Šarlo akrobata

Infobox musical artist
Name = Šarlo Akrobata

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Origin = Belgrade, Serbia
Yugoslavia
Genre = New Wave
Post-punk
Experimental
Art rock
Years_active = 1980–1981
Label = Jugoton
Croatia Records

Associated_acts = Annoda Rouge
Disciplina Kičme / Disciplin A Kitschme
DDT
Katarina II / Ekatarina Velika
Limunovo Drvo
Rimtutituki
Suncokret
Kod Tri Balona

URL = [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=87058174 Unofficial myspace]
Current_members = Milan Mladenović
Dušan Kojić Koja
Ivica Vdović Vd

Past_members =
Notable_instruments =

Šarlo Akrobata (Serbian version of Charlie Chaplin's name) were a seminal Yugoslav rock band often categorized as late punk or new wave, with a particularly arty attitude. Short-lived but extremely influential, in addition to being one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav New Wave, the three piece left an indelible mark on the entire music scene of former Yugoslavia.

History

Šarlo Akrobata's roots are found in a band named Limunovo Drvo, formed in the late 1970s by Milan Mladenović and Dragomir Mihajlović Gagi (other members that came and went through the group included guitarist Mikica Stefanović, bassist Maksa and drummer Dušan Dejanović). The band labored for two years in the melodic hard rock waters before realizing they were headed nowhere.

At the end of their creative wits, the band's backbone of Milan and Gagi were joined by Dušan "Koja" Kojić and Ivica "Vd" Vdović, which is when things began to change for the better as they adopted a fresh sound inspired by punk & new wave. Koja also brought along his and Milan's friend Nenad "Kele" Krasavac who became the band's unofficial manager.

In April 1980, Limunovo Drvo opened for Pankrti at SKC. That night, they played a fresh set consisting of new songs as well as some older ones in modified form. Shortly afterwards, Gagi left the band and remaining three guys decided to change their name to Šarlo Akrobata. This left the trio that everyone today associates with Šarlo: Milan Mladenović (guitar, vocals), Ivica Vdović Vd (drums, backing vocals) and Dušan Kojić Koja (bass, vocals).

Their first recordings were done in the "Druga Maca" studio owned by Enco Lesić: "Ona se budi", "Oko moje glave", "Niko kao ja" and "Mali čovek". All four tracks later appeared on "Paket aranžman" showcase album together with material of Idoli and Električni orgazam released in 1980 by Jugoton. Each one of the 4 songs made a measurable commercial and critical impact, with "Ona se budi" and "Niko kao ja" connecting quite well with radio listeners and live crowds. With the performance of "Ona se budi" the band competed at Subotica Youth festival, held at the end of 1980, claiming second jury prize.

They created the soundtrack for "Dečko koji obećava" directed by Miša Radivojević, with Goran Vejvoda as a guitarist. Koja did the music, while lyrics were written by Nebojša Pajkić who also penned the movie's screenplay. Koja and Vd have roles in the film as the rhythm section of the fictional band VIS Dobri Dečaci. For the movie, they recorded three never-released tracks: "Slobodan", "Balada o tvrdim grudima" and "Depresija". On an off note, in a truly peculiar coincidence, movie's main character, the rebellious youth, is named Slobodan Milošević. This was several years before a certain politician arrived on the Serbian political scene and made that name infamous.

During spring of 1981, the band played Zagreb's biennale that also included now legendary Gang of Four and Classix Nouveaux. Šarlo's performance came on May 15, 1981, opening for the Gang of Four - the other opening act that bight was Haustor. [ [http://www.popboks.com/tekst.php?ID=6434 Pronađoh tu retku esenciju, Popboks, May 9, 2008] ]

In April 1981, they recorded "Bistriji ili tuplji čovek biva kad..." LP album, originally for PGP RTB, but they, confused with the results of the recordings, sold it to Jugoton which released it in July of the same year. The recording of the album featured Goran Vejvoda, Gagi Mihajlović, Jurij Novoselić Kuzma from the band Film and Dejan Kostić from Grupa I. Even though the band's style was a combination of punk and white reggae sound, the band turned to experimental sound. The trio had a kind of system whereas Mladenović and Koja brought fresh raw ideas and Vd would modify and give them shape. Mladenović was into poetic and melodic aspect of the whole thing while Koja inspired by Hendrix style was turned to minimal lyrics and aggressive music which can be recognized in different tracks on the album and their work in general. The record is also a brave experiment where all British new wave styles had been put into with reggae, punk sound backed with dub effects. The title of the album was taken from Vasa Pelagić's book "Narodni učitelj". The lyrics from "Pazite na decu I" was also taken from the book. This track is different from others because Mladenović played the drums, Vd played the guitar, Dejan Kostić payed bass, Gagi Mihajlović was on piano, while Koja shrieked and played timpani. When the instrumental part was recorded, the tree read parts from Pelagić's book and different articles from "Politikin Zabavnik" magazine. The producer of the album was Akpiđoto (misspelled on the album cover as Aktiđoto) which is actually a combination of names of real producers, Akrobata (the band), Pile (nickname of Mile Miletić), Đorđe (Petrović) and Toni (Jurij, a recording engineer from Ljubljana who was an expert on dub techniques).

However, the professional and, consequently, private relations within the group were very strained for quite some time already. Vd insisted on bringing Goran Vejvoda and possibly even Vejvoda's girlfriend at the time Bebi Dol (both of them were Vd's mates from Announda Rouge, his side project) into the band. Milan was mostly receptive to the idea largely because he wanted to add a keyboardist (Vejvoda was one of the rare youngsters in Belgrade at the time who owned a Casio VL-2 synthesizer), whereas Koja vehemently objected to it, feeling the band still had much more to offer with the existing lineup.

Jugoton put out around 10,000 copies of the album with very little commercial radio support, all of which, along with the absence of a recognizable hit candidate like "Ona se budi" or "Niko kao ja" resulted in the album selling modestly. Furthermore, the 7-inch single "Bes" / "Prevaren" (featuring a track off the new album and a B-side from Limunovo drvo days) recorded in parallel to the album was never released by Jugoton. According to Koja, the band was also reluctant to promote the album with much touring as the writing had already been on the wall since the trio barely tolerated each other at this point, knowing for some time they would soon split apart. [ [http://www.popboks.com/tekst.php?ID=4544 Akpiđoto je Šarlov drug, Popboks, December 29,2006] ]

In the autumn of 1981 they got the "Smeli cvet" reward for music by Socialistic Youth Of Yugoslavia. Then they embarked on a previously booked tour of Poland. After returning home and performing a farewell show in Ljubljana in October 1981, the group quietly disbanded.

In 2007 Croatia Records released a box set entitled Paket aranžman which consisted of three CDs. Remastered edition of a compilation with the same name and "Bistriji ili tuplji čovek biva kad..." and Električni orgazam self titled album. Sonja Savić, a Serbian actress and a film director, directed her first documentary called "Šarlo te gleda" dedicated to the New Wave scene in Belgrade and mostly focusing on the work of Šarlo Akrobata.

Discography

Singles

* "Mali čovek" / "Ona se budi" (Jugoton, 1981)
* "Bes" / "Prevaren" - unreleased due to the band split up

Albums

*"Bistriji ili tuplji čovek biva kad..." (Jugoton, 1981)

Various artists compilations

*"Paket aranžman" (Jugoton, 1980) - with Električni orgazam and Idoli
*"Svi marš na ples!" (Jugoton, 1981)

Box sets

*"Paket Aranžman" (Croatia Records, 2007) - 3 CDs box-set featuring remastered editions of Paket aranžman, Bistriji ili tuplji čovek biva kad... and Električni orgazam debut album.

External links

* [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=87058174 Unofficial myspace]
* [http://www.last.fm/music/Sarlo+Akrobata Šarlo Akrobata at Last.fm]
* [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%C5%A0arlo+Akrobata&search_type= Šarlo Akrobata at Youtube]
* [http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=3696 Šarlo Akrobata at Progarchives]
* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/%C5%A0arlo+Akrobata Šarlo Akrobata at Discogs]

References

* "EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006", Janjatović Petar; ISBN 978-86-905317-1-4

See also

*Serbian rock
*New Wave in Yugoslavia
*Punk in Yugoslavia