Heroji


Heroji were a Yugoslav rock band formed in Belgrade in 1986.
Heroji were formed by vocalist Vladimir Đurić "Đura", who was soon joined by vocalist Milutin Petrović, both of them graduates from the Belgrade Faculty of Dramatic Arts. The band had unsteady lineup until 1988, when a lineup consisting of Đurić, Petrović, drummer Ivan Vdović "Vd", keyboardist Miša Savić and guitarist Vladan Aćimović was formed. The group released their only studio album in 1988, disbanding during the same year. Although short-lived, Heroji were a prominent act of the 1980s Yugoslav rock scene, known for their campy and humorous songs. After the group's disbandment, Đurić, Petrović and Savić continued their activity in various fields of culture, Đurić most notably as the leader of the band Đura i Mornari.

History

1986–1988

The band Heroji was formed in Belgrade in 1986 by vocalist Vladimir Đurić "Đura", who graduated dramaturgy on the Belgrade Faculty of Dramatic Arts. The band worked in an unsteady lineup, but managed to gain attention of the media with their first demo recording, the song "Noću haramo". Soon after the formation, the band was joined by Đurić's friend Milutin Petrović, who graduated film and television directing on the Belgrade Faculty of Dramatic Arts. Petrović was previously synthesizer player in the band Stalker and, from 1984 to 1986, director of the Television Belgrade music chart show Hit meseca. During the 1984–1986 period Petrović directed about 30 music videos for Yugoslav rock acts. He became Heroji's second vocalist, and both Đurić and Petrović composed the band's material.
Soon after the formation, the band recorded their debut release, the 7-inch single with the songs "Bilder" and "Instruktor skijanja", released through PGP-RTB. The single featured simple rock tunes with humorous lyrics. In 1987 Heroji recorded their second 7-inch single, featuring the songs "Kiza rock" and "E = mc²", stylistically similar to their debut release. The song "Kiza rock" featured guest appearance by actor Slobodan "Boda" Ninković. The single was published with a plain white cover, used by PGP-RTB for promotional single records, with each of the single covers featuring a unique drawing made by members of the band.
Before the recording of their debut album, Heroji got a steady lineup, featuring beside Đurić and Petrović, drummer Ivan Vdović "Vd", keyboardist Miša Savić and guitarist Vladan Aćimović. The band released their first and only studio album, entitled 88, in 1988 through PGP-RTB. The album was produced by Momčilo Bajagić "Bajaga" and the band's logo on the album cover was designed by renowned architect Aleksandar Deroko. The album brought campy songs, with tracks "Zgromiću te ja", "Gagarin", "Nikad robom" and "Majmun" seeing the biggest airplay. After a series of promotional concerts, the band ended their activity in the same year the album was released.

Post breakup

Vladimir Đurić

After the band ended their activity, Đurić worked as a screenwriter, director and TV author. He returned to music in 1993, when he released the album Maštarije. The album, released by L.V.O. Records, featured songs written during Heroji's activity. The album featured former Heroji member Miša Savić on keyboards, as well as Mladen Arsenijević on guitar and Rade Bulatović on bass guitar. The album featured songs with Caribbean rhythms and nostalgic lyrics. In 1997 Đurić published the album Mediteran with the backing band named Mornari. The band featured Miško Petrović "Plavi", Mladen Arsenijević, Ratko Ljubičić, Goran Rakočević and Radovan Popović. The material for the album was originally written for Đurić's radio drama Balada o unutrašnjem moru. The album was produced by Vlada Marković and was stylistically similar to Maštarije. In 1998 the compilation album The Best of Đura was released, featuring songs from Maštarije and Mediteran, as well as Heroji's "Zgromiću te ja" and previously unreleased "Balkanska". In 2000 Đura i Mornari released the album Tropikalizam, produced by Mornari member Mladen Arsenijević. In 2005 Đurić released the album Letnja terasa under the name Đura Mornar. He recorded the album in cooperation with keyboardist Milan Milosavljević, guitarist Zoran Anić and producer Aleksandar Janković. In 2014 Đura i Mornari released the album Algeria, in the lineup featuring, beside Vladimir Đurić, Radivoje "Rale" Bojanovski, Dejan "Deki" Resanović, Milan Milosavljević "Burda", Nikola Đokić and Boris Đurić. The song "Tekila Meksiko" featured singer Prljavi Inspektor Blaža on vocals as guest. In 2017 Đura i Mornari together with the folk band Vojvođanski San released the album Nove gradske pesme, featuring the combination of Latin and Balkan old town music. The album featured Đura i Mornari songs, as well as covers of folk songs.
Đurić was a screenwriter, director and TV author in the TV shows Neobavezno, Petkom u 22, Kult, Devedesete, Nove vrednosti, Kult detektivi and Služimo narodu. From 1992 to 1994 he hosted the shows Kurs kreativnog pisanja and Đurina treš lista. He wrote theatre plays Ban Strah, Džet set, Bilijarska priča, The Games People Play, Belgrade by Night, Alisa u zemlji čuda. He published a number of books: Hvalisavi roman & Super, Đurine smešne priče, the collection of essays Mitologije tehnosveta, the novel London, the poetry book Izabrane pesme and a book on Yugoslav new wave scene Glamur i ezoterija. With journalist Goran Tarlać he co-authored Pesme iz stomaka naroda – Antologija turbo folka. He wrote a number of poems, short stories and essays. He wrote the screenplay for the TV film Koju igru igraš and acted in Srđan Koljević's 2004 film The Red Colored Grey Truck.

Milutin Petrović

In 1987 Petrović directed his first work, the TV film Telefonomanija. In 1988 he directed the TV adaptation of the rock opera Kreatori i kreature, written by Vladimir Milačić and starring Yugoslav musicians Snežana Jandrlić, Dejan Cukić, Massimo Savić, Zana Nimani, Bora Đorđević, Amila Sulejmanović and Goran Čavajda "Čavke". In 1989 he directed the TV show Dome, slatki dome.
At the beginning of the 1990s he directed the TV show on pop culture Popovanje. In 1992 he directed the hit musical Trinidad, played in Bitef Theatre and based on Robert Mitchum's album Calypso – Is like So…. The musical featured songs from the album with Serbian language lyrics, performed live during the play by Trinidad Trip Band, consisting of former Heroji member Miša Savić, percussionist Papa Nik and the members of the band Plejboj. The musical starred Ivana Mihić, Branislav "Bane" Vidaković and Slobodan "Boda" Ninković. The songs from the musical were released on the 1994 album The Trinidad, the recording of which featured Miša Savić and the members of the band Vera Kvark. In 1994 Petrović with Trinidad Trip Band performed on an unplugged concert held in Belgrade's Sava Centar. The recording of the songs "Kiza rock" and "Ona hoće mambo", the latter featuring actress Branka Katić on vocals, were released on the various artists live album Bez struje. The same album features a recording of Đurić performing "Zgromiću te ja".
Petrović directed seven feature films: Land of Truth, Love & Freedom, South by Southeast, the children's film Agi and Emma, the documentary film Novo je da sam bila zlostavljana, The Loop, the documentary film I Pledge and Bad Blood. He directed three TV series: Plaško Habrović uzvraća udarac, the teen series Nebojša Čelik šou! and Bad Blood. He acted in his films Land of Truth, Love & Freedom and South by Southeast and in his series Bad Blood, as well as in the films Dudes, State and Humidity. For Land of Truth, Love & Freedom he co-wrote the music with Miša Savić.

Miša Savić

During the 1980s Savić was a critically acclaimed author of minimal music. For a number of years he was the editor of Students' Cultural Centre classical music program. He cooperated with alternative rock musician Rambo Amadeus on the musical pieces performed in Sava Centar on 27 December 1994, during the screening of Fritz Lang's film Metropolis. The music was released in 1998 on the album Metropolis B Tour de Force. With Milutin Petrović he co-wrote the music for Petrović's film Land of Truth, Love & Freedom. He also wrote music for Petrović's film South by Southeast.

Ivan Vdović

After Heroji disbanded, Vdović retired from music. At the time of his activity with Heroji, he had already been tested HIV positive. He was the first person in Yugoslavia to be officially registered as HIV positive. He died of AIDS on 25 September 1992.

Discography

Studio albums

  • ''88''

    Singles

  • "Bilder" / "Instruktor skijanja"
  • "Kiza rock" / "E = mc²"