Yugo-Rock 102: New Primitivism

During the 1980s, in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina (then Socialist Republic of Bosnia & Herzegovina), a new cultural movement srpung up known as New Primitivsm. Centered mostly on music, the followers of the movement were known as New Primitives. In this posting, we briefly touch on some of the acts that emerged at the time.

The movement involves both music and TV shows and originated in March of 1983. Even though the New Primitivism movement ceased around 1987, the bands formed in that time frame continued to write and record together until the breakup of Yugoslavia (for the next five years from then).

Now let's take a look at some of these musical acts:

Elvis J Kurtovich and His Meteors: The first most prominent act of the movement, Elvis J. Kurtovich & His Meteors set the stage for later years. Though the band played in Sarajevo area clubs, they expanded nationwide in 1983. Their music mostly comprised covers of The Rolling Stones such as Dabogdo Crko Rok'n'Roll (I Hope Rock'n'Roll Dies) (It's Only Rock'n'Roll), Bashcharshy Hanumen (Honky Tonk Woman in Serbo-Croatian), and Chiza Wizard (Pinball Wizard) from the rock opera Kemi (Tommy). In 1983 the national youth magazine Start proclaimed EJK&M as the "Next important thing in the Yugoslav rock scene).

Zabranjeno Pushenje (No Smoking): In late 1983, a group of youngsters in the Kosevo area of Sarajevo formed Zabranjno Pushenje. The core of the band featured dr. Nele Karajlich (vocals) and Mr. Sejo Sexon (guitars). Their debut album, Dast ist Walter (This is Walter in German) was released in the spring of 1984 on the Jugoton label initially in limited pressings of 3,000 copeis, but by the fall of 1984, sales skyrocketed to over 100,000 copies. Two of the most popular tracks of the album were Anarhija All Over Bascarsija (Anarchy All Over Bascarsija) Bascarsija being a neighborhood in the old town of Sarajevo, and Zenica Blues (about a prisoner in the infamous cell in Zenica).  To promote the album, the band played in various clubs including two back-to-back nights in the SKC Club of the nation's capital, Belgrade. They were soon recognized by all the kids in the nation.

However, the GREATEST amount of criticism the band received was at a concert at the Youth Club in the Croatian town of Rijeka. They experienced a problem with their Marshall amplifier to which Karajlic said "Crk'o je Marshal, mislim na pojacalo." ("The Marshall has groand. I mean the amplifier). (Marshall, the amp brand, being a mocking reference to Tito who had died only four years earlier). The band was banned from playing for some time as a result. Also in early 1985, journalists in the Sarajevo areas viewed Karajlic's quote as a piece of sarcasm that insults in the heart. Radio stations avoided playing their music and the band was not allowed on TV.

Despite all efforts, the band's prominence began to spiral downward quickly.

Plavi Orkestar (The Blue Orchestra): LIke Zabranjeno Pushenje, Plavir Orkestar began their careers gigging at local clubs and student gatherings. In the late fall of 1984 the band entered SIM Studio in Zagreb to record their debut. Soldatski Bal (The Soldier's Ball) (1985) and its followed up Smrt Fasizmu (Death of Facism, 1986) were a big success. In fact folks, take a look at the image of Soldatski Bal below. Notice how it is a replica of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

These two records represent the height of the New Primitivism. Other popular bands from this era included Bombaj Shtampa (Newspaper Bombay) and Crvena Jabuka (The Red Apple), the latter of which I touched on in an earlier posting.

Folks, I would ENCOURAGE you to please consider listening to these songs. You may not understand the language and that's fine, but they were popular back then and to day still get rotation on Ex-YU radio waves.