Laboratorija Zvuka
Encyclopedia
Laboratorija Zvuka sometimes credited as Laboratorija (Laboratory) only, was a Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

n and former Yugoslav rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band. Noted for their eccentric style, erotic lyrics, unusual line up
Line up
Lineup may refer to* a queue area of waiting people* a police lineup of suspects* the roster of a sports team at a given time** Batting order in baseball** the starting position in polocrosse...

s and bizarre circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...

-inspired stage performances, Laboratorija Zvuka were one of the pioneers of the Serbian and former Yugoslav alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 scenes.

1970s and 1980s

The band's history begins in 1977, when brothers Predrag (a former The Best of Nothing an Med member and a film critic, and an architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

) and Mladen Vranešević (a former Falkoni and Neoplanti member) decided to form a band. The brothers previously worked together on music for film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

s, theatre plays, radio and TV shows. They started working together in 1971, when they wrote music for Karpo Godina's short film Zdravi ljudi za razonodu (Healthy People for Recreation), on the lyrics of poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 and musician Branko Andrić. For the music they were awarded on on the Festival of Short and Documentary Film, which motivated them to continue composing, often receiving awards for their music in Yugoslavia and abroad. They wrote music for numerous films, including Splav meduza, Veštački raj, Još ovaj put, Kraj rata, Oktoberfest, Original falsifikata, Pun mesec nad Beogradom, and numerous TV shows, including Poletarac, Priče iz Nepričave, Fore i fazoni, Čik pogodi ko sam, Lutkomedija.

The band, named Laboratorija Zvuka, featured musicians with whom the Vranešević brothers previously worked in studio: Aleksandar Pejak (guitar), Stevan Lukić (guitar), Laslo Pihler (drums), Vera Lajko (vocals, keyboards), Dina Kurbatfinsky Vranešević (Mladen Vranešević's wife, vocals), Aleksandar "Caki" Kravić (bass guitar), and Olah Vince (violin). With the song "Dok vam je još vreme" ("While You still Can") they appeared on the Opatija
Opatija
Opatija is a town in western Croatia, just southwest of Rijeka on the Adriatic coast. , the town proper had a population of 7,850, with the municipality having a total 12,719 inhabitants.-Geography:...

 Festival. After the success of the single, they recorded their debut album. Telo (The Body), released through Jugoton
Jugoton
Jugoton was the largest record label and chain record store in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia based in Zagreb, Socialist Republic of Croatia. After the breakup of Yugoslavia the company continued to work in independent Republic of Croatia under the name Croatia...

 in 1980, was a concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

, with the A-side entitled Vrline (Virtues), featuring the songs which celebrated asceticism
Asceticism
Asceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals...

 and healthy lifestyle, and the B-side, entitled Poroci (Vices), featuring songs about bodily pleasures. The album opens with an acted transmission
Transmission (telecommunications)
Transmission, in telecommunications, is the process of sending, propagating and receiving an analogue or digital information signal over a physical point-to-point or point-to-multipoint transmission medium, either wired, optical fiber or wireless...

 from the bodybuilding
Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is a form of body modification involving intensive muscle hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their...

 competition in Bački Jarak
Backi Jarak
Bački Jarak is a town located in the Temerin municipality, in the South Bačka District of Serbia. It is situated in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina...

, and is followed by New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

-oriented (but also featuring elements of other genres) songs "Suvarak" ("Spall"), "Lepo telo" ("Pretty Body", featuring a quotation from Oliver Dragojević
Oliver Dragojevic
Oliver Dragojević is one of the most popular Croatian pop singers. A native of Vela Luka from the island of Korčula, he emerged onto the music scene in the 1970s thanks to the popular Split Festival, one of several musical annual events which began in the former Yugoslavia and still is being held...

's song "Oprosti mi, pape"), "Alkohol, žene i..." ("Alcohol, Women And...", featuring a quotation from the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
" Satisfaction" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, released in 1965. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and produced by Andrew Loog Oldham. Richards's throwaway three-note guitar riff — intended to be replaced by horns — opens and drives the song...

"), "Bajna mašina" ("Fabulous Machine"), and other songs.

On the concerts the band performed in a thirteen-piece lineup, which, beside the band members, featured the female singer Renata Vigi, drummer Ivan Kašik, but also the world bodybuilding champion Petar Čelik and his wife Irena. While the band was playing, Čelik was practicing his bodybuilding using various training devices. In 1980 the band released the 7" single featuring their biggest hit, the ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...

 song "Ska-kavac joj zaš'o u rukavac" ("Grasshopper
Grasshopper
The grasshopper is an insect of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish it from bush crickets or katydids, it is sometimes referred to as the short-horned grasshopper...

 Got in Her Branch"), which featured quotes from Crven ban, a collection of erotic folk poetry compiled by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić
Vuk Stefanovic Karadžic
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić was a Serbian philolog and linguist, the major reformer of the Serbian language, and deserves, perhaps, for his collections of songs, fairy tales, and riddles to be called the father of the study of Serbian folklore. He was the author of the first Serbian dictionary...

. The song also featured the debut appearance of the band's mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...

, Vilmoš Kauboj (Vilmoš the Cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...

), real name Vilmoš Lakatoš, a marginal character from the streets of Novi Sad, who toured with the band as an announcer.

The band's following album, Duboko u tebi (Deep inside You), released through Jugoton in 1982, featured elements of rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...

. The song "Zaboravljena draga" ("The Forgotten Beloved") was recorded for Zoran Amar
Zoran Amar
Zoran Amar is an a Serbian American film director and a professor at the School of Visual Arts.-Biography:...

's film Piknik u Topoli (Picnic in Topola
Topola
Topola is a town and municipality situated in the Šumadija region of Serbia. It was the place where Karađorđe, a Serbian revolutionary, was chosen as the leader of the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire in 1804. The local St...

), featuring lyrics written by Predrag Vranešević and Slobodan Tišma, the member of Luna, and a former member of La Strada
La Strada (band)
La Strada was a Serbian and former Yugoslav New Wave/alternative rock band from Novi Sad.- New Wave era :The band was formed by Slobodan Tišma also known as "Deda" , a rock veteran and poet, and called it La Strada by the Federico Fellini movie La strada...

. However, as Tišma did not want to be known that he worked on the song lyrics, he was signed on the album as Bobo Misteriozo. The album also featured a cover of Larry Williams
Larry Williams
Larry Williams was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana...

' "Bony Moronie
Bony Moronie
"Bony Moronie" is Larry Williams' third single, which has been covered many times, including a version translated into Spanish re-named "Popotitos". Williams' original peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #4 on the U.S...

", and "Odlazim dolazim" ("I'm Leaving I'm Coming"), recorded live in 1978, on the band's performance on the Subotica
Subotica
Subotica is a city and municipality in northern Serbia, in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina...

 Omladinski festival. At the time, the band's new members became Deže Molnar (saxophone), and Miroslav Cvetković "Pis" (guitar). In 1982, the band performed in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, on the concerts organized by KPZ of Vojvodina for the children of Yugoslav guest workers. During this staying in Germany, the band recorded the electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

-oriented single with the songs "Devica 69" ("Virgin 69") i "Šetnja" ("A Walk").

In 1982, Predrag Vranešević, in the name of the band, was charged because the band "insulted socialist moral and hurt patriotic feelings" of the citizens of Novo Mesto
Novo Mesto
Novo Mesto is a city and municipality in southeastern Slovenia, close to the border with Croatia. The town is traditionally considered the economic and cultural centre of the historic Lower Carniola region.-Geography:...

, SR Slovenia. Some citizens of Novo Mesto saw a poster announcing Laboratorija Zvuka concert and thought that the image of Vilmoš Kauboj insults the image of the late president Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...

. Predrag Vranešević was sentenced to 40 days in prison, but the whole case was soon hushed up as absurd and all charges were dropped.

In 1983 the band performed in Germany once again, and after a performance at the Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

 Bienale Festival, which that year featured the bands Gang of Four
Gang of Four (band)
Gang of Four are an English post-punk group from Leeds. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1984, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill...

 and Classix Nouveaux
Classix Nouveaux
Classix Nouveaux were an English 1980s new wave band. They had number one hits in Poland, Portugal, the former Yugoslavia, Israel, Iceland, and other countries...

, established contacts with English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 managers, and in August 1984 went to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and during five evenings they performed in the Institute of Contemporary Arts
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...

, under the name La Boratoria. The happening
Happening
A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. Happenings take place anywhere , are often multi-disciplinary, with a nonlinear narrative and the active participation of the audience...

, entitled Jašući konje Svetog Marka (Riding Saint Mark's Horses), featured an art exhibition
Art exhibition
Art exhibitions are traditionally the space in which art objects meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" or...

 and a theatre play about a hero named PVC, an illegitimate son of Sergei Yesenin
Sergei Yesenin
Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin was a Russian lyrical poet. He was one of the most popular and well-known Russian poets of the 20th century but committed suicide at the age of 30...

 and Isadora Duncan
Isadora Duncan
Isadora Duncan was a dancer, considered by many to be the creator of modern dance. Born in the United States, she lived in Western Europe and the Soviet Union from the age of 22 until her death at age 50. In the United States she was popular only in New York, and only later in her life...

. On the scene appeared the members of the band, ballet dancers, and bodybuilder Slobodan Blagojević. The performance was well-received in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 press. During their staying in London, the band recorded a short documentary, entitled Kuda ide naše malo društvo (Where Is Our Small Society Heading To), with a screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...

 written by Predrag, and directed by Mladen Vranešević. At this time, Predrag Vranešević started working with young bands, and helped Plavi Orkestar
Plavi orkestar
Plavi orkestar is one of the most popular bands from former Yugoslavia. The band was founded in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1983.The band has remained popular to the present day with 8 albums and more than 3500 concerts worldwide...

 and Ruž during in their first steps.
In 1986 the band released the album Nevinost (Innocence), in the new lineup, which, beside Predrag Vranešević on keyborads, guitar and vocals, Deže Molnar on saxophone, and Mladen Vranešević, Renata Vigy, and Dina Kurbatfinsky Vranešević on vocals, featured a former Luna and Pekinška Patka
Pekinška Patka
Pekinška Patka is an eminent Serbian and former Yugoslav punk 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...

 member Zoran "Bale" Bulatović on guitar, a former Luna and Ekatarina Velika
Ekatarina Velika
Ekatarina Velika , sometimes referred to as EKV for short, was a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock group from Belgrade, being one of the most successful and influential music acts coming out of former Yugoslavia....

 member Ivan Fece "Firchie" on drums, Stojan Jovanović on bass guitar, and Senad Jašarević on keyboards. The band's new mascot, beside Vilmoš Kauboj, became a woman named Dušica Ilić, known as Duško Ilić before her sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...

, who became known as the clairvoyant
Clairvoyance
The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...

 under the name Klepopatra (Cleopatra) in the 1990s. The album featured rereleased songs from 7" singles, "Ska-kavac joj zašo u rukavac", "Devica", "Šetnja", but also the notable tracks "Daj mi bugi, dam ti vugi" ("Give Me Boogie, I Give You Woogie"), "Mala moja, al' je paranoja" ("My Baby Is Paranoid"), "Vili, Vili" ("Willie, Willie").

1990s

After a longer break in their work, the band, in 1996, released the album entitled in Serbian ijekavian, Nema niđe te ljepote (There's No Such a Beauty), through Komuna
Komuna Belgrade
Komuna is a Serbian record label and media production house. Established in 1985, its headquarters are in Belgrade, Serbia with a branch office Budva, Montenegro...

. The title track was recorded for the Tourism Association of Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...

, and the others were written during the bands career, but never appeared on any of the band's releases. The album featured ten songs, recorded in a minimalist
Minimalist music
Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....

 manner and resembling demo recordings. The songs were written by Vranešević brothers. The songs "Do I Dare" and "Vinyl Mirrors" were written on the poems of Johnatan Loyd, and the lyrics for the song "Mimi" were written after the motifs from Ivo Tijardović
Ivo Tijardovic
Ivo Tijardović was a Croatian composer, writer, and painter....

's works. The album was recorded by Vranešević brothers, Molnar, Bulatović, and the backing vocals were sung by Milana Vranešević, daughter of Mladen and Dina Vranešević's. After the album release, the band officially ended their activity.

Post-breakup

In 1991, Predrag Vranešević became the TV Novi Sad musical editor. He retired in 2005. Mladen Vranešević dedicated himself to marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

. He died on July 16, 2006.

Legacy

In 2006, the song "Ska-kavac joj zaš'o u rukavac" was ranked #84 on the B92 Top 100 Domestic Songs list.

Studio albums

  • Telo (1980)
  • Duboko u tebi (1982)
  • Nevinost (1986)
  • Nema niđe te ljepote (1996)

Singles

  • "Dok vam je još vreme" / "Sve je to bilo u proleće" (1978)
  • "Ko ne zna da se smeši" / "Brek boks" (1978)
  • "Kad postanem slab i star" / "Kas" (1979)
  • "Mod-deran" / "Ska-kavac joj zaš'o u rukavac" (1980)
  • "Poletarac"/ "Stočiću postavi se" / "Oproštaj od magneta" (1981)
  • "Devica 69" / "Šetnja" (1982)
  • "Još ovaj put" / "Još ovaj put - instrumental" (1983)

External links

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