Смак: История югославской рок-группы

Serbian rock band
the Serbian band

Smak (; trans. The end time) was a Serbian and Yugoslav band from Kragujevac. The group reached the peak of popularity in the 1970s when it was one of the most notable acts of the former Yugoslav rock scene. The band's leader, guitarist Radomir Mihailović, nicknamed Točak ("The Wheel"), is considered one of the most influential guitarists on the former Yugoslav rock scene. Formed in 1971 by the guitarist Radomir "Točak" Mihajlović and drummer Slobodan "Kepa" Stojanović, the band did not get a stable lineup until 1975 by which time bassist Zoran Milanović, vocalist Boris Aranđelović and keyboard player Laza Ristovski became the band's official members. However, after recording their eponymous debut album, Ristovski left and the remaining quartet recorded their subsequent albums with various keyboardists before disbanding in 1981. After brief reunions between 1986 and 1992, the two founding members, Mihajlović and Stojanović, reestablished the band with younger musicians — vocalist Dejan "Najda" Najdanović, the second drummer Dejan "Kepa Jr." Stojanović, second guitarist Milan "Mikica" Milosavljević and bassist Vlada Samardžić. During the late 1990, the latter was replaced by the bassist Slobodan "Sale" Marković who performed with the band until 2002 when Smak disbanded once again. The remaining members from the last lineup, with the new bassist Miloš Petrović reunited in 2010, and in 2012 the default lineup of the band made a one off reunion.

By the time Zašto ne volim sneg got released, the frequent arguments among the band members precipitated their decision to disband following one final show in Belgrade. In June 1981, they held a farewell concert at the Red Star basketball court within the Kalemegdan fortress in front of six thousand fans, with a guest appearance by Dado Topić who joined the band on stage to perform "Na Balkanu". The suddenly reduced financial windfall from the final show led to the band's decision to embark on a farewell tour in order to recoup the lost income despite being on unfriendly terms and originally not intending on performing past the Kalemegdan performance. In early 1982, Mihajlović and Stojanović, this time with bassist Lola Andrejić, decided to form an instrumental music trio, continuing with the style first explored on Zašto ne volim sneg, however, after a misunderstanding between Stojanović and Andrejić, the former left the band. During 1982, Mihajlović released a single "Mantilja" (Mantilla), with "Specijalka" (A Special) as the B side, and with Andrejić and Moss who often performed live with him, he recorded maxi single "Marš na Drinu" ("March on the River Drina"), a cover of the World War I song.

In mid October 1986, the mainstay Smak members reunited in the lineup Mihajlović, Stojanović, Aranđelović and Milanović, The four started rehearsing at the University of Kragujevac campus, and during the rehearsals a young keyboard player Milan Đurđević often attended the rehearsals, however, due to being Mihajlović's reserved towards him, he invited Chris Nichols to record the keyboard parts. The comeback album Smak 86., also featuring Miša Komnenić and Vlada Nikodijević on guest keyboards, but the album was not well received by the critics. After a short tour, the band went on an indefinite hiatus. and the recording of the instrumental "Because" appeared on the various artists double live album Legende YU Rocka, released by Jugoton during the same year. After having a successful performance in Kragujevac, despite the rumors of reformation, the members devoted to their own careers once again. The band held two performances in Sava Centar, the first of which was recorded for the live album OdLIVEno (LIVEquefied), on compact cassette only. Nevertheless, Aranđelović went to Amsterdam where he stayed longer than the intended two months and Milanović and Ristovski did not appear at the band rehearsals, thus the lineup did not make a full time comeback. At the time, in 1993, Mihajlović got the offer to score the film Vizantijsko plavo (Byzantine Blue), directed by Dragan Marinković, which he recorded Stojanović senior and junior on drums and Milosavljević on bass, signed as the band TEK. featured guest appearances by Ristovski (keyboards), Zoran Milanović (bass), Marija Mihajlović (vocals), Miroslav Savić (keyboards) and Nenad Petrović (saxophone). This was the reason why Stojanović suggested Mihailović to return to a classic rock lineup with a vocalist, and in the meantime, Milosavljević switched to guitar, thus the band were to look for a new vocalist and bassist. At first the band considered the Osvajači vocalist Zvonko Pantović "Čipi", due to a similar vocal style with Aranđelović's, but eventually the new vocalist became Dejan Najdanović "Najda", a former Kramer vocalist, On the recommendation of a friend, the new bassist became Vlada Samardžić, a young jazz fusion musician from Novi Sad, who performed with Vasil Hadžimanov. Having completed the lineup, and having an album's worth material, Radomir "Točak" Mihailović (guitar), Slobodan "Kepa" Stojanović (drums), Dejan "Kepa Jr." Stojanović (drums), Milan "Mikica" Milosavljević (guitar), Dejan "Najda" Najdanović (vocals) and Vlada Samardžić (bass guitar) entered the studio and recorded the Smak's seventh studio album Bioskop Fox (Fox Cinema), produced by Mihailović and released jointly by VANS, Komuna and PGP RTS in 1995. In order to promote the album, the band had recorded a promotional video for the song "Lisica" ("Fox"), dedicated to Jimi Hendrix, in a professional film studio in Košutnjak,

After the album release, the band started tour rehearsals in Kragujevac and had their first live appearance with the new lineup in Čačak on September 9, 1995, followed by performances in Kragujevac, however they were facing the problem of a small number of people attending their shows. After the tour cancellation, the bassist Vlada Samardžić, disappointed with the fact, decided to leave the band and dedicated himself to his studies at the Berklee College of Music. During 1996, the RTV Slovenia released a compilation album The Best of Smak, and the following year, in the spring of 1997, the band had a tour of Slovenia. The success of the tour resulted in the plans for another tour which was canceled due to the problems with the management in Slovenia. In May of the same year, in the Kragujevac Šumadija cinema hall, the band made an experiment with performing an entire concert without audience and the recording of the concert was released on the double live album Live Without Audience, featuring live versions of twenty two tracks from the band's entire career. A promotional video for the song was recorded for the song "Ljudi nije fer" which received an adequate media coverage. In 1999, the band started working on a new studio album, for which Mihajlović and Stojanović decided that it should feature poly rhythmic drums and scat singing. Nevertheless, Stojanović suggested that beside scat singing, several tracks should feature lyrics, which Mihajlović refused, and thus Stojanović made a decision not to play on the album. Egregor, released by PGP RTS, produced by Mihajlović and Saša Habić, featured only one song with lyrics and on the rest Najdanović was featured on scat singing. During 1999, Boris Aranđelović recorded a solo album Milion godina (A Million Years) as Boris i Dinosaurusi on which the music was written by former YU grupa guitarist Bata Kostić, Jimmy Barnes and R. M. Točak, the lyrics by Marina Tucaković and Ranko Slijepčević, and the recordings featured Kostić, Ristovski, Kepa Stojanović, Zoran Milanović, Pera Joe and Neverne Bebe guitarist Saša Ranđelović "Ranđa". The former bass player Vlada Samardžić did not participate the reunion, but expressed the support of the new lineup. From summer until autumn of the same year, the band had recorded four tracks, "Delfin" (The Dolphin), an instrumental version of the song "Cigansko srce" (Gypsy Heart), originally released on the album Rock cirkus, "Ispiranje" (Ablution) and "Rapsodija o lepom" ("A Rhapsody on Beauty"), which were premiered on the band's official YouTube channel. However, further reunion plans had been interrupted by Slobodan Stojanović's spinal cord surgery. The recorded tracks, along with the bonus video versions of the material, were released in December 2012 on the EP Delfin (The Dolphin) by the Serbian record label One Records. The same label also rereleased in compact disc format the 1992 live album OdLIVEno, previously available on compact cassette only, and released Radomir Mihajlović's solo album Tonsko ukrašavanje (A Tonal Ornamentation). On December 29, 2012, Smak reunited in the default lineup – Radomir Mihajlović (guitar), Boris Aranđelović (vocals), Zoran Milanović (bass guitar) and Slobodan Stojanović (drums) – for a concert in Kombank Arena. The concert also featured members of the current Smak lineup – Dejan Najdanović (vocals), Milan Milosavljević (guitar), Miloš Petrović (bass guitar) and Dejan Stojanović (drums) – as well as Dejan Zdraevski on keyboards. The reunion of the band's default lineup saw large media coverage and the concert featured about 18,000 spectators. On June 27, 2013, the band, in both the default and current lineup, performed at Kragujevac Arsenal Fest. It was the band's first concert in Kragujevac since 1997. In 2014, the band rerecorded their 1978 song "Nebo je samo drum bez dna" ("The Sky Is Only a Bottomless Road") and released it on their official YouTube channel. On June 20, 2015, the band, once again in both default and current lineup, held a concert in Belgrade Ušće park, in front of about 20,000 spectators. The concert featured the bands Oktava, Rare and Epilog as the opening bands and Dado Topić as guest. The concert at Ušće park was Aranđelović's last performance with the band. He died on August 27 of the same year in Rotterdam, after long illness. He was 67.

On May 6, 2022, Smak reunited again with a new singer, Jovan Pantić Panta, whose voice tone is very similar to Aranđelović's. They held a concert in Kragujevac at the City Hall. On September 9, 2022, Smak held a concert in Čačak.

In 2017, the band was awarded the silver medal for Merit by the President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolić for their contribution to Serbian culture. Smak songs have been covered by a plethora of acts and the notable cover versions include: The girl group Aska medley which consisted of passages from "Satelit", "Crna dama", "Nevidljive terazije", "Halo", "Tendži Tandži", "Daire" and "Gore dole" on their 1982 album Disco Rock. The song "Daire" was covered in 1994 by the band Neverne Bebe on their album Neverne Bebe I, their version featuring a passage from "Zajdi, zajdi"; the band covered the song once again on their 2004 album Neverne Bebe IV – Dvoje – The Best Of Osvajači covered the song "Ljudi nije fer" on their 1994 unplugged concert. The song "Crna dama" was covered in 2000 by singer Viktorija on her album Nostalgija (Nostalgia). In 2011, the band Čipi i Industrija, featuring the original Osvajači members, covered the song "Na Balkanu", with former Generacija 5 vocalist Đorđe David on guest vocals, released on the album Na Balkanu. On his 2012 album Štrajk mozga (Brain Strike), the rapper Edo Maajka sampled the riff of "Biska 2", from the Live Without Audience album, in the song "Diši" ("Breathe"). The following year, "Biska 2" was covered by the Milan Petrović Quartet on their instrumental cover album Favorites. The albums and songs by Smak were featured on several all time greatest lists of former Yugoslav rock. The book YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike (YU 100: The Best albums of Yugoslav pop and rock music), published in 1998, features two Smak albums: Crna dama (ranked No. 40) and Smak (ranked No. 63). The Rock Express Top 100 Yugoslav Rock Songs of All Times list, published in 2000, featured seven songs by Smak: "Crna dama" (polled No.5), "Ulazak u harem" (polled No.12), "Daire" (polled No.23), "Blues u parku" (polled No.47), "Šumadijski blues" (polled No.65), "Zajdi, zajdi" (polled No.82) and "Satelit" (polled No.94). In 2006, "Plava pesma" was polled No.61 on the B92 Top 100 Domestic Songs list. In 2011, "Daire" was polled, by the listeners of Radio 202, one of 60 greatest songs released by PGP RTB/PGP RTS.