Text and illustration: Boris Vlastelica
From the heart of Belgrade’s alternative music expression, Jarboli emerge as more than a band; they are a phenomenon that reflects the complexity and spontaneity of Belgrade at the turn of centuries and systems. They perfectly sublimate existential dilemmas and problems of urban youth during those several transitional generations.
To ensure it doesn’t sound like I’m strictly framing them within Belgrade, or even less so within a generational frame, Jarboli, wherever they go in Serbia and beyond, have, perhaps not a large, but a very loyal crew that bleeds in the front rows and regenerates as time goes by. The texts signed by Boris and Daniel highlight how words can not only enrich but also often carry the music. They, like an entire generation of regional bands from the nineties, paid the price of that period of 6-7 years of complete cessation of cultural exchange, interestingly, precisely between the urban subcultures of the largest city centers; on the other hand, on that main road, an uninterrupted exchange always took place: Western pop for Eastern folk. Well, that’s a topic for another time, but certainly, the closing of borders limited bands like Jarboli here, or Zagreb’s Pips there, to the statuses they have today – merely local legends, which is more a consequence of circumstances than anything.
Jarboli, however, have repeatedly proven their talent for capturing weltschmerz on a sound carrier. In that context, even this current pause coming to an end at Kontakt can be interpreted. So long and inarticulate, as if unconsciously, the voice, that is, the absence of voice, of an entire part of the population that has withdrawn from public life losing all illusions. In other words, even when they don’t make a sound for years, whether they want to or not, they capture the spirit of the times, or it captures them.
Their discography, songs, and themes of the texts thus remain a screenshot of the collective consciousness, not just of the wider center of Belgrade, but of every major city in Serbia, in a specific time between ‘conditional’ and ‘superfluous’ freedom, to quote the names of albums that brilliantly sublimate the time of their creation. Although Jarboli themselves might say I’m already exaggerating a bit, but it wouldn’t be good if they were aware of it to this extent, as it wouldn’t come naturally.
Therefore, an invitation for those who have given up, and especially for those who are still fighting the windmills of modern life; Jarboli are coming to Kontakt, to dance and sing. We will think about the themes of the texts tomorrow or sometime later.”
Step into the enigmatic world of Belgrade's most elusive band, as Jarboli break their silence and return to the stage.
BOHEMIJA @ KONTAKT 24 / Concert in Elektropionir
