Proggin' in communism: Prog in ex-Yugoslavia

Hahha, I'm well aware četniks were pro-fascist b*****ds (and I should note I'm a Croat, so I don't support četniks in any way, just to clear that). It's just that they were pro-Allied for a while, but then joined the Germans (although, the German ultimate aim was to eventually disarm them; the Italians were the biggest supporters of the četniks, which led to many protests from both the Germans and the NDH authorities, although both would also collaborate with some četnik units). But as I undestand it, there were several četnik factions in Yugoslavia - the ones led by Draža Mihailović were supported by the Allies until 1943, when they realized that the četniks fought for power in Yugoslavia against the Partisans, rather than collaborating with them against the Axis.
OTOH, the ones led by Kosta Pećanac were Axis collaborators from the very beginning, I believe. But we're getting too off-topic here...

EDIT: That last picture is of četniks with an ustaša officer, right?


Edited by The Great Duck - November 24 2012 at 13:42

Of course! I know that so many wild drunks have to spend few days in jail because they were screeming Ustani bane or Vojvodo Sindjelicu in death of the night and wake up everybody in a block. Now it's free to do it and now it's an awesome choir that you can't imagine 

Edited by Svetonio - November 24 2012 at 12:21

The Great Duck wrote: I've also heard stories of people losing their jobs if they went to church, or getting imprisoned for singing nationalist songs. Fortunately, the regime didn't restrict musical creativity that much, which resulted in a plethora of great bands forming in Yugoslavia. I don't know about agriculture and the businesses,...

Edited by Svetonio - November 24 2012 at 06:35

Interestingly, I never thought of Yugoslavia as a "communist" country. I know for a fact that Yugoslavians were never in the Warsaw Pact. I believe they were free to travel abroad and to go to church. The agriculture was in private hands and the businesses ran like employee-owned enterprises in the West rather than being controlled by the Party functionaries. 

True? False?

 

Edited by Argonaught - November 22 2012 at 15:17

Nice to see this little thread again. I kept researching around and I'm glad I contributed to get a few older bands here like Na Lepem Prijazni, Miha Kralj and some unknown rarity Dzejbi which I couldn't find any info about. The more I go through history though I don't think there will be anything new prog coming up for the ex-country anymore, not that I won't be coming back to that music, I love a lot of it (I am still waiting though for response from the team on Vladimir Furfuj who made nice fusion after Korni Grupa).

Here's some stuff by a band Don that I found labeled as prog rock but it's a bit cheesy for me; I do I think it has a bit different 80's flavour than art rock bands of the same era (which I like better). Check it out, maybe someone will see some more merit in this.





And I know we're limited on this threads but I do think the 80's still have some hidden if not prog, but nice experimental stuff more related to new wave.





And for something way way back, one single from Kameleoni had a rather nice vintage psychedelic flavour, it's pretty cool,  I hoped it would lead to better things as this kind of stuff proto-prog bands are made of, but they just made beat singles.



Some of them went into Boomerang but I think it's a bit light to be prog.



You were compiling quite of info here Weirdamigo, hope this blog continues

Neither are Blue Oyster Cult, Radiohead and other bands but they are still on the site

These bands are not entirely prog yet they have had a prog background and/or were influenced by it. I just posted electricni orgazam as a general idea of the rock music seen in SFRY, i'm well aware that They have nothing to do with prog :P

After a long break and realizing that I have too much time on my hands, I decided to revive My Olde Blog about this seemingly forgotten Genre.

To those who actually gave a toss about my little blog I apologize for keeping you waiting for so long, please do not blame me but my general laziness. Nonetheless, let’s start off with an iconic Serbian band: YU grupa

YU grupa

Founded: 1970

Country: Serbia

Genre: Progressive Rock, Blues Rock, Hard Rock, Folk Rock

Years Active:  1970- 1981, 1987- present

 

Current Members:

Dragi Jelić

Žika Jelić

Petar Jelić

Slobodan Jurišić

Former Members:

Miodrag Okrugić
Velibor Bogdanović
Miodrag Kostić
Ratislav Delmas
Dragan Micić
Nedžat Maculja
Dragoljub  Duricić
Dragan Janković
Igor Malešević

Discography:

Yu Grupa (1793)

Kako to da svaki dan? (1974)

YU Grupa (1975)

Medu zvezdama (1977)

Samo napred… (1979)

Od zlata jabuka (1987)

Ima nade (1988)

Tragovi (1990)

Rim 1994 (1995)

Dugo znamo se (2005)

 

There is much to be said about YU Grupa, which, along with bands such as Bjelo dugme and Riblja Corba , is an icon for YU rock and still maintains much of its popularity today. I shall try and make this post focused on the music rather then the bands conflicts and personnel changes to keep it from dragging on too long.

Formation:

YU grupa was formed in 1970 by the brothers Dragi (lead guitar and vocals),Zika Jelic (bass and rarely vocals) and by Miodrag Kostic (keyboards) and Velibor Jodanovic (drums) and performed under the name of Idejni Posed (Notional Property) which later changed to YU Grupa by a suggestion of an audience member.

They recorded their first song “Nona” in 1971, combining Folk music from Kosovo with hard rock. This song was met with great success and enjoyed repeated plays on the radios throughout Jugoslavia. This mix of Folk and Rock would become a trademark in the music of Yu Grupa and greatly expanded their fanbase.

“Nona” :

 

 

YU grupa received a number of invitations to play at festivals and clubs, but tensions within the band left the two bothers without a drummer and keyboardist. Replacements were quickly found and spent much of 1972 touring Yugoslavian countries. 1973 YU grupa booked a flight to London to get a hold on better equipment, which otherwise would have been hard to come by. CBS producers were able hear some of their material and were impressed enough to offer them a gig at the famous Marquee club in London. YU grupa and CBS cooperated and the band went back to Belgrade to record their self-titled debut album.

 

Rise to success:

 

The bands first album was met with critical acclaim. It was praised for its combination, of Folk, Rock and Blues elements. A diverse album, it slowly cemented YU grupa as an essential band of the YU rock movement.

One of the most famous ballads of Yu grupa was “Crni Leptir” (Black butterfly), which was sung by bassist Zika Jelic , and is still a popular ballad about how a first love can leave its scars and burn away your wings:

 

 

“More” (The sea) is the most blues influenced song by YU grupa and is considered as one of the greatest blues songs that originated in Yugoslavia:

 

 

“This is what I’m talking about!” is what many hard rock fans proclaimed as “cudna suma” (weird forest) hit the airwaves and showed a rougher side of the band:

 

 

Shortly after the debut album hit the store shelves, YU grupa finished the recording on their second album “Kako to da svaki dan?” (How come that every day…? The album was musically more complex then their debut and had a more melancholic feel. It did not enjoyed the great success of its predecessor but is regarded as one of their finest albums.

The sequel to “More”, “More NO.2” clearly shows the darker and slower bluesy side of the new record:

 

 

“Ballada o YU grupi” is an instrumental track, possibly showing the bands desire for more complex songs rather then the 4 chords variation pop songs:

 

 

Maintaining success:

The following albums the second self titled album, medu zvezdama, (Among the stars) which was not very commercially successful, and “samo napred” (Go for it) followed a simpler song writing process then the previous album and generated a number of hits, yet did not meet the same acclaim which the debut album received.

“Novi Zvuk” (New Sound) from the second self titled album follows a typical hard rock receipt with rough riffs and strong vocals:

 

 

“Autobus za raj” (Bus to heaven) features a more funky style:

 

Decline of popularity and break up:

With the arrival of New wave in Yugoslavia in the late 70’s, rock and blues bands were on the decline. YU grupa popularity suffered and, due to an incident of their tour Van blowing up and the destruction of their equipment, decided to put an end to their music.

 

Reunion and Reestablishing the image:

As the new-wave craze died down and Rock bands reemerged with Folk driven rock songs, “Bijelo Dugme” guitarist and infamous lyricist Goran Bregovic suggested to the former members of YU grupa to reunite as their music became popular once again. The band reunited in 1987 and produced their comeback album “Od zlata Jabuka” (Golden apple) which is considered by many fans one of their finest, and not to mention heaviest, albums.

“Od zlata jabuka” (Golden apple) features one of the most iconic riffs in YU rock and became one of the greatest hit the band released:

 

 

The hard rock influence to the album is very dominant and rocky songs like “ti si otrov moj” (You are my poison) are common on the album:

 

 

The following album “Ima nade” in 1988 (There is hope) continues to prove that YU grupa are still one of the most thriving bands in Yugoslavia and features some of the bands greatest hits.

In the warmer days of Belgrade, you can still stumbled upon tipsy teenagers and adults singing the song “Mornar” (Sailor) awfully out of tune outside the local bars:

 

 

“Dunavom jos sibaju vetrovi” (The winds still blow on the Danube) Is the most popular ballad by the band alongside “crni leptir”, perhaps the voice of bassist Zika Jelic is a good luck charm for their ballads:

 

 

 

Later years:

The band recorded its next album “Tragovi” (Tracks) in 1990 with their former drummer Radislav Delmas, who left the band after the debut album

Even though the album did not receive the same acclaim as the previous two albums, it maintains a solid Hard rock sound

Sviram “I’m playing” :

 

 

After five years they recorded “Rim 1994” another solid hard rock album but was met with limited success.

 

Where are they now?:

Still active! In 2005 they recorded “dugo se znamo” (we know each other for a long time) and play on various festivals in all ex-YU states, such as the famous Beer fest where they played in 2007.

 

I hope you enjoyed my post after more then a year of waiting.

If you have any suggestions what band I should post next on my blog please let me know, it’s easier for me that way to find new music and it keeps me guessing what the next post will be about. 

Edited by Weirdamigo - March 18 2012 at 08:29

clarke2001 wrote: Why everybody seems to be ignoring progressive electronic?  Here are two most successful ones:

Moris, thanks for bringing up this relatively unknown electronic musician. He should be included here at PA. I have a trouble with logging in as Collab many months already so I cannot contribute much in adding new names or even posting reviews...

Why everybody seems to be ignoring progressive electronic?  Here are two most successful ones:

Nije prog rock ali je YU-rock a to je najbitnije .