There, almost half a century ago, Željko Bebek sang in Bijelo Dugmet to Duško Trifunović’s lyrics “What would you give if you were in my place, to be hated and admired”. This self-possessed beginning of the song will be quoted, loved and mouthed by many years later, but few will really stick.
Author: Miloš Dašić
It certainly suits a band like Brkov, which fills halls with several thousand people throughout the former Yugoslavia, creating a unique and recognizable sound, and yet, on the other hand, is constantly ignored by media houses, radio and TV. During his lifetime, the mustache managed to see both sides, both hatred and admiration, but also to understand that there is no need to deal with the former at all.
If we stay for a moment with Brega and company, that genre of theirs that many people liked to use mockingly when they wanted to humiliate them – shepherd’s rock, the band Brkovi Kontam would accept it as an ace. Although their punk folk wellness coin also slides down the lips just as well when you ask “what kind of music are they playing, those Moustaches that glow and burn”.
The band was formed in 2004, but with the arrival of the frontman in 2007, they became what we know today. That frontman, we all know him as Semso 69. He becomes the frontman of the team, who with his appearance of a man who has 220 volts in his blood, with absolute unstoppability on stage, the band gets the first bright spot that everyone recognizes. The other are songs, that is, sound that should never go together, but with them the old one is proven again – opposites attract.
Whether they are punk folk, or peasants who play punk, that is up to the ordinary listener, that is, like that questioner, is your glass of brandy half full or half empty. Many people today will call themselves independent, but Vrkovi is absolutely that in their core. They don’t have a publishing house, you can legally download the songs for DJ from their site, from which you can also buy a disc or record if you feel like it. But not having a house behind them gives the band the ability to be themselves, do what they want, goof off or go against the system.
Years ago, not to mention decades, radio and TV in their native Croatia didn’t want to play them (although it’s not as if other republics were killed from promotion, honor to the exceptions). Nevertheless, the Mustaches managed to feel the power of the Internet right at the beginning of the development of the World Wide Web. While they were still playing in half-empty basements around Zagreb, they had fans in Skopje, Belgrade and Novi Sad.
Youtube, networking of fans, sending songs, and the band itself, which is with everyone, leads to the Mustaches embarking on a tour that seems to have not stopped in the previous 20 years. Well yes, during the breaks they released albums full of hits, and the audience loved each new one more and more, whether they were called “Krvava nnačanica”, “Society of Bearded Mladićs”, or “Dada Topić’s Torso”.
The boys, although smiling, with humorously love texts, knew how to bite, to say everything as it is and to show the middle finger to the system, the state, nationalism, racism, fascism and other isms. Nevertheless, the humorous view of the world, accompanied by the melodies of folk cheer is something that draws us to associate this band with fun and good times on weekend evenings. But beneath the layer of fun lies a level of caution. For those who want to hear.
Back to the party, though, the band Mustache is celebrating its 20th birthday, something they couldn’t have imagined when they were playing strummed guitars two decades ago in a garage. Now it’s not a garage, but a big stage on Kalemegdan. Listen, big… huge. Bundesliga stage. It will be a marathon spectacle, and their biggest independent concert in Belgrade, conceived and performed according to the highest world standards. It has come a long way from the beginning, and this will be shown by the produced and directed performance, as well as the specially designed scenographic concept. On May 11th, get ready to hear the best of them, but also a little more. Then let’s talk about everything until the 30th birthday.
