Pekinška patka
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| Pekinška patka | |
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 Pekinška patka single cover with Professor Čonta in the front
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Novi Sad SAP Vojvodina SR Serbia |
| Genre(s) | Punk Post-Punk |
| Years active | 1978–1981 2008 |
| Label(s) | Jugoton |
| Former members | |
| Nebojša Čonkić (vocals) Sreta Kovačević (guitar) Laslo Pihler (drums) |
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Pekinška patka (Serbian Cyrillic: Пекиншка патка; trans. Peking duck) was an eminent punk rock band from Novi Sad, SAP Vojvodina, SR Serbia, during the late 1970s and early 1980s in SFR Yugoslavia.
Pekinška patka is considered a cult band of the Yugoslav Punk scene. Although highly inspired by the British punk rock, their sound was authentic and distinguishable. Being one of the first punk acts in the country, they also played a major role in opening doors for many bands that came afterwards.
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[edit] Biography
The band was assembled in July 1978 as the brainchild of Nebojša Čonkić (often referred to by his nickname Profesor Čonta), at the time a 26-year-old teacher at Mihajlo Pupin High School in Novi Sad. During summer of 1978 he spent some time in London where, among other bands, he saw The Clash perform live and came back full of impressions and ideas about putting together a band with a new sound. Other members of the original lineup included guitarist Sreta Kovačević, drummer Laslo Pihler, bassist Bora Oslovčan, and another guitarist Boško Prosenica.
Their very first gig took place in Novi Sad's Klub 24 venue and immediately got the local public talking for the commotion it raised among the club's staff who were sufficiently shocked by the performance that they stepped in and interrupted it, sending the crowd home. The band based its sound on melodic punk and vivid public image, while their high-energy live show became an exercise in physical endurance with constant jumping and gyrating that had an infectious effect on the young crowds. Being one of the first groups in the country with this kind of sound and performing style, they ruffled plenty of feathers initially, generating media interest before even releasing any material.
Čonta often used those media appearances for unabashed self-promotion, delivering sweeping statements like: "We're a first important thing to happen to Yugoslav rock since the days of Ivo Robić and Marko Novoselić". He also purposely courted controversy with soundbites he knew would create a stir such as referring to his group as the "first Orthodox punk band", which didn't sit well with the officials of the ruling Communist League that very much promoted atheism in Yugoslav society.
The band quickly developed a fierce following among the sections of Novi Sad youth who expressed their devotion by spraying "Čonta je Bog" (Čonta is God) graffiti throughout the city. All of this unconventionality also got the band plenty of attention from local communist powers who saw subversive and incendiary potential in their sound and appearance. As a result, despite generating a lot of interest, not only in the city but also throughout other parts of Vojvodina, the band experienced enormous trouble holding gigs, many of which would get canceled on the day of the show on suggestions from above.
In December 1978, Pekinška patka played the BOOM festival, which was being held in their hometown that year. The following May, band achieved its first tangible success, winning the second audience prize at the 1979 Omladinski festival (Youth festival) in Subotica where their controversial performance caused another stir, thus gaining them further national attention. The very fact a punk band was allowed to appear at such a festival was already a precedent, but the real problem for the organizers occurred when it came time to award the prize based on audience votes since Pekinška patka made such an impression that the gathered crowd overwhelmingly voted for the band. Considering it inappropriate and unacceptable to award top prize to such a band, the organizers decided to hastily transfer enough votes to the second highest vote-getter, who happened to be Vesna Vrandečić, in order to avoid giving the main audience prize to Pekinška patka.
The entire shady episode actually ended up benefiting the band since it raised their profile as far as Yugoslav recording companies were concerned; they started negotiating with PGP RTB label about a debut album, but ultimately couldn't reach a deal. The band continued playing and soon developed a wider following in bigger Yugoslav cities: Belgrade, Sarajevo, Zagreb, and Ljubljana. They eventually signed with Jugoton after its representatives saw them perform at Zagreb's Kulušić club.
The band's first release became a vinyl 7-inch single (2-side) "Bela šljiva" / "Biti ružan, pametan i mlad" produced by Slobodan Konjović. Relatively good reception of that single with 35,000 copies sold, paved the way for them to begin recording a full length debut album. It was also produced by Konjović who mixed the tracks in his own apartment, while the record was cut in Frankfurt.
Album Plitka poezija, a straightforward punk rock material with occasional ska elements and humorous lyrics, was completed by fall 1979, but Yugoslav president Tito's illness postponed the release until summer 1980. It was ushered in by another 7-inch single "Bolje da nosim kratku kosu" / "Ori ori".
Their sound in this phase was somewhat comparable to that of Toy Dolls, although Pekinška patka was formed before them and it also had certain local flavour which distiungished it from the British bands and their foreign clones.
Following the debut album release, the band went through some personnel changes with certain members changing instruments and others leaving altogether. Guitarist Sreta expressed a desire to play saxophone so he moved to that instrument while new member Zoran "Bale" Bulatović took over the vacated guitar spot. Second guitarist Prosenica, and bassist Oslovcan left the band with latter being replaced by Marinko Vukmanović while the former's spot stay vacant as the band continued with only one guitar. However, that lineup didn't last long as Sreta left the group during fall 1980 to form his own band.
On their next album Strah od monotonije (preceded by their third 7-inch single "Bila je tako lijepa" / "Buba-rumba") new lineup Pekinška Patka moved on to post-punk and dark wave, presenting a different sound and image, which mostly failed to connect with the audiences the way their debut did. Soon after the material was released in May 1981, Pekinška patka ceased its activities.
[edit] Post-breakup
In 1997 their complete discography including singles and albums was re-released on CD format by Croatia Records and again on July 5, 2006 by Serbia's Multimedia Records.
On May 28, 2008, it was announced that Pekinška patka will be reuniting for one gig only at the 2008 EXIT festival. Their performance is scheduled to take place on EXIT main stage on Sunday July 13, 2008 - the festival's closing night - together with Sex Pistols, The Hives, and Ministry.
[edit] Members
[edit] 1978-1980
- Nebojša "Čonta" Čonkić (vocalist)
- Sreten "Srele" Kovačević (guitar, backing vocals)
- Laslo "Laci" Pihler (drums, backing vocals)
- Borislav "Bora" Oslovčan (bass guitar, backing vocals)
- Boško Prosenica (guitar)
[edit] 1980-1981
- Nebojša "Čonta" Čonkić (vocals, synthesizer)
- Zoran "Bale" Bulatović (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals)
- Marinko "Mare" Vukmanović (bass, backing vocals)
- Laslo "Laci" Pihler (drums)
[edit] Discography
[edit] Singles
- Biti ružan, pametan i mlad 7"
serial number: SY-23575 (Jugoton 1979)
A side: Bela Šljiva
B side: Biti ružan pametan i mlad
- Bolje da nosim kratku kosu 7"
serial number: SY-23683 (Jugoton 1980)
A side: Bolje da nosim kratku kosu
B side: Ori ori
- Bila je tako lijepa 7"
serial number: SY-23756 (Jugoton 1981)
A side: Bila je tako lijepa
B side: Buba Rumba
[edit] Albums
- Plitka poezija LP
serial number: LSY-61526 (Jugoton 1980)
- Strah od monotonije LP
serial number: LSY-63100 (Jugoton 1981)
[edit] Compilations
- Svi marš na ples! (Jugoton 1981)
serial number: LSY-61588
[edit] Sources
- Dragan Pavlov and Dejan Šunjka: Punk u Jugoslaviji (Punk in Yugoslavia), publisher: IGP Dedalus, Yugoslavia, 1990 (Serbian) (Croatian) (Slovene)
- Janjatović, Petar. Ilustrovana Enciklopedija Yu Rocka 1960-1997, publisher: Geopoetika, 1997 (also available as e-book) (Serbian)
- Janjatović, Petar. EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006. ISBN 978-86-905317-1-4 (Serbian)
- Janjatović, Petar. Drugom stranom - Almanah novog talasa u SFRJ. (Serbian)
- Pekinška Patka info at Multimedia Records (Serbian)
- Pekinška Patka Complete Discography CD by Multimedia Records (Serbian)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Pekinška Patka Homepage
- MySpace Tribute Page
- Čonta interview, XZabava, October 20, 1998
- Čonta interview, Danas, August 19, 2006
- Čonta interview, Dnevnik, August 20, 2006
- Čonta interview, B92, September 5, 2006
- Čonta interview, Liber, Jan/Feb, 2008
- Pekinška patka na EXIT festivalu, MTS Mondo, May 28, 2008
- Bolje da na Exitu nosim kratku kosu, Popboks, May 28, 2008
| Pop and rock music of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia |
| Music of Yugoslavia - SFR Yugoslav pop and rock scene - Yugoslav Band Aid (YU Rock Misija) - Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest |
| Record labels |
| Jugoton - PGP RTB - Suzy Records - Diskoton - ZKP RTLJ - Jugodisk |
