Popular music in Yugoslavia

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Popular music in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
)

Popular music in Yugoslavia includes the

Ex YU rock enciklopedija 1960 - 2006
).

History

Although sometimes considered as an

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.

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 Robić 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 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

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
.

1950s

The

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
.

A notable singer who emerged in the late 1950s was Đorđe Marjanović, who became the first Yugoslav megastar.

1960s

The beginning of the 1960s saw the emergence of numerous bands, many of them initially inspired by the then-popular

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

Radio Luxembourg. Certain British artists held concerts in Yugoslavia (e.g. The Searchers, The Hollies) and also Yugoslav artists performed around Europe, especially neighbouring Italy and Austria. On the border with Italy, several Yugoslav-Italian beat music
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 African 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 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 and Joan Baez, many young people embraced the acoustic sound and thus were called "akustičari" contrary to električari" (transl. electricians). 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.

The year of 1968 was marked by youth protests 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 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 Socialist state, and it was highly praised by the Hair's 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".[1]

Festivals

Many pop music festivals existed across SFR Yugoslavia including the

adult oriented pop music
category.

The specific

Yesterday", a Beatles classic. In 1972, Oliver went abroad to further develop his craft. He played in clubs across Germany, Sweden and Mexico. His solo singing career began in 1974 at the Split Festival, where he won with the song "Ča će mi Copacabana".[3]

Oliver Dragojević, a Croatian pop star

A year later, composer

SFR Yugoslavia and made Dragojević a household name. This was followed by hits "Romanca", "Oprosti mi, pape", "Stari morski vuk". Between 1975 and 1980, the Dragojević/Runjić duo dominated the music scene of the former SFR Yugoslavia. Part of the secret of their success was a third contributor, Jakša Fiamengo, who wrote the lyrics to some of Dragojević's most iconic songs, namely: "Nadalina", "Piva klapa ispod volta", "Karoca", "Ništa nova", "Infiša san u te", and "Ostavljam te samu".[4] In 1990, Dragojević won the Split Festival with Ti is moj san, and got third place at the Yugoslav selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Sreća je tamo gdje si ti, both in collaboration with Zorica Kondža.[5][6] His style blended traditional klapa melodies of Dalmatia with jazz motifs wrapped up in a modern production. For his influential musical career, he reached critical and commercial acclaim in Yugoslavia and later Croatia, and his music continues to be popular today in the ex-Yugoslavian countries. Dragojević achieved numerous accolades, including numerous Porin and Indexi awards. He is one of the few Croatian musicians who performed at major international venues such as Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, L'Olympia and Sydney Opera House.[4]

1970s

See also:
Symphonic rock § Yugoslavia

The 1970s were marked by rock genres such as

Leb i Sol, Teška industrija and Galija
.

In 1974 one of the most renowned rock groups ever formed in SFR Yugoslavia came to prominence, the Sarajevo based Bijelo Dugme, with Željko Bebek as its first singer.

Many foreign pop and rock stars visited Yugoslavia, including the

Rolling Stones
concert in Zagreb in 1976.

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.

1975 saw the emergence of a very influential act, Buldožer from Slovenia, noted for its experimental rock, which was a reaction pointed against the musical scene of the time.

Singer-songwriters

The Yugoslav scene also featured several notable singer-songwriters, who emphasized their poetry over music, and usually performed accompanying themselves by an

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
.

Disco

Zdravko Čolić, a former Yugoslav pop star

The

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

Divlje Jagode guitarist Sead Lipovača, while the author of most lyrics was Marina Tucaković
, who later wrote 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

Nacionalna klasa starring Dragan Nikolić
as Floyd, the fanatic car racer.

Hard rock and heavy metal

Riblja čorba
in 2008.

Karizma and Osvajači
.

Punk rock

Main article: Punk rock in Yugoslavia

The Yugoslav

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

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.

New wave music

Main article: New wave music in Yugoslavia
Jurica Pađen, the guitarist of Azra, one of the most popular groups across Yugoslavia

The

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 known for its artistic music videos
.

Important bands of the Yugoslav new wave are:

cult bands
.

Symbols of the Yugoslav new wave era are the compilation albums

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
.

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:

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

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.

A former

Momčilo Bajagić Bajaga formed one of the most popular ex-Yugoslav acts ever, Bajaga i Instruktori. Later, Dejan Cukić
, one of the members of Instruktori left the band and started a successful solo career.

Family-friendly pop acts during the 1980s were

Split based group Magazin
, both featuring female vocalists.

1983 was marked by

Swedish artists released cover versions of his hit "Džuli
".

In the following year, at the national ESC pre-selection in Skopje,

pop ballad. Another notable duet was the song "Jabuke i vino" by Željko Bebek and Zana Nimani
.

Zana Nimani was a notable artist from the

Albanian minority, she was a frontress of the band Zana
from Belgrade and later started a solo career.

The most popular TV show during the decade was Hit meseca (Hit of the Month) which was a sort of Yugoslav Top of the Pops.[7] 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 magazines were Rock and Džuboks.

Musical genres such as

Synthpop
were already expanded in SFR Yugoslavia during the early 1980s, and especially at the end of 1980s because of coming of new technologies such as Video recorders and Satellite Television in many homes in SFR Yugoslavia.

Post-punk

The former punks

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.

frontman
both rose to a status of "alternative celebrities". Later, both died.

Art rock

Notable

Maksimir stadium
.

New Romantic

During the New Romantic 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.

Synthpop

Notable

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 musician Kiril Džajkovski on electronic keyboards and Milcho Manchevski as a lyrics writer. Many Yugoslav artists in this period were already experimenting with the use of personal computers 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
.

New Primitives

Main article:
New Primitives

The New Primitivism was an urban

Bombaj Stampa (featuring actor/director Branko Đurić — Đuro), Boris Šiber, Zenit Đozić from the Sarajevo neighbourhood of Koševo. The 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).

Band Aid

Main article: YU Rock Misija

In the late 1984

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. The song was released as a single. Also a corresponding video was filmed. Bora Đorđević and Goran Bregović, leaders of Riblja Čorba and Bijelo Dugme were not credited on the record's back cover, however they appeared in a TV performance of the song. 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
.

Sarajevo school of pop rock

Sarajevo developed a distinguishable pop and rock sound, often (but not necessarily) featuring

Bijelo Dugme and the pop star Zdravko Čolić
.

The scene began to develop in the 1960s with groups such as Indexi, Pro Arte and singer/songwriter Kemal Monteno. It continued into the 1970s with Ambasadori, Bijelo dugme and Vatreni poljubac, while the 1980s brought artists such as Plavi Orkestar, Crvena Jabuka, Hari Mata Hari, Dino Merlin, Valentino, Regina, Bolero and Gino Banana.

Sarajevo was also the home of the authentic

New Primitives, which developed in the early 1980s and was brought into the mainstream by artists such as Zabranjeno Pušenje, Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors, Bombaj Štampa and the radio and TV comedy show Top lista nadrealista
.

Industrial

Notable industrial music acts in Yugoslavia were Autopsia from Ruma and SCH from Sarajevo.

Neo-rockabilly

The Yugoslav scene also included numerous neo-rockabilly, psychobilly and retro-rock and roll acts.

A noted artist was controversial

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

support act of the internationally acclaimed retro jazzy pop group Vaya Con Dios
at their concert in Belgrade.

Neue Slowenische Kunst

Main article: Neue Slowenische Kunst

In Slovenia, the cult avant-garde band

neo-classical music they rose to international prominence and influenced acts such as the 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. One of the groups connected with NSK were Abbildungen Variete from Maribor.[8]

The most notable electronic body music act was Borghesia, from Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Macedonian darkwave and gothic scene

While Slovenia had the

darkwave and gothic rock scene featured some of the most prominent Macedonian acts ever, such as Mizar, Arhangel and Padot na Vizantija, the latter featuring Goran Trajkoski
.

Extreme metal

The extreme metal 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.

Rap music

Many

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:

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 Croatian actor Boris Dvornik. Dino Dvornik was a popular funk-inspired dance-pop artist.

Yugoslav Wars and aftermath (1990s)

Two years after the group

Riva won the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 and one year after the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 took place in Zagreb, the SFR Yugoslav music 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.

Tajči became one of the last breakout pop stars in Yugoslavia, before the disintegration of the country cut her career short and she emigrated to the United States.

With the outbreak of the

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, others previously involved in the Yugoslav pop and rock scene embraced national chauvinism
, and even saw active combat.

A notable example is the song "E, moj druže Beogradski" ("Hey my Belgrade comrade"). Although generally seen as an emotional anti-war song pointed against the

Serbian rock scene as a frontman of Riblja Čorba, soon "replied" with the controversial song "E moj druže Zagrebački" ("Hey my Zagreb comrade"), a cynical parody featuring nationalist messages.[3]

Many

Rock za Hrvatsku during the Croatian War of Independence
.

When the Bosnian War broke out, the Sarajevo based group Zabranjeno Pušenje split into two separate fractions. The latter based itself in Belgrade and received international exposure under the name No Smoking Orchestra led by Nele Karajlić, also featuring the movie director Emir Kusturica. They played with Joe Strummer and that concert footage is included in the Super 8 Stories film directed by Kusturica. Newly established folk singer Zehra Bajraktarević's career was met with the harshness of siege of Sarajevo, nonetheless she continued to produce albums despite the conditions of the war.

While

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.[4]

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.

The music of the Yugoslav Wars has gained a cult following on the internet, mostly among foreigners. This is evidenced by the wide popularity of the YouTube channels Kocayine and Наша Српска Архива (Our Serbian Archive). Some notable artists in this style of music are Lepi Mića and Baja Mali Knindža.

2000s

After the end of the conflicts and especially later, after the departure of the nationalist leaders such as

Plavi Orkestar, Massimo Savić (formerly of Dorian Gray) and Boris Novković (formerly of the group Boris i Noćna Straža), while Anja Rupel, formerly of Videosex, recorded a duet with Toše Proeski
, a young Macedonian pop singer who became respected in all the former Yugoslav countries.

Following the reconciliation of

Bajaga and Đorđe Balašević
had respectively made numerous concert appearances in Croatia and Bosnia.

In 2003 Igor Mirković from Croatia made the

Prljavo Kazalište. The movie covers the early Yugoslav punk rock and new wave scenes featuring eminent artists from Zagreb, Ljubljana and Belgrade
.

Music for children

Many eminent former Yugoslav Pop and Rock artists composed

novokomponovana narodna muzika
".

Record labels

Related films and TV shows

See also

References

  1. ^ "Uraganima ide posebno priznanje". Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  2. ^ "'Red! River! Rock!' oživljava riječku scenu šezdesetih". Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  3. ^ "Nagrade 1970-1979". Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Oliver Dragojević". Večernji.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  5. ^ Zorica Kondža: Nadam se da ću uz tri sina imati jednu dobru nevistu
  6. ^ ZORICA KONDŽA Vratila sam se svojim korijenima rock and rollu. Ne treba mi dijeta, po koncertu gubim četiri kilograma
  7. ^ "RTS :: Hit meseca 1986 (in Serbian)". Rts.rs. October 16, 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  8. ^ "Abbildungen Variete - (1983) Abbildungen Varieté [mc, Galerija ŠKUC]". ahogonsindustrialguide.blogspot.de. 30 October 2007. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  9. ^ "www.glas-javnosti.co.yu".
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