Ван Гог: Белградтық рок тобының тарихы

Serbian (formerly Yugoslav) rock band

Van Gogh (Serbian: Ван Гог) is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade. The band was formed in 1986, and released their debut alternative rock oriented self titled album during the same year. During the 1990s, the band released a number of well received albums inspired mostly by the works of the band Ekatarina Velika, and in the 2000s the band adopted more commercial sound, becoming one of the top acts of the Serbian rock scene. Since the beginning of the band's career, vocalist and guitarist Zvonimir Đukić and drummer Srboljub Radivojević have been the mainstay members of the band.

The band was formed in 1986. The first lineup consisted of Zvonimir Đukić "Đule" (guitar), Srboljub Radivojević (drums), Đorđe Petrović (a former Zajedno member, keyboards), Goran Milisavljević (vocals), and Predrag Popović (a former Rock Ekspres member, bass guitar). In February 1986, the band released their debut single "Tragovi prošlosti" ("Traces of the Past"), and in May they appeared at Youth Festival in Subotica, performing songs "Tragovi prošlosti", "Tvoj smeh" ("Your Laughter") and "Menjam se" ("I'm Changing"), and winning the second place by the choice of the audience, and the third place by the choice of the jury. At the end of 1986 the band released their debut self titled album. The album lyrics were written by Milisavjević, the music was written by Đukić, and the album was produced by Petrović. The album featured new versions of "Tragovi prošlosti", "Tvoj smeh" and "Menjam se". ), Ekatarina Velika (participating in the recording of their album Samo par godina za nas) and Nikola Čuturilo.

Van Gogh reunited in 1990 and released the single "Gubiš me" ("You're Losing Me"), and in 1991 they released the album Svet je moj (The World Is Mine). The lineup which released the single and the album consisted of Đukić (vocals, guitar), Radivojević (drums), Aleksandar Barać (bass guitar), Vladan Cvetković (drums), and Vlada Barjaktarević (keyboards). The album featured Ekatarina Velika members Milan Mladenović and Margita Stefanović, Električni Orgazam member Zoran "Švaba" Radimirović, and Oktobar 1864 member Tanja Jovićević as guests. The music and most of the songs' lyrics was written by Đukić, and the album was produced by Barjaktarević. Strast marked the band's shift towards mainstream rock sound. It was produced by Saša Habić, and it featured Rambo Amadeus, Marija Mihajlović and Pera Joe as guests. In 1996 the band released Hodi (Come), which featured more diverse sound than the band's previous releases, and artistic music videos were recorded for several songs. The music was written by Đukić, the song "Polje snova" was written by Saša Dragić, and a part of the songs' lyrics featured motifs from Momčilo Nastasijević's poetry. The album featured songs from all the periods of the band's career, but mostly from several last albums. The album was produced by Vlada Negovanović. The song "Pleme" ("Tribe") featured a quotation from the song "Sunshine Day" by Osibisa, and the song lyrics featured motifs from Desanka Maksimović poetry. During the same year the band's first album was rereleased by Metropolis Records. In 2002, the band released the album DrUnder, which featured electronic rock elements. In 2003, the band was joined by the new bass guitarist Dejan Ilić. The same year the band held a concert at the full Tašmajdan Stadium. On June 15, 2004, Van Gogh performed as the opening band on Metallica concert held at Partizan Stadium in Belgrade. In 2006 Van Gogh released Kolo. The album was named after the traditional folk dance from the Balkans, and the first single from the album was the folk oriented "Kolo (Ludo luda)", the lyrics of which featured elements from the Serbian folk poem "Riba i devojka" recorded by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. The same year the band released live/video album Beogradska Arena / Live, which featured a recording of Van Gogh's concert held in Belgrade Arena on May 19, 2007. In 2009, Van Gogh released Lavirint through Mobile Telephony of Serbia, and during the first month of the sale it was sold in more than 100,000 copies. On November 28, 2009. the band held another concert at the full packed Belgrade Arena. This concert won the Concert of the year award at the Serbian Oscar Of Popularity.

In 2010, Dejan Ilić left the band and was replaced by Dragan Ivanović which was his second stint at Van Gogh. In 2011, the band celebrated 25 years of existence with the release of Total, which featured a CD with 17 songs and a DVD with 23 videos, released by Croatia Records for the Croatian market only. In December 2013, the band released the album Neumeren u svemu (Unrestrained in Every Way). The album was previously announced by the single "Nešto vuče me dole" ("Something Drags Me Down"), released in May 2013 for free download from the band's official site. Van Gogh released the album as a duo, with Đukić and Radivojević as the only official members of the band. On the album recording, Đukić played guitar, bass guitar, keyboards and mandolin and sang lead vocals, and Radivojević played drums and sang backing vocals. In January 2014, the band released the video for the song "Anđele, moj brate" ("Angel, My Brother"), featuring actor Petar Božović. In 2014, a monography about the band, written by Đukić and Radivojević, entitled Van Gogh: Tragovi prošlosti, was published. In June Dejan Ilić rejoined Van Gogh. In October of the same year, the band won the Best Adriatic Act award at the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards for the second time, thus becoming the first band to win the award two times. The award was handed to the band at the first of two sold out concerts at the Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall on December 11 and 12, 2014. In April 2016, in order to celebrate its 30th anniversary, the band released the album Ako stanemo, gubimo sve (If We Stop, We'll Lose Everything). The album featured twelve old songs recorded in new, mostly acoustic arrangements. On April 22, 2016, the band performed, alongside Riblja Čorba, Piloti, Galija and Električni Orgazam on the opening of renovated Tašmajdan Stadium. The band celebrated their 30th anniversary on the festival 5 do 100 (5 to 100), which was held on July 4, 2016 on Niš Fortress. The festival featured Van Gogh, the band Novembar, celebrating their 30th anniversary, and the band Galija celebrating their 40th anniversary (the combined "age" of the bands was 95, thus the title of the festival). Van Gogh's performance featured guest appearance by Kerber vocalist Goran Šepa. At the beginning of 2019 the band released their 10th studio album called “More bez Obala”(A sea without shores). The frontman of the group Zvonimir Đukić was attacked while performing in Sarajevo in July 2019. In 2019 Branislav Gluvakov left the group and in 2020 Dejan Ilić parted ways with the band for the second time as well thus leading to the return of Dragan Ivanović for his third stint with Van Gogh. This move made Van Gogh a historically recognizable three man band once more.

The Rock Express Top 100 Yugoslav Rock Songs of All Times list, published in 2000, featured three songs by Van Gogh: "Neko te ima" (polled No.6), the version of "Klatno" from No Comment (polled No.40) and "Mama" (polled No.52). In 2011, the song "Neko te ima" was voted, by the listeners of Radio 202, one of 60 greatest songs released by PGP RTB/PGP RTS during the sixty years of the label's existence.