Pekinška Patka (Serbian Cyrillic: Пекиншка Патка; trans. Peking Duck) is an eminent Serbian and former Yugoslavpunk rock band from Novi Sad. Their debut album, Plitka poezija, released in 1980, is considered the first punk rock album by a band coming from Serbia. Being one of the first punk acts in Yugoslavia, they played a major role in opening doors for many bands that came after.
On their second and final album, Strah od monotonije, released in 1981, they turned towards post-punk and darkwave sound, disbanding during the same year. In 2008, the band reunited to perform on the main stage of Exit Festival alongside Sex Pistols, and in 2010, they reunited once again, continuing their activity.
History
Background
Pekinška Patka's roots are found in Trafo, a short-lived cover band formed in 1976 by electric guitarist Sreten Kovačević with Nebojša Čonkić providing the vocals. Further featuring Štrc on bass and Zare on drums, the band performed covers of rock standards by globally popular bands such as The Rolling Stones, Santana, Deep Purple, etc.
The following year, Kovačević formed Café Express, a pop band featuring Čonkić as guest vocalist in addition to Boba Mama on guitar, Aleksandar Čerevicki on keyboards, Aleksandar Kravić on bass, Laslo "Cila" Pihler (Shital Puri) on drums, and vocalist Aleksandar Krstić.
Band formation
According to Čonkić, Pekinška Patka was formed on his initiative in May 1978 after the twenty-five-year-old electrical engineering graduate—having already become enamoured with punk, a new musical genre he had been enjoying via Radio Luxembourg—approached his friend Sreten "Sreta" Kovačević at Novi Sad's Bulevar cafe about trying out two of Čonkić's punk-inspired musical ideas "just for fun".[1] The two ideas were: a riff that he came up with while unsuccessfully trying to reproduce a song off of Radio Luxembourg (the riff would eventually become basis for "Bela šljiva") and proposal to cover Procol Harum's 1967 ballad "Homburg" in a faster-paced punk arrangement.[1] The pair of university graduates in their mid-20s, Čonkić and Kovačević, had had a long prior history: in addition to being part of the same social circle in Novi Sad and past involvement in multiple joint musical collaborations, the two had attended the same high school, Jovan Jovanović Zmaj gymnasium, and later studied at University of Novi Sad's Faculty of Technical Sciences. Missing a drummer for their latest punk-inspired collaboration, Kovačević brought in Laslo "Cila" Pihler as the trio of Čonta, Sreta, and Cila began practicing at one of the backrooms within Mašinac club, itself run by the Faculty of Technical Sciences.[1] Kovačević then brought in bass guitarist Miloš "Žure" Žurić as the now four-piece practiced throughout June 1978, scheduling the rehearsals around Yugoslav state television live broadcasts of football matches from the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina.[1] Sporting long hairs, despite trying to play punk, each one of the four guys' respective appearances and musical sensibilities were still a mixture of several Western 1960s and 70s cultural trends, mostly hippiecounterculture and prog rock.[1]
According to Kovačević, on the other hand, Pekinška Patka was his idea all along, spawned during February-March 1978 while he played weekly Thursday-night dance parties at Mašinac with his pop band Café Express.[2] Frustrated at the crowds' indifferent reaction to his shoddy guitar solos, construction engineering graduate Kovačević reportedly sought a simpler and more direct way of playing music, finding the emerging punk genre perfectly suitable in this regard.[2] He claims to have first reached out to his Café Express drummer Pihler about putting the new punk project together followed by bassist Žurić and only then, once they realized a need for a vocalist, contacting Čonta whom the three had "known from around town".[2]
The band's first live performance, a 9-minute set, took place at Mašinac in late June 1978 with four people in attendance, all of them friends of the band members. The material they performed consisted of four tracks: aforementioned "Bela šljiva" and cover of "Homburg", in addition to two new songs—Čonkić-written "Kratkovidi magarac" and Čonkić/Kovačević co-written "Šta je zbližilo nas". After that, Čonkić and Kovačević continued developing new material, mainly original songs in Serbian language.
Čonkić spent the month of July 1978 in London, attending a study-English-abroad course at a UK college.[3] Taking in the city's music scene by going out to live shows on a nightly basis, he ended up seeing a variety of performers—including punk and punk-adjacent acts such as The Clash, The Specials, Midge Ure, Glen Matlock's Rich Kids, Skids, and Magazine.[3] Particularly impressed with The Clash show at the Music Machine venue where they played material off their upcoming album Give 'Em Enough Rope with The Specials as the opening act—a performance he would later state was the most influential one of his life—the look, posture, and pageantry of English punk as well The Clash's performance techniques Čonkić witnessed in London, would later be copied by his own band upon his return home to Yugoslavia.[3]
After Žurić left, drummer Cila brought his friend Srbislav "Srba" Dobanovački into the band to be their new bass guitarist.
Local prominence in Novi Sad
The band's first official live appearance took place in December 1978 at Novi Sad's Klub 24 venue and immediately got the local public talking due to the commotion it raised among the club's staff who were sufficiently shocked by the performance that they decided to put a stop to it, sending the crowd of about 200 youngsters home. The immediate reason was the band's performance of an impromptu vulgar punk cover of a communist youth work action song featuring the modified lyrics "Brižit Bardo bere čičke; Vidi joj se pola pičke" ("Brigitte Bardot is picking thistles; half of her pussy is hanging out").
The band based their act on melodic punk and vivid public image with high-energy live shows featuring constant jumping and gyrating that had a strong effect on the young crowds. Being one of the first groups in the country with this kind of sound and performing style, they attracted media interest before releasing any material. Čonkić often used those media appearances for self-promotion, delivering sweeping statements like: "We're the first important thing to happen to Yugoslav rock since the days of Ivo Robić and Marko Novoselić". He also purposely courted controversy with soundbites such as referring to his group as the "first Orthodox punk band", which went against the doctrine of the ruling Communist League (SKJ) that very much promoted atheism in Yugoslav society.
The band quickly developed a cult 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 authorities 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 problems with live performances, many of which would get canceled on the day of the show on suggestions from the authorities.
In December 1978, the band played the last BOOM Festival, which was being held in their hometown that year.
Wider popularity and first releases
In May 1979, the band appeared at the Festival Omladina with the song "Bela šljiva". Young singer Vesna Vrandečić (later to join Xenia) won the festival's top audience award, but Pekinška Patka got the second audience award. Their whole performance was broadcast on national television which was the first TV appearance of any punk band in Yugoslavia. This raised their profile as far as Yugoslav recording companies were concerned; they started negotiating with PGP-RTB label about a debut album, but ultimately could not reach a deal. The band continued playing and soon developed a wider following in bigger Yugoslav cities: Belgrade, Sarajevo and Zagreb. They eventually signed with Jugoton after its representatives saw them perform at Zagreb's Kulušić club.
The first Pekinška Patka 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.
In October 1979, the band was invited to perform in the village of Stepanovićevo at the anniversary celebration of the end of World War II. The band performed their standard set-list and the show also featured blowing of condoms and throwing them to the audience as well as swearing on stage that was met with a mixture of shock and delight by the audience. Another punk rock band, Gomila G (a censored version of their original name Gomila Govana, trans. Pile of Shit), which played as the opening act, performed the song "God save Martin Bormann", which was also the reason why the authorities and the media turned against the two bands. Soon after the show, Gomila G bassist Borislav "Bora" Oslovčan joined Pekinška Patka as replacement for Dobanovački. Together they recorded a demo, consisting of seven tracks, which was unofficially released during the 1990s. The new lineup also performed at the Leto na Adi manifestation, which was held at a luxurious raft at Ada Ciganlija, with the song "Poderimo rock". Since the crowd rushed to the stage and jumped around, the raft almost sank.
The band accepted the offer of appearing in Kost od mamuta, an hour-long TV movie written by Gordan Mihić and directed by Slobodan Šijan. Essentially playing themselves, though not credited as Pekinška Patka, during fall 1979, the band members shot their part—playing a random group of punks performing "Panker u starom sakou" in a scene featuring actor Slavko Štimac and singer/actor Đorđe Balašević. The movie premiered on TV Belgrade and the rest of the Yugoslav Radio Television (JRT) on 16 February 1980.
The album Plitka poezija (Shallow Poetry), a punk rock material with occasional ska elements and humorous lyrics, was completed by fall 1979, but Yugoslav president Josip Broz 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". The whole material was recorded in the Boris Kovač studio, outside Novi Sad, and was produced by Slobodan Konjović, well known disc jockey from Studio B radio station. Eventually, their debut album was released in 1980 and sold about 15,000 copies, which Jugoton considered a failure.
One of the first live presentations of the new material was at the Split Festival with the band Azra. Several thousand people attended the concert. The relations within the band were somewhat strained at this gig. Dissatisfied with the band's decision to go on tour of Bosnia and Herzegovina, bassist Oslovčan played with his back turned to the crowd, while actively sabotaging the proceedings by purposely making the band sound as bad as possible.
Lineup changes, switch to post-punk
Following the debut album release, the band underwent personnel changes with some members changing instruments and others leaving altogether. Guitarist Kovačević expressed a desire to play saxophone so he moved to that instrument while new member Zoran "Bale" Bulatović, a 17-year-old Pečat member, took over the vacated guitar spot. Second guitarist Prosenica, and bassist Oslovčan also left the band. Oslovčan was first replaced by Aleksandar "Caki" Kravić and then the former bassist Srba Dobanovački until Marinko Vukmanović joined the band. Prosenica's spot stayed vacant as the band continued with only one guitar. That lineup did not last long as Kovačević left during fall 1980 to form his own band, two-tone/ska group Kontraritam.
The new Pekinška Patka lineup went on a successful tour of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, ending with a sold-out show at Sarajevo's Skenderija Hall. The band recorded the cover of the popular Dragan Stojnić [sr] chanson "Bila je tako lijepa", with altered lyrics, and released it on single with "Buba-rumba" as the B-side. The band further appeared on the Rokenroler III television show on TV Belgrade with the "Stop stop" song from Plitka poezija, a cover of The Hollies' 1966 hit "Stop! Stop! Stop!". The song was used by the JRT (Yugoslav Radio Television) network to represent Yugoslavia at the MontreuxRose d'Or festival. Čonkić also planned to cover the "Hymn to Saint Sava", which was met with disapproval by the rest of the band and ultimately not done.
During December 1980, the band performed at the Grok festival held at the Novi Sad Fair, leaving a good impression but also causing an uproar by burning a copy of the Borba newspaper. During the intro for the song "Biti ružan, pametan i mlad", Čonkić dedicated the song to Bijelo Dugme's leader Goran Bregović. Soon after the show, Dnevnik journalist Bogdan Četnik wrote an article demanding that the band be completely banned.
Simultaneously, from October 1980, the band had been preparing new studio material inspired by Joy Division, The Stranglers, The Cure, and Magazine. Their general sound and appearance also changed to post-punk and dark wave, all of which mostly failed to connect with the audiences the way their debut album and initial style did. The new studio album, Strah od monotonije (Fear of Monotony), was recorded during March 1981 and released in May 1981, selling only about 8,000 copies.
The band performed rarely and their last notable shows were at a large concert at Zagreb Velesajam (performing with Riblja Čorba, Haustor, Film, Prljavo kazalište, Leb i Sol, Parni Valjak, and other bands) and in June 1981 at Rokoteka in Belgrade's Kalemegdan park which was their last concert. During the summer of 1981, Čonkić went to serve his Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) stint. By the time he returned home a year later, guitarist Bulatović had already become the member of Luna and bassist Vukmanović formed the pop band Primavera.
Post-breakup
In 1994, Čonkić emigrated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada with his family and, after working as a pizza deliverer and computer programmer at Canada's state broadcaster CBC, he got a job as lecturer at Seneca College in Toronto. Bulatović moved to New York City during the 1990s.
Re-releases, reunions, and copyright / intellectual property dispute
Re-releases
In 1997, Pekinška Patka's complete discography, including singles and albums, was re-released on CD format by Croatia Records (Jugoton's legal successor).
Nine years later, on 5 July 2006, the band's back catalogue was re-released again, this time by the Serbian label Multimedia Records.[4] This re-release was accompanied with a significant promotional push from the Serbian web magazine Popboks.[5] Discussing the possibility of reuniting the band, at the time, Čonkić talked of his lack of enthusiasm for such an undertaking: "The band has become a legend of sorts and I wouldn't like to [spoil that] by poking around there too much. We've had several reunion offers, to make some quick cash, but that would have been a betrayal of what we had done [with the band] back in the day".[6]
2008 reunion at EXIT festival
On 28 May 2008, it was announced that Pekinška Patka would be reuniting for a performance at the 2008 EXIT festival in their hometown Novi Sad. The reunion took place with the band's best known initial lineup of Čonkić on vocals, Kovačević on guitar, Bora Oslovčan on bass, and Laslo Pihler on drums. The reunited band's 30-minute greatest hits set took place on EXIT's main stage on Sunday, 13 July 2008—the festival's closing night—as part of a lineup featuring Sex Pistols, The Hives, and Ministry.[6] In the interviews immediately after the reunion performance, Čonkić left the door open for a full comeback.[7]
2010 reunion
In late April 2010, several months after pulling out of a Novi Sad performance for New Year's 2010, the band announced its intention to reconvene again, specifically for a single show on 21 May 2010 at Belgrade's SKC—this time in the lineup that recorded the band's second studio album, 1981's Strah od monotonije: Čonkić on vocal, Zoran Bulatović on guitar, Marinko Vukmanović on bass, and Laslo Pihler on drums—ostensibly, in order to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the "Bila je tako lijepa" single release.[8][9] In early May 2010, another reunion show was added: at Zagreb's Boogaloo club, scheduled to take place one day after the Belgrade concert.[10]
On 5 May 2010, while promoting the upcoming SKC show at a press conference held in the Makao Chinese restaurant in Belgrade, the reunited band—with Čonkić, Bulatović, Vukmanović, and Pihler on hand—also announced a new single set to be released in early July 2010 though not revelling anything beyond that it's a cover of song from a Pedro Almodóvar movie.[11] They further revealed following year's plans for doing a cover album that was to feature covers of songs that had been performed at Yugoslav 1960s pop schlager festivals such as the Opatija Festival [hr], Beogradsko proleće [sr], and Vaš šlager sezone [bs].[12]
A week to ten days prior to the Belgrade reunion show, drummer Pihler pulled out of the performance, citing inability to play due to abdominal pain.[13] Scrambling to find a replacement on short notice, the remaining members managed to bring in Veliki Prezir's drummer Robert Radić who, having already been familiar with Pekinška Patka songs, learned the drum parts in only five days.[13]
A few days before the Belgrade concert, Pekinška Patka's co-founding member and first lineup guitarist, Sreten Kovačević, put out a press release relaying his "consternation" at the band's reunion, which he referred to as "misuse of the [Pekinška Patka] name and legacy by a group of individuals [i.e. Čonkić, Bulatović, Vukmanović, and Radić] that have little to nothing to do with the band".[14] Adding that "Pekinška Patka finished its concert activity for good at Exit 2008", he further stated his own credentials to stem from being the "author and co-author of songs from Plitka poezija, the only authentic Pekinška Patka album" before listing each track's submission code at SOKOJ [sh] (Yugoslav Composers' Copyright Agency).[14] Kovačević's press release ends by once again dismissing Čonkić, Bulatović, Vukmanović, and Radić as a "random collection of individuals that decided to book a gathering under the Pekinška Patka name" before threatening legal action should they continue to do so.[14] In response, the band posted a press release of their own on their record label Long Play's official site, disputing Kovačević's claims and attributing them to "either [his] faulty memory or [his] deliberate intent to spread mistruths regarding Pekinška Patka's origins and subsequent work".[15][14] The release goes on to state that Čonkić is the one who came up with the band's name while further claiming that out of the 16 songs on the first album, Čonkić wrote 5 of them, with Kovačević adding 3 songs, 5 songs being co-authored between the two, and 3 more being covers.[15] It concludes with a claim that back in July 1980, without informing Čonkić and the rest of the bend, Kovačević went to SOKOJ and unilaterally submitted faulty information as each of the original 13 songs (including Čonkić's 5) being co-authored by Čonkić and Kovačević despite even the album sleeve stating otherwise based on the information submitted by the band to their record label, Jugoton.[15]
The setlist at both the Belgrade and Zagreb shows mostly featured tracks from Plitka poezija, though one of their most popular songs "Bolje da nosim kratku kosu" was excluded, likely due to its SOKOJ-listed author Kovačević's complaints. The band also performed the upcoming single, the cover version of Luz Casal song "Un año de amor", and the song "Neko", from the second album Strah od monotonije.[13][16] For the Belgrade show that attracted about 1,600 spectators, the opening act was the psychobilly act Čikine Bombone[13] while in Zagreb, Poruka u prazno opened.[16]
In December 2010, the band released a free digital downloadMP3 version of the single "Un año de amor" on the Long Play record label official site.[17]
In December 2011, Pekinška Patka got together again—in the same lineup of Čonta, Bale, Mare, and Robi Radić—for a series of club gigs that included Banja Luka's DFK club on 15 December,[18] return to Zagreb's Boogaloo on 16 December,[19] Sarajevo's Sloga on 25 December,[20] and Belgrade's Dom Omladine on 29 December.[21][22]
Former bassist Borislav "Bora" Oslovčan died on October 5, 2017, at the age of 56.[23]
