Proggin' in communism: Prog in ex-Yugoslavia - Progressive Rock Music Forum

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Marty McFly View Drop Down

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Posted: August 07 2010 at 20:40

You really should wait for this guy:

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/member_profile.asp?PF=8868

to come back from his forced holidays. He's from Croatia, he's in Eclectic team and he's really supporting bands from ex-Yugoslavia a lot. He'll be back in few weeks I suppose.

By the way, you're welcome to jump into my thread as well. Link is in my signature for example.

There's a point where "avant-garde" and "experimental" becomes "terrible" and "pointless,"

-Andyman1125 on Lulu

Even my

Weirdamigo View Drop Down

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Posted: August 08 2010 at 09:12

It would be nice if he could check my blog out, he definitely knows more about yugoslav prog than I do .

I'll also post on your thread after I'm done posting Kerber :) (Great thread by the way!).

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Posted: August 08 2010 at 09:36

------------------------------------------Kerber---------------------------------------------

Kerber (Cerberus)

Founded: 1981

Country: Serbia

Genre: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal (with elements of prog)

Years active: 1981-present

Current Members:

Goran Sepa "Gale" (Vocals)

Tomislav Nikolic (Guitar)

Branislav "Bane" Bozinovic (Keyboard)

Former Members:

Zoran Madić
Zoran Zikic
Zoran Stamenković
Boban Đorđević
Dragoljub Đuričić
Milorad Džmerković
Branko Isaković
Josip Hartl
Saša Vasković
Vladan Stanojević
Goran Đorđević
Nemanja Gušić
Vlada Karadžov

Discography (Studio albums):

Nebo je malo za sve (The sky is a little for everyone) 1983
Ratne Igre (War games) 1984
Seobe (Migration) 1986
Ljudi i bogovi (Humans and gods) 1988
Peta strana sveta (Fifth side of the world) 1990
Zapis (Inscription) 1996
*can't post the live album 121288 from the year 1989
Forword:

Kerber cannot be seen as progressive rock yet you can compare them with the hard rock band Deep purple, not quite prog yet it does have a prog-like sound to it.

Even though they are fairly unknown internationally, they have opened for Uriah Heep and for the legendary Ronnie James Dio (RIP) and have worked with Malcolm Davies who recorded Abbey Road with the Beatles.

A shocking fact: Kerber had more line-up changes than Deep purple.

Foundation:

Kerber was founded in Nis (Mountainous area in southern serbia) 1981 by vocalist Goran Sepa , who is known for his unique voice and curly hair, by Tomislav Nikolic (Guitar),Branislav Bozinovic (Keyboards), Zoran Madic (Bass) and Stamenkovic (Drums) and were first known as Top (Cannon). The name was changed late 1981.

Before their first album in 1983 they were playing at local clubs in serbia, particulary in Kerbers hometown Nis while working on new material for the before mentioned album.

Zoran Madic left the band in 1982 because of the military duty in JNA and was replaced by "Mama Rock" bassist Zoran Zigic, who turned Kerbers little performances into spectacles by wielding axe-like guitars and breathing fire on stage ( On a misfortunate night he burned himself while performing the "Dragons Breath". Luckily he was not severly injured but the band forbade him to use the stunt on stage).

Early 1983 Kerber had won first place at "Omladinski festival" in Subotica (serbia) with their song "Mezimac" (Minion) which was an honor for the young members of Kerber who had yet to release their first album.

Mezimac:

The three headed dog on it's way to fame:

In 1983 Kerber released their first album "Nebo je malo za sve" (recorded with Malcolm Davies) which was a huge commercial success selling over 10000 copies in the first week of it's release. It features their first hit "Mezimac" as well as many other fantastic song:

The song "Kao tvoj kerber" (Like your cerberus) is one of my personal favorites:

Kao tvoj kerber:

and the (slightly) prog influenced song nebo je malo za sve:

Nebo je malo za sve:

Kerber opened for the bands "Nightwing" and "Ten years after" late 1983 and performed at Opatija (Croatia) at a music festival, despite a good performance the bands hard rock sound did not feel welcome on the pop stage

In 1984, during a concert in Novi Sad, bassist Zoran Zigic attempted the "Dragons breath" but failed and suffered minor burns, luckily no greater injuries have been made.

Ratne Igre and new drummer:

The second album "Ratne igre" was recorded late 1984 in Saughall a village near Chester while they were performing minor gigs in Liverpool and Chester. For these concerts they played an english version of their hit "Mezimac" entited "Get me out of here".

The song "ratne igre" has become one of there signature as the second album shared the commercial success of the first album and the positive reviews from the critics.

Ratne Igre:

The album has a very interesting album cover showing a tanks armor as a phone and it's cannon as lipstick.

The song compares a war-like situation with a failing relationship and has some very nice lyrics in the refrain:

Nek sada ratne igre prestanu

jer vise niceg nemu u tebi, u meni

u mome srcu kise padaju

u dusi veju crni snegovi

translated:

Let now the war games end

for there is nothing left in it for you, in it for me

in my heart rains are falling

in my soul black snow(*) are blowing

*In slavic languages there is a plural for snow.

Some major line-up changes have been made. Stamenkovic was replaced by Boban Dordjevic who was,couple of months later, replaced by "Leb i sol" member Dragoljub Duricic.

In November 1985 Kerber was awarded the "Smeli Svet" by the League of Communist Youth of Serbia for outstanding contribution to rock music.

Peak of success with Seobe:

Seobe (Migration) is seen by critics and fans alike to be Kerbers greatest work. Ballads like "Seobe"(Which I believe is Kerbers most progressive track) and "bolje sam druge ljubio" (I kissed others better) have thrown the emotional songwriting of Kerber into high gear while providing great rock songs like "Covek od meda" (Man of honey) and "Hajde da se volimo" (Come lets love each other). It is also the first time Kerbers official logo of three dog heads is shown

Seobe:

Beli tragovi (white trails):

Seobe album cover:

Preserving quality with "Ljudi i bogovi":

"Ljudi i bogovi" (Humans and gods) was published in 1988 which was another successful album.

It features "Manifest" the first song by Kerber to feature lyrics about politics.

Although no clear stance, it's talks about how it would be if communism dissolved in yugoslavia (which it did in 1992) and says how we will all become our own presidents and our own judges (in a positive as well as in a negative way)

Manifest:

First commercial failure and Hiatus:

In 1989 the first live album "121288" of Kerber was disliked by critics and fans at best and the band took a hiatus until 1990.

"Peta strana sveta" fans were not let down:

After catastrophic "121288" Kerber released "peta strana sveta" (Fifth side of the world). While not a loved as the first albums of the band the album was awarded good reviews.

Some songs have become essential in Kerbers arsenal like "Igraj sad" (Play now)

Igraj sad*:

*Sorry about the pic but this video has the best quality.

After the more-or-less successful album they recorded the song "April u beogradu" (April in belgrade), originally by famous musician Zdravko Colic, for the belgrade spring festival.

They went on a six year hiatus after the festival.

Zapis, new line-up and Hiatus (again)

Before the new album was recorded Goran Sepa had recruited a entirely new 6 man line-up.

The hiatus ended with the release of the album "Zapis" (Inscription) in 1996 which features mostly unrecorded songs the band wrote for the album "Nebo je malo za sve". Zapis got mixed reviews but is held in high regard by fans.

My personal favorite is "Cudna stvar" (Odd thing) mostly because of the dinamic guitar intro.

Cudna stvar:

In 1999 Kerber was asked to perform as the opening act for Ronnie James Dio in Sofia (Bulgaria).

Kerber today:

Goran Sepa has been rejoined with founding members Tomislav Nikolic and Branislav Bozinovic, making Kerber a 3-man band for the first time.

Kerber fans can rejoice, a new album is planned to be released late 2010, 14 years after the release "Zapis".

Hope you enjoyed the post and keep your eyes peeled for the next one folks cause the famous band Indexi are up next.

Edited by Weirdamigo - August 10 2010 at 14:35

Weirdamigo View Drop Down

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Posted: August 08 2010 at 13:31

Finnforest wrote:

Tako and Leb i Sol are two wonderful bands! Clap

Sorry Finnforest I totally overlooked your post!

Tako and Leb i Sol are indeed fantastic bands which I will review soon Smile

By the way to anyone who is reading this, please suggest bands you would like to see on my thread.

toroddfuglesteg View Drop Down

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Posted: August 08 2010 at 14:47

Weirdamigo wrote:

ko wrote:

Heres alot of progressive but not Prog bands, as for example Darkwood Dub>

I have heard of Darkwood Dub before but only by name.

Now I have another band to post about, thanks ko!

P.S: If you, the people on the other side of the screen, have any other prog bands from ex-yugoslavia I haven't reviewed yet about (not the obvious ones like Bulldozer and Korni grupa) please post it here so I can get my work cut out for me Smile

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=67093

Ashes You Leave is an excellent band from Yugoslavia which you should check out. Their debut album, where I did all artwork, is brilliant.

Castrum too is brilliant. I have their first album somewhere here in my castle. I also believe I still have the interview I did with them 10 years ago for the News From The Infested Graveyard newspaper. I also think they released another album a couple of years ago.

Edited by toroddfuglesteg - August 08 2010 at 14:51

Weirdamigo View Drop Down

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Posted: August 08 2010 at 16:34

Wow that's amazing!

Thanks for adding another band to the list (actually 3)!

Your artwork is excellent by the way Clap

Edited by Weirdamigo - August 08 2010 at 16:35

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Posted: August 09 2010 at 00:20

Demoniac were progressive metal band from Belgrade, Serbia, former Yugoslavia. Their debut LP Touch The Wind, from 90s, is the only their stuff ever recorded and never re-realesed as CD. Anyway, pretty nice debut, imho.

(English version>)

Dead Joker, also from Serbia, in 90s issued interresting Venture album, with a number of very short, but nice progressive metal tracks, as those instrumental tracks aswell >>>

Bloodbath ... from Serbia. They made cool tracks in first half 90s >>>

Alister ( from Serbia, feat. Irina Kapetanovic, female singer from Bosnia, 2006)>

Edited by ko - August 09 2010 at 04:58

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Posted: August 09 2010 at 01:56

toroddfuglesteg wrote:

Weirdamigo wrote:

ko wrote:

Heres alot of progressive but not Prog bands, as for example Darkwood Dub>

I have heard of Darkwood Dub before but only by name.

Now I have another band to post about, thanks ko!

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=67093

Ashes You Leave is an excellent band from Yugoslavia which you should check out. Their debut album, where I did all artwork, is brilliant.

I agree. Ashes You Leave are really great band from Croatia.

Edited by ko - August 09 2010 at 07:04

Marty McFly View Drop Down

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Posted: August 09 2010 at 05:15

And guys ? How is it with availability of these bands ? Their releases, is situation good (as with Czech Republic 69-89 - those who were allowed to record/release album), or bad and they're not so available ?

There's a point where "avant-garde" and "experimental" becomes "terrible" and "pointless,"

-Andyman1125 on Lulu

Even my

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Posted: August 09 2010 at 07:36

Marty McFly wrote:

And guys ? How is it with availability of these bands ? Their releases, is situation good (as with Czech Republic 69-89 - those who were allowed to record/release album), or bad and they're not so available ?

Well, their realeses are available.

Many good bands are already disbanded, of course, but this is a bad time for good (and new) rock'n' roll anywhere. There are alot of reasons for that, a long story, imo.

Alogia (Serbia)

Edited by ko - August 09 2010 at 09:12

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Posted: August 09 2010 at 08:50

Weirdamigo wrote:

Finnforest wrote:

Tako and Leb i Sol are two wonderful bands! Clap

Sorry Finnforest I totally overlooked your post!

Tako and Leb i Sol are indeed fantastic bands which I will review soon Smile

By the way to anyone who is reading this, please suggest bands you would like to see on my thread.

alanterrill View Drop Down

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Posted: August 09 2010 at 17:07

The only Yugoslavian band I know is the amazing Begnagrad. Their only album is out of print, but there is some good footage of them on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCVOhg60sNQ

omardiyejon View Drop Down

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Posted: August 10 2010 at 05:59

Rune2000 wrote:

[QUOTE=Weirdamigo]

I'm suprised that you know about the movie!

The movie is called "Lepa sela lepo gore" ("Pretty villages burn nicely" english film title "Pretty village,pretty flame") Although I must correct you, serbs were at war with Bosnian muslims and Tito's death started the whole mess.

It was a funny scene in a serious movie with the elektricni orgazam reference and even the song i used above could be heard in the movie.

I'm glad that you found my post interesting and I hope you will enjoy the future posts on my blog Smile

i really dig in movie bussiness and some friend told me that it was a must..i am glad u recalled the name of the movie. as you told it was a sad one, but a funny sad one Smile

thanks for sharing it anyway

http://www.normalisr.com/?username=omardiyejon

Weirdamigo View Drop Down

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Posted: August 10 2010 at 09:38

----------------------------------Darkwood Dub-------------------------------

Apologies everyone; the Indexi post has been postponed. I need a little more time gathering all the required information

Thank you ko for introducing me, and incidentally making me addicted, to Darkwood Dub.

Darkwood Dub

Founded: 1988

Country: Serbia

Genre: Alternative rock, Reggea, Dub, Elecro rock, Drum and bass, Experimental music

Years active: 1988-present

Current members:

Dejan "Vuča" Vučetić - vocal
Milorad "Miki" Ristić - bass
Bojan "Bambi" Drobac - guitar
Lav Bratuša - Drums
Vasil Hadzimanov - Keyboards

Former members:

Miladin Radivojević
Vladimir Jerić

Discography:

*Paramparčad*	*1995*
*U nedogled*	*1996*
*Darkwood Dub*	*1997*
*Elektropionir*	*1999*
*Život počinje u 30-oj*	*2002*
*O danima*	*2004*
*Jedinstvo*	*2008*

Note: While not very progressive, Darkwood Dub has some prog in its experimental acts.

Foundation:

Darkwood Dub has been formed in 1988 mostly to play reggae music with a line-up of 2 drummers, 2 bassists a rhythm guitarist and a vocalist. Luckily this line-up has been changed, taking out a bassist and a drummer and replacing them with a keyboarder.

Before the first debut-album “Paramparcad” the band had become one of the greatest underground groups in Yugoslavia with attendants in the thousands. The name was inspired by the Italian comic “Zagor” (Italian comics were very popular in Yugoslavia and still are today, most popular one being “Alan Ford”) whose protagonist “Zagor” lived in a magical forest called “Darkwood”.

They won numerous MTV awards and were nominated for many more (Not like they mean anything anyway)

Rise to fame:

“Paramparcad” (Splinters) was recorded 1992 but was first released in 1995 with great commercial success and soon the band received a “Cult status”. This was the only album the band used punk rock as an influence.

Spori Vavilon:

The song Lunogled starts with an amusing “All right. Wait! Stop stop stop!”

Lunogled:

U nedogled "Into the infinite":

The album "U nedogled" received greater attention from fans and critics alike and they were not disappointed.

"U nedogled" is seen as a "far" better album than the debut and was the first album that got a promotional tour by the band.

Antena:

Elektropionir (Electropioneer):

The album "Elektropionir" was recorded in february 1999 but was first released in september because of the NATO bombings in the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" (Serbia and Montenegro and notice the word"socialist" missing) (The reason of this was because of the inhumane "ethnic cleansing" performed by president and war criminal Slobodan Milosevic, whose presidency was a dark chapter in the history of Serbia)

The band said that they wanted a more rhythmic sound with the use of keyboards. The album was a success and the more charismatic side of Darkwood Dub was shown

Supernova:

Fun fact: Supernova can also mean "super new (feminine)" in slavic languages

Zivot pocinje u 30-oj:

"Zivot pocinje u 30-oj" (Life starts in the 30's) is seen as the most successful album by Darkwood Dub and was awarded the title of best selling album in 2002 (In Serbia of course!).

The members were always a bit .... weird. The promotional video of "Srebrna Kap" (Silver drop) confirms this

Srebrna kap:

"O danima", "Jedinstvo" and Darkwood Dub today:

As the "horizon of expectation" for Darkwood Dub was expanding, they have not failed to give the fans what they want, and they definitely didn't fail with that goal with the album "O danima" (About days) which was released in 2004.

The following video confirms the weirdness of the group (again)

*The guy who uploaded the song "prostor izmedu nas" (Area between us) falsely uploaded the video as "Kosmos"

prostor izmedu nas:

And by the way, is it me or does bassist Milorad Ristic look like a young Steve Hackett?

In 2008 "Jedinstvo" (Unity) was published for the first by the now 4-member band Darkwood Dub (Guitarist Vladimir Jeric left the band). After the album was released the vacant spot was filled by a second keyboarder, the famous serbian jazz fusion musician Vasil Hadzimanov.

"Disem" (I'm breathing):

Hope you enjoyed post No.4 and prepare for an upcoming special post (It's not really special as something extra-ordinary but I think you guys and gals will like it)

Edited by Weirdamigo - August 10 2010 at 11:38

snobb

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Posted: August 10 2010 at 09:57

Vasil Hadžimanov from 1997 plays in his own VH band: their music is Balkan jazz fusion

Weirdamigo View Drop Down

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Posted: August 10 2010 at 11:11

snobb wrote:

Vasil Hadžimanov from 1997 plays in his own VH band: their music is Balkan jazz fusion

Seeing that you are specialized on the Jazz fusion field i'm not suprised that you knew this Thumbs Up

Vasil Hadzimanov joined the band in 2008 though, I will mention it in the post above.

alanterrill wrote:

The only Yugoslavian band I know is the amazing Begnagrad. Their only album is out of print, but there is some good footage of them on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCVOhg60sNQ

They sound quite interesting. I will post about them if I find enough information Smile

omardiyejon wrote:

Rune2000 wrote:

[QUOTE=Weirdamigo]

I'm suprised that you know about the movie!

It was a funny scene in a serious movie with the elektricni orgazam reference and even the song i used above could be heard in the movie.

I'm glad that you found my post interesting and I hope you will enjoy the future posts on my blog Smile

i really dig in movie bussiness and some friend told me that it was a must..i am glad u recalled the name of the movie. as you told it was a sad one, but a funny sad one Smile

thanks for sharing it anyway

Your friend sounds like a wise man Thumbs Up

Thanks for visiting the blog from time to time, hope you aren't bored with the posts.

Edited by Weirdamigo - August 10 2010 at 12:18

Blackmore

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Posted: August 10 2010 at 14:03

A fantastic thing is to read about Yugoslav prog-related bands. Thank you, Weirdamigo for starting this one. Now, we can discuss about this very interesting topic in the best place for it.

I will post a video of a 1973 song Etida from the band Korni Grupa, just as an addition to this post.
I would like to hear people's oppinion about this one..:D

Weirdamigo View Drop Down

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Posted: August 10 2010 at 14:31

Blackmore wrote:

A fantastic thing is to read about Yugoslav prog-related bands. Thank you, Weirdamigo for starting this one. Now, we can discuss about this very interesting topic in the best place for it.

I will post a video of a 1973 song Etida from the band Korni Grupa, just as an addition to this post.
I would like to hear people's oppinion about this one..:D

Thank you Blackmore, I really hope you are the real Ritchie Blackmore Wink

, for the compliment and I hope you will enjoy reading future posts on my blog.

Ask anyone in the ex-Yugoslav countries and they will tell you "Korni grupa" is a fantastic band, and this song in particular is mesmerizing.

I will make a post about them soon (although you never know, I promised the same thing for "Indexi")

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Posted: August 10 2010 at 23:44

This track "Kosovski Božuri" by Yu Grupa (engl. "You Group", from Belgrade, Serbia) is from the first live (rock) album recorded in former Yugoslavia, 1971.