SCH (band)
Encyclopedia
SCH is the musical and artistic project and band (or rather the band-alterego
) of Senad Hadžimusić
, who is better known by his nickname Teno
. Formed in the early-eighties in Sarajevo
, the band has had an intensive creative and live existence. SCH represents one of the most significant names in the field of alternative rock
music in the former Yugoslavia
. Radio Student Ljubljana's Igor Bašin has noted: "As Ljubljana's got Laibach
and Belgrade's got EKV
and Disciplina Kičme
alias Šarlo Akrobata
, thus Sarajevo's got SCH. SCH is the key-name of the Sarajevo Alternative Scene."
Bosnian writer Miljenko Jergović
once described SCH as "...a group of Sarajevan alternative maniacs who have, infinitely and into infinity, dissipated more wild energy and artificial rebellion than one could fit into all the gothic underground cellars from Hamburg to London."
, modern dance electronica
, punk
edge and Bosnian
folklore
."
A number of reviewers have commented on the precise, determined, and industrial
aspects of their sound and production, shared by German industrial
, noise
, and Krautrock
bands. Eldin Hadžović notes in BH Dani
, "Noise has been a common denominator in the band's 20-year-old work, during which numerous line-ups have styles came and went, together with high and lows (the latter principally being a long production/performing pause)... SCH has not deviated one inch from its principal task - to serve as a mirror to our reality, seen through the prism of schizophrenia... SCH sounds like nothing that came before them, or anything that may come after they’ve gone."
SCH's music has also been featured in a number of films and radio programs, as well as in the theater.
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
) of Senad Hadžimusić
Senad Hadžimusić Teno
Senad Hadžimusić is a musician, songwriter and poet best known as the founder, mastermind, songwriter, producer, singer and guitarist of the Sarajevo alternative industrial band SCH. With SCH, his band-alterego, Teno has authored, performed, produced and recorded 11 official albums...
, who is better known by his nickname Teno
Senad Hadžimusić Teno
Senad Hadžimusić is a musician, songwriter and poet best known as the founder, mastermind, songwriter, producer, singer and guitarist of the Sarajevo alternative industrial band SCH. With SCH, his band-alterego, Teno has authored, performed, produced and recorded 11 official albums...
. Formed in the early-eighties in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
, the band has had an intensive creative and live existence. SCH represents one of the most significant names in the field of 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...
music in the former Yugoslavia
Former Yugoslavia
The former Yugoslavia is a term used to describe the present day states which succeeded the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia....
. Radio Student Ljubljana's Igor Bašin has noted: "As Ljubljana's got Laibach
Laibach (band)
Laibach is a Slovenian avant-garde music group associated with industrial, martial, and neo-classical musical styles. Laibach formed June 1, 1980 in Trbovlje, Slovenia . Laibach represents the music wing of the Neue Slowenische Kunst art collective, of which it was a founding member in 1984...
and Belgrade's got EKV
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....
and Disciplina Kičme
Disciplina Kičme
Disciplina Kičme , is a Serbian band, one of the two spin-offs of the seminal Yugoslav New Wave and later post-punk band Šarlo Akrobata, the other being Ekatarina Velika...
alias Šarlo Akrobata
Šarlo Akrobata
Šarlo Akrobata were a seminal Yugoslav rock band often categorized as late punk or New Wave, particularly art-oriented. Short-lived but extremely influential, in addition to being one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav New Wave scene, the three piece left an indelible mark on the entire...
, thus Sarajevo's got SCH. SCH is the key-name of the Sarajevo Alternative Scene."
Bosnian writer Miljenko Jergović
Miljenko Jergovic
Miljenko Jergović is a Bosnian prose writer. Jergović currently lives and works in Zagreb, Croatia, having moved there in 1993....
once described SCH as "...a group of Sarajevan alternative maniacs who have, infinitely and into infinity, dissipated more wild energy and artificial rebellion than one could fit into all the gothic underground cellars from Hamburg to London."
SCH Music
SCH's constantly changing, radically unconventional and experimental music is sometimes cursorily referred as "a mix of LaibachLaibach (band)
Laibach is a Slovenian avant-garde music group associated with industrial, martial, and neo-classical musical styles. Laibach formed June 1, 1980 in Trbovlje, Slovenia . Laibach represents the music wing of the Neue Slowenische Kunst art collective, of which it was a founding member in 1984...
, modern dance electronica
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
, punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
edge and Bosnian
Bosnia (region)
Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...
folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
."
A number of reviewers have commented on the precise, determined, and industrial
Industrial rock
Industrial rock is a musical genre that fuses industrial music and specific rock subgenres. Industrial rock spawned industrial metal, with which it is often confused...
aspects of their sound and production, shared by German industrial
Industrial rock
Industrial rock is a musical genre that fuses industrial music and specific rock subgenres. Industrial rock spawned industrial metal, with which it is often confused...
, noise
Noise rock
Noise rock describes a style of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the traditional instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.-Style:Noise...
, and Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
bands. Eldin Hadžović notes in BH Dani
BH Dani
BH Dani stands for Bosanskohercegovački Dani is a Bosnian language weekly magazine published in Bosnia and Herzegovina.-Editorial:...
, "Noise has been a common denominator in the band's 20-year-old work, during which numerous line-ups have styles came and went, together with high and lows (the latter principally being a long production/performing pause)... SCH has not deviated one inch from its principal task - to serve as a mirror to our reality, seen through the prism of schizophrenia... SCH sounds like nothing that came before them, or anything that may come after they’ve gone."
Milestones and Influences
- In its earliest phase (1983–1984), SCH's music was mixture of new waveNew Wave musicNew 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...
, punkPunk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and psychedeliaPsychedelic rockPsychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
. Early influences included Gang of FourGang of FourThe Gang of Four was the name given to a political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution and were subsequently charged with a series of treasonous crimes...
, Brian EnoBrian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, Frank ZappaFrank ZappaFrank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, Captain BeefheartCaptain BeefheartDon Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
, Patti SmithPatti SmithPatricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
, Lou ReedLou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, Iggy PopIggy PopIggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
, King CrimsonKing CrimsonKing Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
.
- SCH's second phase began in early-1985, continuing from an emphasis on recording and performance to a study of war, which became a theme in prior to and throughout the Yugoslav warsYugoslav warsThe Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
. This period (1985–1991) was characterized by radicalization of the band's sound and its shifting from post-New WaveNew Wave musicNew 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...
into harsh noiseNoise rockNoise rock describes a style of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the traditional instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.-Style:Noise...
and industrialIndustrial rockIndustrial rock is a musical genre that fuses industrial music and specific rock subgenres. Industrial rock spawned industrial metal, with which it is often confused...
. Influences during this period included the Swans, Sonic YouthSonic YouthSonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
, Throbbing GristleThrobbing GristleThrobbing Gristle were an English industrial, avant-garde music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions...
, SPKSPK (band)SPK, formed in 1978 in Sydney, Australia, was a 1980s and early 1990s industrial music and noise music group. One member, Graeme Revell, would later go on to become a successful Hollywood movie composer.-History:...
, D.A.F.Deutsch-Amerikanische FreundschaftDeutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft or D.A.F. is an influential German electropunk/NDW band from Düsseldorf, formed in 1978 featuring Gabriel "Gabi" Delgado-López , Robert Görl , Kurt "Pyrolator" Dahlke , Michael Kemner and Wolfgang Spelmans...
and early Einstürzende NeubautenEinstürzende NeubautenEinstürzende Neubauten is a German post-industrial band, originally from West Berlin, formed in 1980. The group currently comprises Blixa Bargeld , Alexander Hacke , N.U...
.
- SCH continued to perform and record during the Siege of SarajevoSiege of SarajevoThe Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...
(1992–1995), but disbanded for several years thereafter, following a 1995 performance in Prague. During the hiatus (1995–2002), TenoSenad Hadžimusić TenoSenad Hadžimusić is a musician, songwriter and poet best known as the founder, mastermind, songwriter, producer, singer and guitarist of the Sarajevo alternative industrial band SCH. With SCH, his band-alterego, Teno has authored, performed, produced and recorded 11 official albums...
published a book of SCH lyrics as well as During Wartime... Again!During Wartime... Again!During Wartime... Again! is the Teno's remix and the 10th anniversary re-release of the SCHs album During Wartime from 1989. The release contains 8 bonus tracks, mostly remixes of the earlier, both previously released and unreleased SCH work...
.
- VRILVRIL (album)VRIL is the sixth official album by SCH. Following a seven-year-long hiatus, Teno resumed activity in 2002, with a new electronic sound...
(2002) marked a new and still actual phase in the band's development, in which electronic instrumentation and sampling have largely replaced its former, "classic" line-up of guitar, bass and drums.
Live line-up
As of 2007, SCH live consists of Senad Hadžimusić Teno on vocals/guitars/synths; Rida Attarashany on synths/rhythm machine, and Azra Pallas on vocals/keyboards.Albums
- SCHSCH (album)"SCH" is the first official album by SCH. The album was released following the band's successful appearance at the 1987 Novi Rock festival in Ljubljana...
(1987) - During WartimeDuring WartimeDuring Wartime is the second official studio album by SCH. It was released on the Jugoton label in 1989. The recording line-up was Teno , Petar Erak , and Zlatan Hadžić ....
(1989) - White Music: Two Ways To German Art & Work DisciplineWhite Music (SCH album)WHITE MUSIC: Two Ways To German Art & Work Discipline is the third official studio album by SCH. Although released in 1992 on the Zagreb independent label , the album was produced and recorded during 1990. It was the first harsh-noise album in ex-Yugoslavia...
(1992) - The Gentle Art of FiringThe Gentle Art of FiringThe Gentle Art of Firing is the fourth official studio album by SCH from 1995. It is a recording of music produced in Sarajevo during the first year of war in Bosnia and was one of the first albums released in the besieged city...
(1995) - During Wartime... Again!During Wartime... Again!During Wartime... Again! is the Teno's remix and the 10th anniversary re-release of the SCHs album During Wartime from 1989. The release contains 8 bonus tracks, mostly remixes of the earlier, both previously released and unreleased SCH work...
(1999) - VRILVRIL (album)VRIL is the sixth official album by SCH. Following a seven-year-long hiatus, Teno resumed activity in 2002, with a new electronic sound...
(2002) - Eat This!Eat This!Eat This! is the seventh official album by SCH, released in Sarajevo in 2004. Eat This! is made up of two CDs, one white and one black, exploring sound textures for over two hours. The recording line-up was Teno and Rida Attarashany...
(2004) - Deluge and AfterDeluge and After (album)Deluge and After is the eighth studio album by SCH, released in 2006.It is the third album in SCH's most recent phase, which began in 2002...
(2006) - Only Cunts Don't Fear the RainOnly Cunts Don't Fear the RainOnly Cunts Don't Fear the Rain is the ninth official album by SCH. It is a compilation of unreleased punk and rock compositions made during the period 1983-1993, never considered as the main SCH repertoire....
(2006) - SCH LiveSCH LiveSCH Live is the tenth official album by SCH, released in Zagreb in 2007. The album is a recording of a concert performed on 24 June 1990 in the Student Center Gallery in Zagreb...
(2007) - DanceDance (SCH album)Dance is the eleventh and the most recent official album by SCH from 2007.The recording line-up was Teno and Azra Pallas . This electro-dance album, according to Vladimir Horvat of TerapijaNet, avoids "all hybrid commercial traps... [consisting of] 70 minutes of the pure joy of listening.....
(2007) - SCH Glut (2011)
Other Releases
- SCH Dirty Lo-Fi Archive 1984-2008SCH Dirty Lo-Fi Archive 1984–2008SCH Dirty Lo-Fi Archive 1984–2008 is a 4-DVD SET collection by SCH, including shots recorded "nomatterhow", gigs, TV interviews, promotional clips, and other archival material documenting 25 years of the existence and work of the Sarajevo alternative rock band.-Bonus Material:* SCH Live at Mochvara...
(2008)
SCH's music has also been featured in a number of films and radio programs, as well as in the theater.
External links
- SCH Official Site
- SCH - NEWS AND ATTITUDES (TenoSenad Hadžimusić TenoSenad Hadžimusić is a musician, songwriter and poet best known as the founder, mastermind, songwriter, producer, singer and guitarist of the Sarajevo alternative industrial band SCH. With SCH, his band-alterego, Teno has authored, performed, produced and recorded 11 official albums...
's Blog) - SCH YouTube Channel
- SCH Fans - facebook