Bosnian pop rock band
"Longplay (album)" redirects here. Not to be confused with
LP record
.
Plavi orkestar
(
lit.
'
Blue Orchestra
'
) is a
Bosnian
and former Yugoslavian
pop rock
band from
Sarajevo
. The band was formed in 1983 by
Sa?a Lo?i?
, who is the lead singer and songwriter of the group. The band has remained popular with seven albums and more than 1500 concerts worldwide.
History
[
edit
]
In 1981, sixteen-year-old
Sa?a Lo?i?
, a
gymnasium
student from
Sarajevo
, started a band called
?evin Orkestar
with Srđan Kro?njar on guitar, Gordan D?amonja on bass, and Admir "?era II" ?eramida on drums. The following year, the four teenagers changed their name to Plavi Orkestar due to another group called ?eve being active in the city at the time.
Soon after, Lo?i? switched high schools; transferring from the Third Sarajevo Gymnasium to First Sarajevo Gymnasium where he met guitarist Mladen "Pava" Pavi?i? who had already experienced a certain measure of musical prominence having played in a band called
Rock Apoteka
. Furthermore, Pavi?i? had appeared at the 1981
Omladinski festival
in
Subotica
with Rock Apoteka's next incarnation
Super 98
, before switching to pop band
Mali Princ
, and finally, during early 1982, ending up with the 1980
Zaje?ar
Gitarijada
winners
Pauk
whom he joined as replacement for their outgoing guitarist Branko "Daba" Dabi? and soon recorded an album with,
Mumije la?u
, that was released in 1983.
[1]
Since Pauk was based out of
Zavidovi?i
, for teenage Pavi?i?, that meant traveling 130 km from Sarajevo every weekend for band rehearsals, which his parents weren't too keen on and soon persuaded him to quit the group. He then flirted with and filled in with a variety of bands.
Though Pava and Lo?a hit it off as soon as they had met in high school, it wasn't until 1983 that Pava joined Lo?a's band. The two agreed to do so at a
Siluete
gig in Sarajevo. As soon as he became a part of Plavi Orkestar, much more musically experienced Pava arranged for guitarist Kro?njar and bassist D?amonja to be kicked out of the group, seeing them as not committed and dedicated enough. Shortly prior to the summer of 1983,
Samir "?era I" ?eramida
joined on bass as a replacement for D?amonja.
Beginning
[
edit
]
This is when the group's activity became decidedly more serious and it's generally considered as the band's real beginning. They started opening for big Yugoslav touring acts like
Riblja ?orba
and
Leb i Sol
, which got the young band their first exposure in the country's press. However, the reviews and notices were atrocious, which Lo?a took quite hard and for a time even decided to quit music. Still, the enthusiasm from the rest of the band brought him back into the fold and he began focusing on writing pop ballads, most of which were inspired by unrequited love for a girl he was after at the time. During summer 1983, they held a gig at a Sarajevo club called Trasa where they were spotted by
Laboratorija Zvuka
's
Bata Vrane?evi?
[
sr
]
who, noticing their potential, invited them to Belgrade to record material for a studio album. In September 1983, as a send-off of sorts before going away to serve their respective mandatory
Yugoslav People's Army
(JNA) stints, Plavi Orkestar played another show at Trasa. The next day they boarded a train to Belgrade where, in
Enco Lesi?
[
hr
]
's studio, Druga maca, they recorded three tracks?"Soldatski bal", "Goodbye Teens", and "Suada"?all of which would become future hits.
Over the following weeks, the four band members left for their respective army stints and band activity was put on hiatus.
A year later, in September 1984, they returned to Sarajevo only to see that their mates from the city's club scene,
Zabranjeno Pu?enje
, had been enjoying Yugoslavia-wide breakout success with their debut album. Lo?a and Pava returned home first, continuing where they had left off one year earlier while waiting for their rhythm section to come back home as well. However, due to poor gig quality and general malaise, the two got into a row that ended up with Pava quitting the band. Lo?a then got in touch with music manager
Malkolm Muharem
[
sr
]
, who had previously worked with
Elvis J. Kurtovi? & His Meteors
; the two arranged for the band (though the group strictly speaking didn't even exist at the moment) to record a few more demos in Zagreb with the help of Parni Valjak's Husein Hasanefendi? and Rastko Milo?ev. While in Zagreb, Lo?a managed to get the country's best known record label interested in the group, signing a pre-contract with
Jugoton
. The event was the catalyst for Pava to return to the band.
Debut album
[
edit
]
Plavi orkestar performing at
Arsenal Fest
in
Kragujevac
in June 2018.
In early 1985, the band's first album
Soldatski bal
(
Soldier's Ball
) was recorded in
SIM studio
, Zagreb. From this album the band had many hit singles such as "Suada", "Daj mi vru?e rakije" (
Give me hot rakija
), "Odlazi nam raja" (
Our Friends are Leaving
), "Bolje biti pijan nego star" (
Better to be drunk than old
), "Goodbye Teens", and the title track, "Soldatski bal". The album's lyrics were based on Lo?a's experiences whilst serving in the army.
Their second album "Smrt Fa?izmu" ("Death to Fascism") was another outstanding success for the band, selling over 300,000 copies in Yugoslavia and being certified diamond. This album spawned several hits: "Fa, Fa, Fa?ista", "Puteru Puteru", "Sava Tiho Te?e", "Zelene su bile o?i te" and "Kad si sam dru?e moj".
In 1989, they returned with the album "Sunce na prozoru" which was another big hit for the band. It included such hits as "Kaja", "Lovac i ko?uta" and "Prolje?e". Their 1991 release,
Simpatija
, would be their last album issued in Yugoslavia prior to its breakup. It included their version of
Mamas and Papas
hit single "
California Dreaming
" (titled "Ljubi se Istok i Zapad) which is still a big hit to this day in the post-Yugoslav republics. They were on hiatus until 1998 when they released "LongPlay" which included the hits "Ako su to bile samo la?i" and "Od rođendana do rođendana". After that came the album "Infinity" released in 1999, which included numerous hit singles like "Odlazim", "Djevojka iz snova" and "Pijem da je zaboravim". "Infinity" was followed by "Sedam" in 2012.
Members
[
edit
]
- Sa?a Lo?i?
- Lo?a: vocals, songwriting, composing
- Mladen Pavi?i?: Lead/Electric Guitar (occasional keyboards)
- Sa?a Zalepugin: Lead/Electric Guitar
- Samir ?eremida
, ?era I: Bass Guitar
- Admir ?eremida, ?era II: Drums
Discography
[
edit
]
Studio albums
[
edit
]
- Soldatski bal
(1985)
- Smrt fa?izmu
(1986)
- Sunce na prozoru
(1989)
- Simpatija
(1991)
- Everblue 1 and 2 Greatest Hits
* (1996)
- Longplay
(1998)
- Infinity
(1999)
- Sedam
(2012)
Compilation albums
[
edit
]
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]