Yugoslav Wars and aftermath (1990s)
Two years after the group Riva won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1989 and one year after the Eurovision Song Contest 1990Eurovision Song Contest 1990
The Eurovision Song Contest 1990, the 35th in the series, was held in Zagreb, Yugoslavia on 5 May 1990. The presenters were Helga Vlahović Brnobić and Oliver Mlakar. Toto Cutugno was the winner of this contest with the song "Insieme: 1992"...
took place 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...
, the SFR Yugoslav pop and rock scene ceased to exist with the breakup of Yugoslavia. Ironically, the 1990 winning song performed by Toto Cutugno
Toto Cutugno
Salvatore "Toto" Cutugno is an Italian pop singer-songwriter and musician.-Biography:Toto Cutugno was born in Fosdinovo, Tuscany, to a Sicilian father and a Tuscan mother. Shortly after his birth the family moved to La Spezia ....
was called Insieme: 1992
Insieme: 1992
"Insieme: 1992" was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1990, in Zagreb, Croatia , performed in Italian by Toto Cutugno for Italy, that country's second victory in the Contest.-Eurovision:...
(in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
: Together in 1992) featuring the lyrics Together, Unite, Unite Europe! acclaiming the approaching European unification that took place in 1992. The singer Tajči
Tajci
Tajči Cameron is a Croatian singer; she has since taken up citizenship and residence in the United States.- Career :As a pop star in the former Yugoslavia in the late 1980s and early 1990s, she won the national selection of RTV Zagreb, SR Croatia and represented Yugoslavia at the Eurovision Song...
, who represented Yugoslavia in Eurovision 1990 with "Hajde da ludujemo
Hajde da ludujemo
"Hajde da ludujemo" was the Yugoslav entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1990, held in Zagreb, SFR Yugoslavia ....
," became one of the last breakout pop stars in Yugoslavia, before the war cut her career short and she emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
With the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
many of the former Yugoslav musicians participated in anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
and anti-nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
activities, and were often attacked by the nationalists in their countries. In 1992, the supergroup Rimtutituki
Rimtutituki
Rimtutituki was a Serbian rock supergroup featuring Ekatarina Velika, Električni Orgazam and Partibrejkers members. The band was formed as an anti-war project during the Yugoslav Wars...
featuring members of the eminent bands Partibrejkers
Partibrejkers
Partibrejkers is a prominent Serbian rock band from Belgrade, as well as an acclaimed act of the former Yugoslav rock scene....
, Ekatarina Velika
Ekatarina Velika
Ekatarina Velika , sometimes referred to as EKV for short, was a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock group from Belgrade, being one of the most successful and influential music acts coming out of former Yugoslavia....
and Električni Orgazam
Električni Orgazam
Električni Orgazam is a Serbian rock band from Belgrade. Originally starting as a combination of New Wave, punk rock and post-punk, the band later slowly changed their style, becoming a mainstream rock act.- New Wave years :...
released an anti-militarist song, and after the authorities forbade them to promote it with a live show, they performed on a trailer
Trailer (vehicle)
A trailer is generally an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle. Commonly, the term trailer refers to such vehicles used for transport of goods and materials....
towed
Towing
Towing is the process of pulling or drawing behind a chain, line, bar or some other form of couplings. Towing is most visibly performed by road vehicles, but anything from waterborne vessels to tractors to people can tow cargo. Troop carrying and cargo carrying gliders were towed behind powered...
by a truck
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
through the streets of Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
. However, some previously involved in the Yugoslav pop and rock scene embraced national chauvinism
Chauvinism
Chauvinism, in its original and primary meaning, is an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a belief in national superiority and glory. It is an eponym of a possibly fictional French soldier Nicolas Chauvin who was credited with many superhuman feats in the Napoleonic wars.By extension it has come...
, and some even saw active combat. Notable example is the case of the song "E, moj druže Beogradski" ("Hey my Belgrade comrade"). Although generally seen as an emotional anti-war song pointed against the Serbian nationalism
Serbian nationalism
Serbian nationalism refers to the ethnic nationalism of Serbs. Originally arising in the context of the general rise of nationalism in the Balkans under Ottoman rule, under the influence of Serbian linguist Vuk Stefanović Karadžić and Ilija Garašanin....
written by Jura Stublić
Jura Stublic
Jurislav "Jura" Stublić is a Croatian singer and songwriter.-Biography:In 1961, he moved with his parents Tomislav and Vesna to Sesvetski Kraljevec near Zagreb. His father was from Sesvetski Kraljevec and he too was a singer. His mother was a tailor.In Zagreb, Stublić studied philosophy, but he...
from the 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 group Film, at the time of its appearance it caused different reactions. Band Minđušari from Knin
Knin
Knin is a historical town in the Šibenik-Knin county of Croatia, located near the source of the river Krka at , in the Dalmatian hinterland, on the railroad Zagreb–Split. Knin rose to prominence twice in history, as a one-time capital of both the Kingdom of Croatia and briefly of the...
and Bora Đorđević, who had a cult status in the Serbian rock
Serbian rock
Serbian rock is the rock music scene of Serbia. During the 1960s, 1970s and the 1980s, while Serbia was a constituent republic of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbian rock scene was a part of the SFR Yugoslav rock scene....
scene as a frontman of Riblja Čorba
Riblja Corba
Riblja Čorba is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. Their presence on the scene has lasted from 1978 to today. They reached their peak of popularity in the 1980s, but it has declined in the 1990s, partly due to controversial political attitudes of the band's leader Bora Đorđević...
, soon "replied" with a controversial songs "E moj druže Zagrebački" ("Hey my Zagreb comrade"), a cynical parody featuring nationalist messages, and less known "Ljetovanje".http://arhiva.glas-javnosti.rs/arhiva/2003/11/23/srpski/R03112202.shtml Pop punk band Psihomodo Pop
Psihomodo Pop
Psihomodo Pop is a Croatian pop punk group. The band was formed in 1983 in Zagreb and has since achieved a somewhat cult following across the area of former Yugoslavia....
from Zagreb recorded patriotic song "Hrvatska mora pobjediti" ("Croatia must win") which was released on the Rock za Hrvatsku EP.
Another notable example from this period is what happened with the Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
based group Zabranjeno Pušenje
Zabranjeno pušenje
Zabranjeno Pušenje is a Yugoslavian garage rock band from Sarajevo, closely associated with the New primitivism cultural movement and the radio and television satire show Top Lista Nadrealista...
. The group split into two separate fractions: one in Sarajevo and the other in Belgrade. The latter received international exposure under the name No Smoking Orchestra led by Nele Karajlić
Nele Karajlic
dr. Nele Karajlić a.k.a. Nele Karajlić, born on December 11, 1962 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, , is a Bosnian Serb rock and roll musician, composer, actor and television director living and working in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia.One of the founders of New Primitivism movement in Sarajevo,...
and also featuring the movie director Emir Kusturica
Emir Kusturica
Emir Nemanja Kusturica , is a Serbian filmmaker, actor and musician, recognized for several internationally acclaimed feature films...
. They played with Joe Strummer
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor , best remembered by his stage name Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the British punk rock band The Clash. His musical experience included his membership in The 101ers, Latino Rockabilly War, The Mescaleros and The Pogues, in...
as well and that concert footage is included in the Super 8 Stories
Super 8 Stories
Super 8 Stories is a documentary film about the band No Smoking Orchestra. It is directed by the award-winning Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica. The film won the Silver Plate of best documentary at Chicago International Film Festival in 2001.-Cast:* Aleksandar Balaban .... Tuba* Zoran Marjanović...
film directed by Kusturica.
While 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...
, 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 ...
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
and Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
proclaimed themselves independent states, the leaderships of Serbia
Republic of Serbia (federal)
The Republic of Serbia was a federal unit of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1990 to 1992, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1992 to 2003 and the state union of Serbia and Montenegro between 2003 and 2006...
and Montenegro
Republic of Montenegro (federal)
The Republic of Montenegro was a federal unit of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia between 1992 and 2006...
decided to form a new federal state called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which existed from 1992 until 2003, however it was not recognized as a legal successor to the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
.http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/UNMembers%20SRES777.pdf
The local scenes in the independent countries that emerged after the breakup of Yugoslavia continued to exist, some of them heavily suffering during the war. The music scene continued even in the shelters during the Sarajevo siege and a compilation album Rock under siege (Radio Zid Sarajevo, Stichting Popmuziek Nederland) was released in 1995.
Current (2000s)
After the end of the conflicts and especially later, after the departure of the nationalist leaders such as Slobodan MiloševićSlobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
and Franjo Tuđman, the former Yugoslav nations started to normalise their relations. Thus their music scenes could freely restore their former cooperation. Many of the former pop and rock stars re-emerged and toured the former Yugoslav countries: Bijelo Dugme
Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme was a highly influential former Yugoslav rock band, based in Sarajevo. Active between 1974 and 1989, it is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock...
, Leb i Sol
Leb i sol
Leb i sol is a Macedonian rock group founded in the 1970s by Vlatko Stefanovski , Bodan Arsovski , Nikola Kokan Dimuševski and Garabet Tavitjan . Tavitjan ceded the drumwork to Dragoljub Đuričić for some of the albums, while Kiril Džajkovski replaced Kokan on Kao Kakao and Putujemo...
, Crvena Jabuka
Crvena jabuka
Crvena jabuka is a Sarajevo-based pop band that originated in 1985, and since then has remained very popular. They were also a part of the so called New Primitives movement that occurred in the 1980s in the Former Yugoslavia territory....
, Plavi Orkestar
Plavi orkestar
Plavi orkestar is one of the most popular bands from former Yugoslavia. The band was founded in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1983.The band has remained popular to the present day with 8 albums and more than 3500 concerts worldwide...
, Massimo Savić (formerly of Dorian Gray
Dorian Gray (band)
Dorian Gray was an 1980s Yugoslav music group which achieved great prominence in the former Yugoslav rock scene for its artistic and extravagant style and stage performances. It was led by Massimo Savić, who later started a successful solo career...
) and Boris Novković
Boris Novkovic
Boris Novković is a Croatian pop singer. Born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in the former Yugoslavia, his interest in a musical career was cultivated by his family background, with a mother who taught music, and a father, Đorđe Novković, who was a leading Croatian songwriter and music manager...
(formerly of the group Boris i Noćna Straža), while Toše Proeski
Toše Proeski
Todor Toše Proeski was a Macedonian multi-genre singer, songwriter and actor. He was popular across the entire Balkan area and all around Eastern Europe, and locally he was considered a top act of the Macedonian music scene...
recorded a duet with Anja Rupel
Anja Rupel
Anja Rupel is a Slovene pop singer, songwriter, radio announcer, and journalist. Her father Fedja Rupel is a flautist and a professor at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, and her uncle is the politician and diplomat Dimitrij Rupel....
.
Following the reconciliation of 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...
and 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 ...
, Croatian nationalist rocker Jura Stublić
Jura Stublic
Jurislav "Jura" Stublić is a Croatian singer and songwriter.-Biography:In 1961, he moved with his parents Tomislav and Vesna to Sesvetski Kraljevec near Zagreb. His father was from Sesvetski Kraljevec and he too was a singer. His mother was a tailor.In Zagreb, Stublić studied philosophy, but he...
held a concert in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
in 2003. Asked by the media about "E, moj druže Zagrebački" case, Bora Đorđević replied that "it was just a joke" http://arhiva.glas-javnosti.rs/arhiva/2003/11/23/srpski/R03112202.shtml. He also expressed approbation for the Jura Stublić's comeback to Belgrade after so many years. On the other hand, Bajaga
Bajaga
Bajaga can refer to:* Momčilo Bajagić "Bajaga" - Serbian rock musician, frontman of Bajaga i Instruktori* Bajaga i Instruktori - Serbian rock band...
and Đorđe Balašević had respectively made numerous concert appearances in Croatia since the 2000s.
In 2003 Igor Mirković from Croatia made the rockumentary
Rockumentary
The term rockumentary is a neologism denoting a documentary about rock music or its musicians. The term was used by Bill Drake in the 1969 History of Rock & Roll radio broadcast, and by Rob Reiner in the 1984 mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap....
Sretno dijete
Sretno dijete
Sretno dijete is a documentary film directed by Igor Mirković, and produced by Rajko Grlić, an Ohio University professor of film, in 2003...
(Happy Child) named after a song by Prljavo Kazalište
Prljavo kazalište
Prljavo kazalište is a rock and roll band from Zagreb, Croatia. Since its formation in 1977, the group changed several music styles and line ups but remained one of the top acts of both the Croatian and the former Yugoslav rock scenes.-Beginnings:Prljavo kazalište was formed in 1977 in Dubrava,...
. The movie covers the early Yugoslav Punk and Yugoslav New Wave
Yugoslav New Wave
New Wave in Yugoslavia was the New Wave music scene of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
scene featuring eminent artists from 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...
, 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...
and Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
.
Music for children
Many eminent former Yugoslav Pop and Rock artists composed children's musicChildren's music
Children's music is used here to refer to music composed and performed for children by adults. In European influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has historically held both entertainment...
, mostly educational. The SFR Yugoslav system through its media encouraged children to practise the traditional folk music and dances, as well as to listen to pop and rock music, contrary to the kitsch
Kitsch
Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that...
y "novokomponovana narodna muzika".
- In Serbia, Vranešević brothers from Laboratorija ZvukaLaboratorija ZvukaLaboratorija Zvuka , sometimes credited as Laboratorija only, was a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band...
were especially active in composing music for children TV programs, mostly for Radio-televizija Beograd and Radio-televizija Novi Sad. Their music was featured in the popular shows: Poletarac; Priče iz Nepričave starring Zoran RadmilovićZoran RadmilovicZoran Radmilović was a Serbian actor, beloved for some of the most memorable roles in the history of former Yugoslav cinema....
and Milena DravićMilena DravicMilena Dravić is a Serbian actress.Born in Belgrade, Dravić was involved with the performing arts from the age of four: first with dance and later classical ballet...
, and Čik pogodi ko sam in which, one of the episodes featured Kornelije KovačKornelije KovacKornelije "Bata" Kovač is a famous Serbian composer. He is a father of Aleksandra Kovač and Kristina Kovač, both successful Serbian singers.-Early life:...
who invited the kids to his studio. - The Macedonian children show Bušava azbuka (Бушава Азбука) created for Macedonian Radio-Televizija Skopje (now Macedonian Radio-TelevisionMacedonian Radio-TelevisionMacedonian Radio Television is the public broadcasting organization of the Republic of Macedonia. It was founded in 1993 by the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia...
) by Goran StefanovskiGoran StefanovskiGoran Stefanovski is a leading Macedonian dramatist and scriptwriter, now based in Canterbury, Kent in the UK...
and Slobodan Unkovski featured music by Leb i SolLeb i solLeb i sol is a Macedonian rock group founded in the 1970s by Vlatko Stefanovski , Bodan Arsovski , Nikola Kokan Dimuševski and Garabet Tavitjan . Tavitjan ceded the drumwork to Dragoljub Đuričić for some of the albums, while Kiril Džajkovski replaced Kokan on Kao Kakao and Putujemo...
and Ana Kostovska, the frontress of BastionBastion (band)Bastion was an eminent electronic music group from Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, notable for its member Kiril Džajkovski , who later rose to international prominence as a solo musician, DJ and a composer of the soundtrack album for Milčo Mančevski's movie Dust.The trio was formed in 1983 in...
. - The ultra popular children TV show Fore i fazoni created for Radio-televizija Beograd by Ljubivoje RšumovićLjubivoje RšumovićLjubivoje Ršumović is a poet from Serbia. Ršumović is predominantly a writer and poet for children; however, a significant body of his work is literature for adults....
featured performances by Laboratorija zvuka from Novi Sad, the Croatian pop star Oliver DragojevićOliver DragojevicOliver Dragojević is one of the most popular Croatian pop singers. A native of Vela Luka from the island of Korčula, he emerged onto the music scene in the 1970s thanks to the popular Split Festival, one of several musical annual events which began in the former Yugoslavia and still is being held...
, the pop-rock group Poslednja Igra LeptiraPoslednja Igra LeptiraPoslednja Igra Leptira was a Serbian pop rock band from Belgrade.-Biography:...
from Belgrade and many others. - Branko Kockica gained nationwide popularity as a children show host of Kocka, kocka, kockica (Radio-televizija Beograd). He often used rock music in his show. Once he appeared in a stereotypical rock outfit playing Riblja ČorbaRiblja CorbaRiblja Čorba is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. Their presence on the scene has lasted from 1978 to today. They reached their peak of popularity in the 1980s, but it has declined in the 1990s, partly due to controversial political attitudes of the band's leader Bora Đorđević...
's "Rokenrol za kućni savet", a song about irritating the neighbours with loud rock music. He also released various children music albums like 1988's Deca bez adrese with Oliver MandićOliver MandicOliver Mandić is a Serbian pop musician, composer, and producer - very prominent and popular throughout the 1980s.-Early biography:...
. - Arsen DedićArsen DedicArsen Dedić is a Croatian singer-songwriter who has been prominent in the Croatian as well as former Yugoslav music scene. Dedić writes and performs chansons as well as film music...
the prominent Croatian chansonChansonA chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...
artist released an album Arsen pjeva djeci (Arsen sings to the children). - Vlado KalemberVlado KalemberVladimir Kalember is a Croatian pop singer, famous for his recognisable, husky voice.In the 1970s, he was the vocalist of the popular pop band Srebrna Krila. After leaving the band, he continued with a solo career. In 1984, together with Izolda Barudžija, he represented Yugoslavia at the...
from Srebrna KrilaSrebrna krilaSrebrna krila was a Croatian pop band from Zagreb that was popular across Yugoslavia.The band was created in 1978, with Vlado Kalember as the lead singer...
released a children song for peace "Nek živi ljubav". - Srđan Gojković - Gile from Električni OrgazamElektrični OrgazamElektrični Orgazam is a Serbian rock band from Belgrade. Originally starting as a combination of New Wave, punk rock and post-punk, the band later slowly changed their style, becoming a mainstream rock act.- New Wave years :...
together with Vlada DivljanVlada DivljanVladimir "Vlada" Divljan , is a Serbian singer and songwriter. He is known as the frontman for the Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band Idoli, as well as for his solo works.-Early activity:...
from Idoli released two educational children albums: Rokenrol za decu and Rokenrol bukvar under the label of PGP RTS.
Record labels
- JugotonJugotonJugoton was the largest record label and chain record store in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia based in Zagreb, Socialist Republic of Croatia. After the breakup of Yugoslavia the company continued to work in independent Republic of Croatia under the name Croatia...
- PGP-RTBPGP-RTBPGP-RTB was a major record label and chain record store in the former SFR Yugoslavia based in Belgrade, Socialist Republic of Serbia. PGP-RTB was established in 1958...
- SuzySuzy (record label)-History:The company was established in the then Socialist Republic of Croatia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1972.After the abandonment of the socialist system and the subsequent breakup of Yugoslavia, during the 1990s the company transformed to SUZY d.o.o....
- ZKP RTLJZKP RTLJZaložba kaset in plošč RTV Ljubljana or Založba kaset in plošč Radiotelevizije Ljubljana , was a major record label based in Ljubljana, Socialist Republic of Slovenia, during the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
- DiskotonDiskotonDiskoton was a major record label based in Sarajevo, Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the former Yugoslavia. It should not be confused with another former Yugoslav record company with a similar name called Diskos....
- JugodiskJugodisk-History:There were two recording labels in Yugoslavia named Jugodisk. The first Jugodisk started in 1950s and issued 78rpm records with Yugoslav folk and popular music...
Related movies
- Sretno dijeteSretno dijeteSretno dijete is a documentary film directed by Igor Mirković, and produced by Rajko Grlić, an Ohio University professor of film, in 2003...
- Dečko koji obećava
- Davitelj protiv daviteljaDavitelj protiv daviteljaStrangler vs. Strangler is a 1984 Yugoslav film featuring elements of comedy, thriller and horror genres.-Plot:In the mid 1980s Belgrade finally gets its first serial killer: an awkward carnations seller named Pera Mitić . Mitić is an overweight 48-year-old man who is in an Oedipus kind of way...
- Kako je propao Rock 'n' Roll
See also
- New Wave in Yugoslavia
- Punk in YugoslaviaPunk in YugoslaviaPunk in Yugoslavia was the punk subculture of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a state which existed until 1991. The most developed punk scenes across the federation existed in Socialist Republic of Slovenia, the Adriatic coast of Socialist Republic of Croatia, the Socialist Autonomous...
- YU Rock MisijaYU Rock MisijaYU Rock Misija was the contribution of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the famous Bob Geldof's Band Aid famine relief campaign which culminated with the historical Live Aid concert on July 13, 1985.Beside the British "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and the corresponding USA...
- Neue Slowenische KunstNeue Slowenische KunstNeue 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...
- New PrimitivesNew PrimitivesNew Primitivism was an urban subcultural movement that originated in Sarajevo during early-to-mid 1980s. The movement was identified with Zabranjeno pušenje and Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors bands, whose members were the driving forces behind it. Its creators and most notable personalities...
- Sarajevo school of pop rockSarajevo school of pop rockThe Sarajevo school of pop rock collectively refers to the popular music created between 1960 and 1991 by artists and bands native to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina ....
- YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzikeYU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzikeYU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike is a book by Duško Antonić and Danilo Štrbac...
- YugotonYugotonYugoton is a tribute album to the former Yugoslav rock scene released in Poland by ZIC ZAC Music Company and BMG Poland in 2001.It features cover versions of eminent ex-Yugoslav artists performed in Polish language by the cover band named Yugoton, composed of several notable Polish...
- Slovenian rockSlovenian rockRock 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...
- Bosnian rockBosnian rockThe rock music of Bosnia and Herzegovina mostly developed during the time when Bosnia waspart of socialist Yugoslavia.The city of Sarajevo was, prior to the war, a center for Yugoslav rock music. Bands from this period included Plavi Orkestar, Bijelo Dugme, Indexi Zabranjeno Pušenje, Crvena...
- Serbian rockSerbian rockSerbian rock is the rock music scene of Serbia. During the 1960s, 1970s and the 1980s, while Serbia was a constituent republic of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbian rock scene was a part of the SFR Yugoslav rock scene....
- Croatian popular musicCroatian popular musicCroatian popular music is the popular music of Croatia.Prominent mainstream pop artists include: Danijela Martinović, Severina, Gibonni, Toni Cetinski and the patriotic band Thompson. Croatia is known for the specific Dalmatian sound performed at various festivals along the Adriatic coast with...
- Music of SloveniaMusic of SloveniaThe music of Slovenia is closely related to Austrian and Northern Italian music because of its common history and Alpine and littoral culture, and in some southern regions to Croatian . In the minds of many foreigners, Slovenian folk music means a form of polka that is still popular today,...
- Music of CroatiaMusic of CroatiaThe music of Croatia, like the divisions of the country itself, has two major influences: the Central European one, present in the central and northern parts of the country, as well as in Slavonia, and the Mediterranean one, particularly present in the coastal regions of Dalmatia and Istria.In...
- Music of Bosnia and HerzegovinaMusic of Bosnia and HerzegovinaLike the surrounding Balkan countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina has had a turbulent past marked by frequent foreign invasions and occupation. As a result, Bosnian music is now a mixture of the national Slavic folklore with some Turkish influences along with influences from the western part of the...
- Music of SerbiaMusic of SerbiaSerbs and Serbia has a variety of traditional music, which is part of the wider Balkan tradition, with its own distinctive sound and characteristics.-History:...
- Music of MontenegroMusic of MontenegroThe music of Montenegro represents a mix of the country's unique musical tradition and Western musical influences.-History:In the 10th and 11th centuries a composer of religious chants was the oldest composer known from the Adriatic coast...
- Music of the Republic of MacedoniaMusic of the Republic of MacedoniaMusic of the Republic of Macedonia and the Macedonians has many things in common with the music of neighbouring Balkan countries, but maintains its own distinctive sound.-Folk music:...
- Music of YugoslaviaMusic of Yugoslavia-Meaning:Music of Yugoslavia can mean:#Music of Kingdom of Yugoslavia .#Music of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which includes the music of its constituent republics: Socialist Republic of Slovenia, Socialist Republic of Croatia, Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina,...
- Yugonostalgia
- Rokeri s MoravuRokeri s MoravuRokeri s Moravu was a Serbian band from the 1980s. Their music was an mix of Serbian folk substratum, with rock elements and the lyrics in folksy dialect of Šumadija and Morava valley, mixed with numerous popular culture references...