PARNI VALJAK
The lyrics that Husein Hasanefendić Hus wrote a long time ago about Parni valjak are still very true: "Let it last". Because Valjak lasts. And lasts. And lasts... From the post-Mlinarec Group 220 and early incarnations of Parni valjak on until today. Despite many stylistic changes, the whimsical taste of the mass audience and taken by the music genre is what drove Hus forward in his 40+ year career. I say "his" because Hus is not the only, sadly without the late Aki, founder of Parni valjak which marked the rock scene of the former and current state, but because he is a remarkable author and excellent musician with distinct taste and killer hit opus. On the scene where there were some shorter some longer "seasonal attractions" and modern affectation, Parni valjak was in its own league.
The signature sign of Parni valjak was always recognizable: the music one, as well as the literary one. Within the roots of rock understood always as a "generic term" of urban music, and not as a genre fossil and their recognizable "ich" text form which reflected personal doubts, introspective "daily paranoias", generational jam and frustration, even – uncommonly – thoughts of "aging". Without whining and being pathetic, with precise captures of moments and circumstances ("when the kids are being respectful") and their omnipresent motto: keep going. The same and unchanged, although always aware of the passage of time. Because, as Hus says: "... I am changing, it's painless, but I am changing, and I don't like it". It is a brave and sensible act that guarantees originality and longevity. Even without Aki Rahimovski.
PSIHOMODO POP
Since their 1988 debut album "Godina zmaja" which they waited, for the then well-established demo band, for five years, Psihomodo pop is amongst the most popular, and today amongst the most long-lasting representatives of the Croatian rock scene. The group went from the poetics of Ramones to rock faded with timeless rhythm and blues and with "fundamental" rock, but some things always remained the same. Primarily their intense shows with firm rhythm and energetic nature inspired by the Stooges, Velvets and Stones, but also with a melody of T. Rex, and then a pivotal role of a charismatic singer Davor Gobac. Without their past members with the likes of Neven Kepeski (who left the hit song "Dona" as his legacy to the band), guitarist Saša Radulović Sale, and, unfortunately, late drummer Tigran Kalebota, Gobac, bass player Smiljan Paradiš-Šparka, guitarist Vlatko Ćavar-Brada, and lastly, saxophone and piano player Jurij Novoselić-Kuzma successfully continue their career on the stage and in the studio. The latter is best shown with their 2024 album "Vjerujem u čuda" as a pledge of a promising future.
DALEKA OBALA
Daleka obala no longer has its original lineup, but, to paraphrase Bregović, "remember them by their songs". Compositions like "Ruzinavi brod", "Morska vila", "Valovi", "Tonka", "Sušac blues"... which today are registered in the Croatian pop and rock songbook anthology, confirmed their original diagnosis of "stage case" called Daleka obala. Their Split heritage is especially seen when performing in their concerts with an increasingly tuned band and charismatic Marijan Ban. Nobody can still take their crown as the most Split band out of all participants of the Split pop and rock renaissance from the end of the last and beginning of the new century. Because, Daleka obala is simply the mecca of Split music tradition, since the festival of Prokurative, the bohemian heritage of Toma Bebić, rockers from the Split's "energetic streets" and lastly, omnipresent "southern comfort". Daleka obala simply succeeded in their songs which are in essence "rock universal", and at the same time with music and text immersed in Split, Dalmatian, even Mediterranean music tradition. That Obala which even without Marijan Ban, who retired from the scene, remained the same until the end.
Zlatko Gall
music critic, journalist and publicist
