The new wave, as the peak period of rock music in the former Yugoslavia, when it was both innovative and seductive at the same time, left such a deep mark that we still regularly remember it with joy, TV shows, films and books are made on the subject. every year we can count on compilations, reissues and anniversary celebrations, those bands (the ones that are still alive) are still among the biggest names at many rock festivals, an award is given with the name of Milan Mladenović, while the enigmatic Johnny Štulic is still for many the mystery they want to solve.
Some, therefore, live even though they are not among the living, because their name lives on, some others live on from old glory, but one of them is perhaps a bigger mystery than Štulić because he is forever young. It is difficult to find a musician like Darko Rundek, who can boast of the consistency of the quality of his work for several decades. With him you always know where you are, there is always room to incorporate something new, but in the end it is always Rundek - music for itself.
On the eve of the New Year's holidays, Darko Rundek & Ekipa, after several announced singles, finally released the long-awaited, double EP "Brisani prostor". What was not unexpected was that the album immediately found itself at the top of numerous top lists of the best releases of the year that began to be compiled and published at that time. At the right moment, Rundek presents the audience with new material on which, above all, Roko Crnić, the frontman of the Porto morto group and a man with whom Rundek has collaborated more and more in recent years, played a significant role. Rundek spoke to "Vijesti" about the new edition, but also the environmental disaster, digitalization, the music industry and democracy.
Why a double EP, why not an album when the material already meets all the criteria to be an album, why was this division into two parts important to you?
Modeled on the LP. It has two sides, A and B, and a break for turning the record. That in itself imposed the organization in two units. In the case of "Erased Space", these two units are even more pronounced, because the first EP contains material with studio-treated sound and arranged songs, while the second EP is based on original recordings of the band's improvisations, on which I later wrote and deleted instrumental lines and lyrics.
What was the process of working on this release and how do you normally approach recording and creating an album, do you have any traditions, do you always have a guiding idea that surrounds all that material or does it come to you during the creation process?
The work process is usually very similar. We approach the new album openly with the materials that have been collected in the meantime in the notes and thoughts of each of us, or we simply let ourselves go to the music. Then we start playing with those materials. In that game, songs, ideas, messages gradually crystallize, and in the end, an album is created. The guiding idea is mostly unconsciously present in the beginning, and then it becomes more and more clear. The album was already titled "Blanched Space" while it was still missing one song. It was she who got the title "New World", a new song and text, somehow rounded off and strengthened the thematic circle of this album.
This last phase of your work was marked by the collaboration with Roko Crnić, how did that collaboration come about, what impressed you so much about him that you let him make a good number of songs his own? You have often changed collaborators, it can be seen that you like it, that these collaborations give you some new vitality, what do you think is most important, what are you looking for in musicians you want to collaborate with?
In the beginning, we didn't know that Roko would be represented so much as an author on the album, but we recognized his ideas and suggestions, as well as some whole songs that he brought, as good and inspiring, and they occupied the space that naturally belongs to them. He is also a visual artist, so he also signs videos that accompany the songs "Ununtarnji glas", "Tko su svi ti ljudi" and "Mila", the conception of which we collaborated on. I think it's natural to collaborate with various artists because new interactions and ideas happen, many of these encounters happen even without a person looking for them excessively. When we got together for the "Apocalypso Now 2017" tour, we didn't know in advance that we would start an album together, but the joint creativity showed itself very quickly, so we recorded the singles "Dark lilac", "Barbara" and "Sandstorms". This was followed by a very inspired collaboration with Andreja Košavić Kurelec, on the album "Mura mura". After all that, a new joint author's album offered itself.
The album immediately received positive reviews, it was included in the lists of the best albums of the year... My colleague Hrvoje Horvat noted well that almost no one from your generation can even come close to your creative momentum, that you have not made a single wrong move in your career or oeuvre. In what way do you think you remain forever young and new in that sense, and no matter how much the scene, trends, industry change, people always know what to expect from you and that you will deliver it, how do you renew that vitality - maybe even through these cooperation among other things?
Well, surely those collaborations play an important role. Music still fascinates and challenges me. Changes on the stage, in trends and in the industry are interesting to me as phenomena and can be inspiring, but it never occurs to me to follow them for some non-musical reasons.
How often do you follow current events on the scene, are there any new performers that you like, for example, you were a member of the jury that awarded the Milan Mladenović award, how would you evaluate the potential of all the material you listened to? In this regard, how important do you think it is that there is a Milan Mladenović award?
The average quality and literacy among the works that reached the jury was very high. It seemed to me, with which the other members of the jury did not quite agree, that the view of the world was very dark and defeatist. I can say that I also lacked courage and freedom in researching those materials. It is certain that Milan Mladenović's award is necessary and good, because it prompts creators to compare themselves with someone who has set the bar high. Among the bands that I like, but were not among the submitted works, are Porto Morto, Repetitor...
How generally do you follow changes and trends in the industry, as someone with so much experience behind you, how do you see this general digitization, the dominance of streaming services and YouTube - what are the positives and what are the negatives? What kind of music do you like to listen to the most, what kind of music and lyrics inspire you the most and leave the strongest impression on you lately?
I have to say that the idea that the music scene has become an industry annoys me. I don't feel like an industrial worker. Industrial civilization is coming to an end anyway. Digitization and streaming services are practical, but quantity eats up the quality, if not of the material itself, but of the experience. Lately, I quickly recognize if there is true joy and quest in some music or if it is an industrial product. You decide for yourself which I like better.
A democracy where every four years the people who lead have to pander to the voters on the one hand and big corporations on the other, no major structural changes can be made. Only wisdom can help in this
Recently, the XNUMXth anniversary of your first solo concert in post-Milošević Serbia, i.e. then FR Yugoslavia, was marked. Now that you look back, with what feelings do you look at it and was there any meaning, any symbolism in the fact that those concerts came just after the fall of Milošević, when people in this area hoped that better times were coming?
The fall of Milošević certainly brought hope for a better and more humane tomorrow. Those first concerts in Serbia after the war were really a very strong emotional event for both the audience and us on stage, like a meeting of lovers and friends. It was powerful and moving. It was also the happy beginning of an excellent collaboration with Zoran Vulović and Belgrade's LongPlay, which continues today.
You said that you are a royalist, that only a wise king can save us - is your idea something like Plato's state where philosophers occupy the highest positions, or do you imagine something different?
A democracy where every four years the people who lead have to pander to the voters on the one hand and big corporations on the other, no major structural changes can be made. Only wisdom can help in this, be it embodied in the king or somehow different. The question is how to gain confidence in wisdom, how to recognize it. In relation to which higher principle should we look at all this?
Both capitalism, socialism and communism are based on industrial civilization and on the separation of man from nature. The new social system must start from the opposite principle than GDP growth.
Eight years ago, you announced the collapse of capitalism, and with it the collapse of the European Union. What is your position on that issue today - are we closer to that or is that system, as it has been, managing to maintain itself and overcome all crises?
I saw a good book title the other day: “The Fall of the Human Empire”. It sounds like the fall of the Roman Empire that we learned about from history, only now on one side are all humans, and on the other, instead of barbarians, all other forms of life... There were on this planet large human communities that knew how to live in harmony with and respect for As a whole, as for example, American Indians and Australian Aborigines, Amazonian and African tribes and kingdoms, but they wiped them out. Both capitalism, socialism and communism are based on industrial civilization and on the separation of man from nature. The new social system must start from the reverse principle that GDP growth and respect are necessary and coordinated, instead of hoarding, the pursuit of comfort and power. That change can bring a lot of joy and creativity. As the title of another book by a famous French collapseologist says: "A different end of the world is also possible".
We are not getting closer to the disaster, the disaster is already underway
Last year, you supported the campaign for the preservation of the Durmitor National Park in Montenegro, and it's not the first time you've supported environmental activists, warning about climate change and the dangers that come with it. Do you think it is important for an artist of your status to address the public on this issue, do you think it can have significance and impact? And generally looking at our planet and the information we know about climate change, is there any hope for us considering that the big states and corporations act like nothing is happening, when in fact we are getting closer to disaster every day?
The disaster is already underway, somewhere more, somewhere less. And as for cutting down forests, polluting and piping rivers, killing and destroying the habitat of wild animals, mass disappearance of birds, extinction of insects, migration of people, poisoning of land with pesticides and herbicides, air pollution, ocean acidification and climate disruption. Scientists from all these domains send alarms that politics hears, but does not know how to respond to because they call into question the overall functioning of this civilization. I don't know how much importance and influence my public address can have on this matter, but it is important that these topics enter the public space and that more and more people ask and seek how to soften the blow that has already begun.
You said that the whole region has problems with things like the construction of mini-hydroelectric plants and advised civil disobedience as a way to fight. Is our region, as a periphery of global capitalism, particularly threatened by the destruction of nature and is it even possible to do something at the local level, when many of these things are decided on a global level?
In our country, on the periphery of global capitalism, positive projects such as "Rewilding Europe" are starting. We have areas where nature is more preserved than in Western Europe, and we will certainly have support for our region to preserve it and expand the wilderness area in which man would seek a new balance with other living beings.
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