Yugoslavian/East European progressive

Nice to see a thread about Yu prog scene!

Yugoslavia was a hotbed for rock music,especialy in the early 80s with so called new wave bands with a really rich scene in entire Ex-Yu .In the 60s and 70s we saw birth of many rock bands like Indexi(the most long living band in history of rock),  but those were mainly popish(still Indexi are one of the all time best rock band in Ex-Yu,along with Time) ,commercial rock bands ,meant for everybody.It was hard to playing progressive music at that time,many groups were called progressive but few of them were it really.Altough,it is very recomanded to check bands listed on this site,a lot of uknown gems to find.My two favorites are TAKO(instrumental symphonic prog) and Igra Staklenih Perli(Psychedelic)both from Belgrade.Also i recommend Macedonian Leb i Sol and Folk Prog from Zagreb called Drugi Nacin.After the 70s prog just fell out of the scene,like everywhere else i guess.After that there were no more prog bands in Yugoslavia.Back in few months i discovered a new Belgrade Post-Rock band called Virvel ,a nice discovery!Hope they ll be added on this site soon.But its hard to survive due to the unpopularity of prog music in Serbia...

Livnica wrote: R.M.Tocak band is TEK.With David Moss percussionist and guests from Yugoslavia and from other parts of world who play jazz,funk,rock

Thanks, never heard that. Sounds interesting...

yes a phenomenon!But considering how most of Yugo-slavonic people are stupid ,than it isn't phenomenon.But that i think will change as the time passis by...

Seyo wrote: Livnica wrote: yes a phenomenon!But considering how most of Yugo-slavonic people are stupid ,than it isn't phenomenon.But that i think will change as the time passis by... Not all are stupid. Take us here for example...

No you're blind!

well if TOcak belongs here then Stefanovski really belongs here.So put him here

Please check this excellent blog, with lots of wonderful Yugo prog music available for download...

yupressings wrote:   Yes, Tako has 2 albums   Tako 1 (1978)  i "U vreci za spavanje"(1979) both  fully progressive with dominated organs and melotrons-slightly sympho fusion overtones. KOrnelyans is ENGLISH name for Korni grupa which they used on "Not an ordinary life" LP which has been issued nad recorded in ITALY and sung with English lyrics. MIke

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - August 30 2006 at 16:49

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: yupressings wrote:   Yes, Tako has 2 albums   Tako 1 (1978)  i "U vreci za spavanje"(1979) both  fully progressive with dominated organs and melotrons-slightly sympho fusion overtones. KOrnelyans is ENGLISH name for Korni grupa which they used on "Not an ordinary life" LP which has been issued nad recorded in ITALY and sung with English lyrics. MIke   We have been dealing in Symphonic with a lot of good Yugoslavian bands, some of them have been moved to other genres like Folk because of the powerful ethnic sound that we (As a team) believe is necesary to take care of.   Good Symphonic bands we have a lot, but good Yugoslavian Folk bands very few.   In this moment in the Collaborators Section is being debated the case of Tako, great band, but to be honest they should pay royalties to Pink Floyd   Not a clone but clearly derivative, for example "U vreci za Spavanje" is almost exact to Shine On You Crazy Diamond's" intro with extra piano.   Most surely will be found since next Friday or Saturday in the Psyche-Space Prog section.   Some time ago we had to deal with KORNI GRUPA KORNELYANS that was also in Symphonic, but after listening their music and in coordination with the Fusion Team we decided to move them to Prog Fusion, still is there.   Keep on with this feedback,. there's outstanding Prog in the former Yugoslavia.       Iván

This is the llist of Yougoslavian bands we have in PA, there are many more from Eastern Europe:

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: This is the llist of Yougoslavian bands we have in PA, there are many more from Eastern Europe:   Bands Style ASANOVIC, TIHOMIR POP Jazz Rock/Fusion BEGNAGRAD RIO/Avant-Prog BULDOZER RIO/Avant-Prog DEN ZA DEN Jazz Rock/Fusion DRUGI NACIN Art Rock GALIJA Symphonic Prog HOBO Art Rock IGRA STAKLENIH PERLI Psychedelic/Space Rock ILIJIN, DJORDJE Psychedelic/Space Rock INDEXI Art Rock IZVIR Jazz Rock/Fusion KORNI GRUPA / KORNELYANS Jazz Rock/Fusion LAZA I IPE Symphonic Prog LEB I SOL Jazz Rock/Fusion MLINAREC, DRAGO Prog Folk NEPOCIN Art Rock OPUS Symphonic Prog QUATEBRIGA RIO/Avant-Prog RISTOVSKI, LAZA Progressive Electronic S VREMENA NA VREME Prog Folk SEDMINA Prog Folk SEPTEMBER Jazz Rock/Fusion SMAK Jazz Rock/Fusion TAKO Symphonic Prog TESKA INDUSTRIJA* Art Rock TIME Art Rock   26 bands is a good number, still missing some, but it's a good starting point.   Iván

LOADS of bands are missiing, but essential prog is here. The others that should be included here from the golden era are R M Tocak solo, BIJELO DUGME, DUBROVACKI TRUBADURI...

I don't know if the bands like HAD, TABLETE PROTIV STIDA, MLADI LEVI and the other obscure 70's names ever published anything more than a couple of singles...Anyone? Seyo?

There is half a dozen of 70s bands that will fit in prog-related category, like SRDJAN & BUCO and ATOMSKO SKONISTE (ATOMIC SHELTER), Josipa Lisac, GRUPA 220, VRIJEME I ZEMLJA...

To fully understand and appreciate the rock and roll scene in Yugoslavia one must know that ex-Yu experienced revival in early 80s with the punk/new wave scene. It's pointless to talk about Yu-rock (even from the prog point of view) without mention that 80's Yu-phenomenon.
Some bands stood out of the new wave crowd. They were children of punk, but with so high level of experimentation that I won't hesitate for a second calling them prog. I'm a prog fan, not a prog snob.
The 80's bands worth mentioning in PA are SARLO AKROBATA, SEXA, ANTI-MUSIC BAND, VJESTICE, GUSTAPH Y NJEGOVI DOBRI DUHOVI and MIZAR. And Rambo Amadeus, for Gods sake. And perhaps a dozen of other that I don't know.

There are some other good bands from the 80's and I was really tempted should I incude them under the progrock umbrella or not (in my own idealistic PA inside my head). This is the case when we are driven by our hearts more than our thinking, and probably I just to have admit to myself that the bands like HAUSTOR, IDOLI, BOA, OBOJENI PROGRAM, LACNI FRANZ and ZHEL are not "prog", they are just "good". They are playing some combination of pop, world music and art-rock, in the vain of XTC, JAPAN, Peter Gabriel, and POLICE's "Synchronicity".

After the war, in 90's, I wasn't (and I am still not) very familiar with prog bands outside Croatia. Croatian bands worth mentioning are LEGEN, KRIES, Darko Rundek, SMRTZ TEATAR, THE BUGS, ASHES YOU LEAVE (prog-metal), SUMSKI, TENA NOVAK BAND (post-rock) and few others.
From Bosnia, SYNTHESIS. Montenegro, THE BOOKS OF KNJIGE. Serbia: excellent VASIL HADZIMANOV BAND, BALKAN HORSES and perhaps BJESOVI. (I heard that DECA LOSIH MUZICARA, NEOCEKIVANA SILA KOJA SE IZNENADA POJAVLJUJE I RESAVA STVAR (ugh!), DARKWOOD DUB and ORUZJEM PROTIVU OTMICARA are worth giving a try, but I didn't heard them myself).
Macedonia gave us loads of excellent prog in 90s: EZGIJA ORCHESTRA, OCTOECHOS, ANASTASIA and literally every former member of LEB I SOL formed own prog band.

I forgot to include Goran Bregovic, PADOT NA VIZANTJA...and probably many others...