Laki Pingvini

Laki Pingvini

The reunited Laki Pingvini in 2006
Background information
Origin Belgrade, Serbia
Genres New wave, synthpop, pop rock
Years active 1979–1986
1988–1989
1994
1995
2006
Labels PGP-RTB, PGP-RTS, Jugoton, Taped Pictures
Associated acts Beograd, Galija, Piloti, Jakarta
Past members Aleksandar Rodić
Časlav Stanković
Dragutin Jakovljević
Đorđe Dragojlović
Goran Grbić
Ivan Aleksijević
Milan Bubalo
Rade Bulatović
Srđan Đurić
Zoran Obradović
Zoran Radetić

Laki Pingvini (Serbian Cyrillic: Лаки Пингвини; trans. The Easy Penguins) were a Serbian rock band from Belgrade. While initially being a new wave act, throughout their later career, the band turned towards synthpop and pop rock.

History

Formation, prominence, breakup (1979-1989)

The band was formed in 1979 and had their first public appearance on November 29, at a punk costume party held at the Pinki club in Zemun. At the time, the band had four vocalists and no regular lineup, but as time passed, the lineup featuring Đorđe Dragojlović (vocals), Časlav Stanković (guitar), Srđan Đurić (bass guitar), Aleksandar Rodić (keyboards) and Milan Bubalo (drums) became the default.

The band started working more accurately on September 1982, and in the following summer released their debut EP Šizika (Crazyca). The EP, beside the title track, featured two more tracks, "Devojka iz svemira" ("A Girl from Outer Space") and "Možda, možda" ("Maybe, Maybe"), and was produced by Saša Habić.[1] A demo version of the song "Možda, možda" also appeared on the Ventilator 202 Demo Top 10 compilation.[2]

In the following year, the band released their debut album, Muzika za mlade (Music for the Young Ones), produced by Slobodan Marković, featuring a cover version of the Bay City Rollers' "Yesterday's Hero", with lyrics in Serbian entitled "Ne, nisam tvoj heroj" ("No, I'm Not Your Hero"), and a nationwide hit "Moja devojka" ("My Girlfirend"). The track "Baby" featured sampled accordion and car engine sounds, and the whole album featured an analog drum machine.[3] Having released the album, the band performed at the Split music festival with the song "Ja sam mornar" ("I'm a Sailor") and a cover version of Paul Anka's "Love Me Warm and Tender", with lyrics in Serbian entitled "Voli me" ("Love Me"), which appeared on the various artists compilation Split '84.

The following album Striptiz (Striptease), released in 1985, featured the hit "Blago morskih dubina" ("Sea-Depths Treasure"), but the public did not show much interest for the rest of the album. The song also appeared as a B-side of the "Cry, Baby, Cry" single, released during the same year.[4] After the album release, vocalist Đorđe Dragojlović left the band and started working under the alias Super Đoka, under which he appeared at the MESAM festival in 1986 with the song "Pokreni me" ("Turn Me Around"). The song later appeared on the festival album MESAM 1986. Two years later, in 1988, the band members went to Italy and performed at night clubs and cabarets, and having returned to Yugoslavia, in 1989, the band ceased to exist.

Reformation and reunions (1994, 1995, 2006)

On January 1994, the band reunited to perform at the unplugged festival at Sava Centar in Belgrade, and the acoustic version of "Šizika" ("Crazyca"), recorded at the festival was released on the various artists compilation Bez struje (Without Electricity).[5]

The following year, Dragojlović reformed the band in a new lineup, featuring former Galija guitarist Dragutin Jakovljević, Piloti drummer Zoran Obradović "Ćera", keyboardist Ivan Aleksijević and bassist Rade Bulatović. Together they released the comeback album Stereo. The album featured newly recorded versions of "Blago morskih dubina", "Kraj" ("The End") and "Pokreni me" and a cover versions of Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island", entitled "Šta bi dao bre" ("What Would I Give"), Brian Eno and John Cale's "Empty Frame", entitled "Dragan, Marko i Violeta" ("Dragan, Marko and Violeta") and Pro Arte song "Lola". The album was recorded during January at Mačak Studio and produced by the band themselves.[6] After the album release, the band split up. Dragojlović appeared as guest on the cover version of "Šizika" recorded by the band Ruž on their album Kao nekad in 1995.

In March 2006, the original lineup reunited to perform as guests at the Delča i Sklekovi concert held in the Belgrade Dom Omladine. In October of the same year, the band performed as an opening act for Duran Duran.[7]

Legacy

In 1995, Serbian pop rock band Ruž covered the song "Šizika" on their album Kao nekada... (Like It Used to Be...), with Dragojlović making a guest appearance on the song.[8] In 2011, at the Belgrade Mixer festival, the Serbian post-rock band Petrol performed the album Muzika za mlade in its entirety.[9] In 2014, Serbian jazz band Bata Božanić Kvintet covered the song "Možda, možda" on their album Uspomene 2 (Memories 2), with Dragojlović making a guest appearance on the song.[10]

In 1998, the various artists compilation Ventilator 202 vol. 1, featuring the band's song "Možda, možda", appeared on the 100th place on the 100 greatest Yugoslav popular music albums list, released in the book YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike (YU 100: The Best albums of Yugoslav pop and rock music).[11]

In 2011, for the song "Šizika" was polled by the listeners of Radio 202 as one of 60 greatest songs released by PGP-RTB/PGP-RTS during the sixty years of the label's existence.[12]

Discography

Studio albums

Title Released
Muzika za mlade
1984
Striptiz
1985
Stereo
1995

EPs

Title Released
Šizika
1983

Singles

Title Released
"Cry, baby, cry"
1985

Other appearances

Title Album Released
"Možda, možda" (demo)
Ventilator 202 Demo Top 10
1983
"Ja sam mornar" / "Voli me"
Split '84
1984
"Šizika"
Bez struje
1994
"Možda, možda"[13]
Hiti 80-90
1996
"Moja devojka"[14]
Pop non stop
1996
"Šizika"[15]
Automania 2 - Pop Hidraulic
2000
"Možda, možda"[16]
Novogodišnji specijal
2004
"Šizika"[17]
Pop vol. 2
2005
"Baby"[18]
Pop rock express vol. 1
2008

References

External links

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