Yugoslavian/East European progressive

Well, recently I attended a concert of the Croatian guitarist Damir Halilic (HAL)... Absolutely great! Perhaps not completely "prog", but if you love the music of artists like Tommy Emmanuel or Al Di Meola you won't be disappointed! I found his albums Infinity and Trilogy amazing too... Great musicianship, a wide variety of influences and styles mixed together... Definitely an artist that deserves attention...

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: clarke2001 wrote: 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[IMG]alt=Embarrassed src="smileys/smiley9.gif" align=absMiddle>). 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...   Clarke, we will thank you for any info about Symphonic bands from former Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia, etc, you can PM me, ClemofNazareth, bhikkhu or Geck0 whenever you have data, photo and a short bio with links to samples (Better of course).   Remember some of this bands are from the USSR era and most of us didn't had access to them but lately I'm very inetersted in Symphonic bands from Eastern Europe being that most of them are very rich in orchestral arrangements and have a clear ethnic unique sound.   Now that new Symphonic bands are not very common (Most new bands are oriented towards Prog Metal, Post Rock or Indie/Alternative), we find there's a whole new universe of bands from Eastern Europe that were not easy to get for people on this side of the Berlin Wall during the 70's and early 80's.   Iván

Wow, thanks Clarke2001 for valuable input. Indeed there are many more exYU bands worth investigating, but info from the 1970s is extremely hard to get. And many of the bands you mentioned never released any LP record. For instance, HAD issued only few singles, while MLADI LEVI allegedly had only one LP in cassette format issued around 1971, which I could not find so far!

I mostly agree with your post, it is almost a mini-essay       , and you got it right that the "real" rock scene in exYU started with punk/new wave boom. I agree that many artists from the 1980s are in a way "related to progressive rock" one way or another, but of course it cannot be said for all of these.

For example, you did not mention EKATARINA VELIKA, a wonderful band that grew out of Belgrade new wave scene but developed into a sort of neo-psychedelic/alternative/art/rock band. It is hard to tell where would they fit here in the PA. The same goes for highly experimental Sarajevo band SCH, just that they developed further into avant-garde, almost abandoning all "rock" basics, in some aspects they could fit into "post-rock" category...

I must admit I don't much follow the recent "post-Yugoslav" developments in these countries, but what I hear is far, faraway from any classic or even "modern" prog. That does not mean there are not any good, even excellent music around here. It is just that I am not sure how or where they could fit into these prog categories on this site.

Belgrade's NEOCEKIVANA SILA or DARKWOOD DUB are excellent, but frankly I don't have a clue how to catagorize their music (and I don't really care). It is a crossover between trip-hop, acid-jazz, rock, reggae, psychedelic, electronica, alternative rock... and whatever. The same goes for Sarajevo's SIKTER or BASHESKIA.

And this one goes to Ivan's remark regarding symphonic prog - it is hard to talk about pure symphonic prog in exYU because most of the band never really had a firmly developed style and they changed music genre frequently (I mean the old bands from the 1970s). I can only think of just two "real" symphonic prog rock (in the vein of GENESIS or YES) albums from exYU: KORNI GRUPA/KORNELYANS' "Not an Ordinary Life" (1974) and INDEXI's "Modra rijeka" (1978)!

Again, clarke2001 if you have enough info on any bands you mentioned, contact me (pm or email) so we can work out their additions.

Seyo wrote: Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: clarke2001 wrote: 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[IMG]alt=Embarrassed src="smileys/smiley9.gif" align=absMiddle>). 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...   Clarke, we will thank you for any info about Symphonic bands from former Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia, etc, you can PM me, ClemofNazareth, bhikkhu or Geck0 whenever you have data, photo and a short bio with links to samples (Better of course).   Remember some of this bands are from the USSR era and most of us didn't had access to them but lately I'm very inetersted in Symphonic bands from Eastern Europe being that most of them are very rich in orchestral arrangements and have a clear ethnic unique sound.   Now that new Symphonic bands are not very common (Most new bands are oriented towards Prog Metal, Post Rock or Indie/Alternative), we find there's a whole new universe of bands from Eastern Europe that were not easy to get for people on this side of the Berlin Wall during the 70's and early 80's.   Iván Wow, thanks Clarke2001 for valuable input. Indeed there are many more exYU bands worth investigating, but info from the 1970s is extremely hard to get. And many of the bands you mentioned never released any LP record. For instance, HAD issued only few singles, while MLADI LEVI allegedly had only one LP in cassette format issued around 1971, which I could not find so far! I mostly agree with your post, it is almost a mini-essay       , and you got it right that the "real" rock scene in exYU started with punk/new wave boom. I agree that many artists from the 1980s are in a way "related to progressive rock" one way or another, but of course it cannot be said for all of these. For example, you did not mention EKATARINA VELIKA, a wonderful band that grew out of Belgrade new wave scene but developed into a sort of neo-psychedelic/alternative/art/rock band. It is hard to tell where would they fit here in the PA. The same goes for highly experimental Sarajevo band SCH, just that they developed further into avant-garde, almost abandoning all "rock" basics, in some aspects they could fit into "post-rock" category... I must admit I don't much follow the recent "post-Yugoslav" developments in these countries, but what I hear is far, faraway from any classic or even "modern" prog. That does not mean there are not any good, even excellent music around here. It is just that I am not sure how or where they could fit into these prog categories on this site. Belgrade's NEOCEKIVANA SILA or DARKWOOD DUB are excellent, but frankly I don't have a clue how to catagorize their music (and I don't really care). It is a crossover between trip-hop, acid-jazz, rock, reggae, psychedelic, electronica, alternative rock... and whatever. The same goes for Sarajevo's SIKTER or BASHESKIA. And this one goes to Ivan's remark regarding symphonic prog - it is hard to talk about pure symphonic prog in exYU because most of the band never really had a firmly developed style and they changed music genre frequently (I mean the old bands from the 1970s). I can only think of just two "real" symphonic prog rock (in the vein of GENESIS or YES) albums from exYU: KORNI GRUPA/KORNELYANS' "Not an Ordinary Life" (1974) and INDEXI's "Modra rijeka" (1978)! Again, clarke2001 if you have enough info on any bands you mentioned, contact me (pm or email) so we can work out their additions.

Thanks for support, Ivan_M. and Seyo! I'll do my best to gather as much as possible infos about these bands.
The problem is, Internet is insufficient source for some forgotten obscure bands from Yugoslavia, and the other sources are not available to me at the moment, because I live currently in Dublin, and I don't have access to the informations (Yugoslavian rock encyclopedias, my rockologist friends etc).

However, at least 20% of the mentioned bands' infos could be sorted out only using the web.
When there's a will...

clarke2001 wrote: andrea wrote: Well, recently I attended a concert of the Croatian guitarist Damir Halilic (HAL)... Absolutely great! Perhaps not completely "prog", but if you love the music of artists like Tommy Emmanuel or Al Di Meola you won't be disappointed! I found his albums Infinity and Trilogy amazing too... Great musicianship, a wide variety of influences and styles mixed together... Definitely an artist that deserves attention... Hal prog? I think he could be described as a country'n'western guitarist. Outstanding technician, though. But miles from Tony Emmanuel. And I didn't heard Hal's latest works, maybe he showed wider diversity of stiles... Meri Troselj (jazz/fusion singeress) to whom Hal is often collaborating with could be considered proggy. Lovely, but if you are a purist, don't bother.

I was referring to Meri Troselj's work, not Hal's. And I am appreciating artist's work whether they are progressive or not. I like most of the artist that you mentioned, and your attendance of John Renbourn's concert is making me very, very jealous.


Edited by andrea - November 20 2006 at 09:30

Moris (clarke2001),

Let me commend your valuable reviews especially on exYUGO albums on PA. Please, keep up doing it, we still miss many detailed and well-founded reviews on exYU artists...     

Cheers!

Seyo

EX-YUGOSLAVIAN ARTISTS/BANDS TO BE ADDED TO PROGARCHIVES:

Hello,

This is an extensive list of exYUGO artists candidates for possible addition into PA. These were active from late 1960s till late 1980s.

The problem is because many artists produced only one or two prog albums (in any broad meaning) but usually turned to more accessible pop music. Also many used to change style between albums. Therefore I would like to hear opinions of you guys, who are familiar with this music scene.

After the band/artists name in CAPITALS, there follows brief description (if any) and finally my suggestion for a PA sub-genre addition (in brackets).

If anyone feels competent to write some bio please let me know so we can work out additions. Also, please do comment on proper sub-genres because I am far from certainty on this.

I will not add any band without getting several affirmative signs from you. Thanks!

1. AERODROM, first album done in symphonic prog style of Yes, later works pop/rock mainstream (prog-related or symphonic prog?)
2. ANASTASIA, dark wave, ethno/fusion, ambient, Macedonian traditional, psyche, deep baritone vocals, eastern orthodox spiritual influence, electronic (prog folk)
3. ANGEL’S BREATH, world fusion, art rock, very rythmic, Latino fusion, David Byrne influence, guitar and electronics, (art rock)
4. ARANDJELOVIC BORIS, ex Smak vocalist (prog related)
5. ARSOVSKI BODAN, ex Leb I Sol bassist, Macedonian ethno-jazz, (prog folk)
6. ATOMSKO SKLONISTE, heavy metal, hard rock, blues rock, first two albums lots of Hammond a la Deep Purple, socially engaged/protest lyrics, post-apocalipitic visual design, (prog related)
7. BEBEK ZELJKO, ex Bijelo Dugme vocalist, first solo album done in symphonic prog style, later works pop/rock mainstream and horrible Balkan neo-folk (prog related or symphonic?)
8. BEOGRAD, electro/synth pop influenced by British synth pop scene (Human League, OMD etc.), interesting experiment, (electronic prog)
9. BIRDLAND, Yugoslavian-Swiss band from late 1970s, (jazz rock/fusion)
10. BIJELO DUGME, first 3-4 albums are heavy rock with folk and Uriah Heep/Deep Purple influences (heavy Hammond sound and extended solos), strong vocal, good solo guitar, the first huge popular rock band in exYU (“dugmemania”), later into 1980s mainstream Balkan pop/rock/folk not interesting, (prog related)
11. BOA, influence from funk and new romantics scene, very elaborated and slick production, (art rock or prog related)
12. BONCINA JANEZ, ex September vocalist, (prog related or jazz rock)
13. BOOMERANG, jam band that mixed heavy rock, boogie, psych and funk (art rock)
14. BORGHESIA, electronica, post punk/noise influences, multimedia art, (electronic prog or prog related)
15. BRECELJ MARKO, ex Buldozer vocalist, singer/songwriter, avant blues-rock, satire, extremely crazy humour with excellent music, avantgarde but very listenable (RIO/avant prog)
16. BREGOVIC GORAN, ex Bijelo Dugme guitarist and leader, Balkan ethnic/fusion, world music/Gypsy, ambient/film music, very popular composer of soundtracks, (prog folk or prog related)
17. BUCO I SRDJAN, acoustic singer/songwriter duo, much in the vein of Simon/Garfunkel, (prog related)
18. CVECE, offshot of Smak (prog related)
19. DAH, heavy rock with folk influences (“Sosana” was a major European hit), slightly psych and proggy, (art rock)
20. DE RADO MAJA I PORODICNA MANUFAKTURA CRNOG HLEBA, acoustic folksy with psyche spices (prog folk)
21. DIMUSEVSKI NIKOLA, ex Leb I sol keyboardist, (jazz rock/fusion)
22. DORIAN GRAY, influenced by new wave and Roxy Music, Japan etc. (art rock)
23. DUBROVACKI TRUBADURI, rennaissance/baroque style Adriatic folk, pop/rock/beat, odd acoustic instruments and harmony vocals, (prog folk)
24. DUMA, Balkan/Levantine ethnic/fusion, epic folk, Byzantine spiritual, offshot of Sedmina, (prog folk)
25. EKATARINA VELIKA, post punk, darkwave, neo psych, new wave, (prog related)
26. GORDI, offshot of Dah, heavy metal trio, first album prog (prog related)
27. GRUPA 220, psych beat, heavy rock, first rock album in exYU 1968, (proto-prog)
28. HAUSTOR, new wave, reggae, folk, multimedia art, brass sound (prog related or art rock)
29. IZAZOV, members of Hobo and Drago Mlinarec band (prog related)
30. JUTRO, (symphonic prog or jazz rock/fusion)
31. KAMELEONI, psyche beat (proto-prog)
32. KERBER, arena rock, heavy metal, hair metal, influenced by American AOR like Styx, Boston, Foreigner… (prog related in the best case)
33. KOVAC KORNELIJE, ex leader and keyboardist of Korni grupa/Kornelyans, (symphonic prog or art rock)
34. KOZMETIKA, influenced by Eno, Krautrock and new wave avant rock, (electronic prog)
35. LA STRADA/LUNA, post punk, art rock, (prog related)
36. LAIBACH, noise, industrial, Gothic, multimedia art, strong visual design reminiscent of totalitarian politics (prog-related)
37. LISAC, JOSIPA, excellent female vocalist, jazz/blues/soul/fusion, (prog related)
38. LOLA V STAIN, ethnic fusion, acoustic trad instruments (prog folk)
39. LUTAJUCA SRCA, (prog folk)
40. NA LEPEM PRIJAZNI, (jazz rock/fusion)
41. MANOJLOVIC ZLATKO, heavy rock (prog related)
42. MIZAR, Macedonian folk, darkwave, post punk Joy Division, “Gothic”, Byzantine spirituals influence, lots of odd time signatures, similar to Anastasia but more rock-oriented (prog related)
43. MLADI LEVI, soul, blues rock, jam band (prog related)
44. MORE, soft prog with hints of jazz ballads (art rock)
45. OKO, heavy rock with Hendrix and jazz influences, (art rock)
46. PENGOV TOMAZ, , singer/songwriter, acoustic (prog folk)
47. PETKOVSKI MIKI, (jazz rock/fusion)
48. POP MASINA/ROK MASINA, heavy metal, hard rock, psych/acid rock, Black Sabbath influence (prog related)
49. POPOVIC DAVORIN, ex Indexi vocalist, first solo album art rock in the vein of Indexi, later mainstream pop (prog related)
50. PRO ARTE, , psych beat, mainstream pop (prog related)
51. RAMBO AMADEUS, fusion of styles, rock, pop, “turbo folk”, ethnic fusion, jazz rock, funk… with hilarious humour/satire in the vein of Buldozer or Zappa (prog related or RIO/avant prog)
52. REX ILUSIVII, (electronic prog)
53. REZONANSA, folk influenced pop/rock, interesting violins sound, male and female vocals, (prog related)
54. RUNDEK, DARKO, ex Haustor vocalist (prog folk)
55. SCH, noise, post punk, Krautrock and techno influenced (post rock/experimental)
56. SONCNA POT, (jazz rock/fusion)
57. STIJENE, arena rock, symphonic influence, AOR (prog related)
58. SUNCOKRET, folk and rock mix (prog folk)
59. TAVITJAN GARABET, ex Leb I sol drummer (one of the finest drummers in exYU ever!) (jazz rock)
60. TRIO DAG, (prog folk)
61. TOCAK, R.M., heavy guitar rock, blues (art rock or jazz rock)
62. TOPIC, DADO, ex Time vocalist and leader, soft prog, ballads, hints of jazz and funk, later pop/rock (art rock)
63. TRIVALIA, dark wave, gothic, industrial (prog related)
64. VRIJEME I ZEMLJA, new wave, melodic soft rock (prog related)
65. YU GRUPA, heavy rock, boogie, folk influences, classic rock (prog related)

Any feedback on the above list? Anyone?

DAH has been added too.

Updated list of exYugo names to be added:

- AERODROM, first album "Kad misli mi vrludaju" YES-style symphonic prog > symphonic prog 
- BEBEK ZELJKO, first album "Kao da smo isti" symphonic > symphonic prog 
- BRECELJ MARKO, first album "Cocktail" is Tom Waits (1970s) meets Zappa > RIO/Avant prog 
- BREGOVIC GORAN, various influences including prog and Balkan ethno/World music > prog related 
- DE RADO, MAJA I PORODICNA MANUFAKTURA... album "Stvaranje" acoustic prog folk > prog folk 
- JUTRO, album "Dobro jutro" between symphonic and fusion style but jazz elements prevail > jazz rock/fusion 
- KOVAC KORNELIJE, first solo album "Izmedju svetlosti i tame" also contains elements of symphonic, space and fusion, but fusion prevails > jazz rock/fusion 
- LISAC JOSIPA, excellent female vocal, album "Dnevnik jedne ljubavi" essential concept prog album done with TIME musicians > art rock 
- PENGOV TOMAZ, first album "Odpotovanja" essential acoustic psyche folk > prog folk 
- POP MASINA, albums "Kiselina" and "Na izvoru svetlosti" powerful heavy rock trio with lots of acid/psychedelic elements > art rock 
- POPOVIC DAVORIN, ex INDEXI, solo album "Svaka je ljubav ista..." sounds like good Indexi album, they were backing band > art rock 
-  SCH, a unique hard to classify experimental band > post rock/experimental 
-  SONCNA POT, one album only but very good jazz rock > jazz rock/fusion 
-  SUNCOKRET, "Moje bube" album > prog folk 
- TOPIC DADO, ex TIME singer, first solo album "Neosedlani" jazz rock > jazz rock/fusion