Proggin' in communism: Prog in ex-Yugoslavia

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.