Pre-civil war, Yugoslavian musicians defied the limitations of technology to make superb electro-pop in an apparent socialist utopia
Bell-bottomed revellers clad in shining shirts, dancing the night away, were a familiar sight in the party capitals of the world circa 1970. But in brutalist New Belgrade, it was a brand new experience: in the basement of a sports hall, the first discotheque in socialist Yugoslavia was born.
The country no longer exists, having splintered into fragments following war in the 1990s. But before economic and ethnic fault lines appeared, and when the good times rolled, the country straddled the line between east and west – a successful socialist experiment, for a time, with an open society and vibrant cultural life. Yugoslavian disco, post-punk and electronic music thrived in the 1970s and 1980s – yet was mostly forgotten until recent efforts by hobby archivists and specialist record labels.
