Bijelo Dugme and Goran Bregović at Centennial Hall: Yugoslav rock and Balkan folklore

Goran Bregović and legendary Bijelo Dugme will perform at Wrocław’s Centennial Hall on 7 November! This concert will be truly exceptional: during the two-hour performance, Bregović will be joined by his original band Bijelo Dugme, the object of genuine cult devotion in former Yugoslav countries. The frenzy surrounding their appearances was called dugmemania for good reason. In Wrocław, Bregović will play a selection spanning his entire work. Audiences will hear both Bijelo Dugme’s greatest hits and Bregović’s own material with the Wedding and Funeral Orchestra!

Founded by Bregović in 1974, Bijelo Dugme, with singer Željko Bebek a key figure, were Yugoslav rock’s first stars and leading representatives of so-called Sarajevo pop. Just two years after forming, they sold out the country’s largest venues, often playing several concerts in one place. In 1977, they performed for over 100,000 people in Belgrade, setting an attendance record that stood for decades. Every album sold hundreds of thousands of copies.

The brilliant Bregović understood the spirit of the times like no one else. Around the turn of the eighties, the band adopted a new-wave style, and a few years later began introducing more and more Balkan folk elements into their classic rock sound. Bijelo Dugme’s final three albums brought what Bregović is still famous for today: an extraordinarily effortless combination of rock ’n’ roll spirit and Balkan musical traditions. Needless to say, they broke sales records once again.

The end of the former Yugoslavia also marked the end of Bijelo Dugme. Goran Bregović developed a close collaboration with another Sarajevo resident, the outstanding director Emir Kusturica. This unexpected partnership produced the remarkable, unsettling films “Czas Cyganów”, “Arizona Dream” and “Underground”. For his music for the last of these, Bregović received the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995. He has recorded with Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora, revived Krzysztof Krawczyk’s career and performed his music with an extraordinarily varied range of ensembles. These span small groups and orchestras through to enormous projects involving brass and string players, Bulgarian choirs and artists from the countries where he happens to perform.

There is nobody in Poland who has not encountered his hits: just think of songs such as “Kalašnjikov”, “Mesečina”, “Ausência”, performed with Cesária Évora, or the hit duet with Kayah, “Prawy do lewego”.

The incredible energy filling the composer's work wins legions of fans, makes heads spin and gets people dancing. Bregović's music synthesises Romani rhythms and European chords, a killer brass orchestra sound and traditional polyphony, sharp guitars and pop melodies full of deceptive sweetness.

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