User:SokOdZoveOrla/Dejan Pejović

Dejan Pejović ( Belgrade, August 23, 1968 ) is a Serbian musician, poet and visual artist. He was one of the founders of the famous rock bands Vampiri and Familija.

Baby boom
The band Baby Boom marks the beginning of Pejović's music career, dating back to the mid-80s, when he started the band with his schoolmates, Dušan Pavlović and Branko Lukić.

Their style was mainly based on the music of the '50s and the '60s, and it does not come as a surprise that some songs from that period ended up on the records of the group Vampiri - created by fusion  of the groups Baby Boom and Lollipops. Immediately after their first demo, the band made their first appearance on television, in the show Petkom u 22, which dealt with the cultural events of the time, and whose music editor was Zoran Simjanović.

The first recordings were made in the four-channel studio Kakadu, owned by Nebojša Marić - Maroni. After that, they record in the studio of Branko Potkonjak (Bane Hendrix), and the last demo recording in the Casablanca studio of Dadi Stojanović. Pejović is the author of all songs except for three covers - songs by Richie Valens (Oh Donna), the Cascades (Rhythm of the Rain), and Bart Howard (Fly Me To the Moon). Soon after, the story of Vampiri starts.

As a member and one of the original founders of the band Vampiri, already after their first album Rama Lama Ding Dong (PGP RTB) was published in 1991, Pejović and his band quickly succeeded in conquering the musical arena of the former Yugoslavia. On this album, Pejović signs the song Anđela as the author. In the same year, they performed in the revue part of the festival Београдско пролећe, with a cover of the song Beograde, composed by Duško Jakšić, and originally performed by Đorđe Marjanović. Also in 1991, they played in the Sava Center as guests of the Belgian group Vaya Con Dios.

Vampiri
It should be noted that Vampiri were also part of the S one strane duge project, and the compilation songs from the project included their cover of the song Stand By Me by Ben E. King.

The album reached platinum status. It is a curiosity that in the very same year they released their second album, called Tačno u ponoć (PGP RTB), after which they were declared the Band of the Year, also receiving the Album of the Year award. The second album also reached the platinum, with Pejović appearing as author of three songs - Volim je ja, Je, Je (Tako je dobro) and Kad pade noć.

The popularity of Dejan Pejović and the band Vampiri at the time is indicated by the fact that they composed music for the film We Are Not Angels, directed by Srđan Dragojević, in which they also made an appearance. The music from the film was included on the third Vampiri album, called Be Be (ZAM). Pejović is the author of the songs Pokloniću joj nebo (track from the film "We Are Not Angels"), Kad mi kazes ne, Tačno u ponoć, and as a co-author of the track Jedan korak od sna. His song Ding Ding Dong was presented by Radio TV Belgrade in the selection of the Yugoslav representative for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1992. All albums of the band Vampiri were produced by Oliver Jovanović and Saša Habić and recorded in Studio O.

In his prolific career, Peja has collaborated with many established musicians from the country and the region alike, from the pioneers of local rock and roll, Mile Lojpur and Zoran Simjanović, to Zdravko Čolić, Neno Belan, Rambo Amadeus and many others.

Familija
Late in 1993, after three high-circulation albums of the group Vampiri, Peja founded the group Familija with ex-members of the band U Škripcu.

The first album of Familija was released in 1994, under the name Narodno pozorište, and published by PGP RTS. The album was awarded with the Album of the Year title, and the group itself was pronounced as the Band of the Year. Peja is the authorof four songs - Mala mala, Crno belo šareno, Nije mi ništa and Sat. The cover design for the record and cassette is the work of the famous alternative artist Saša Marković Mikrob. The album was produced by the revered producer Đorđe Petrović.

The album was first released on record and cassette, but at the initiative of journalists, publicists and rock critic Petar Peca Popović, as well as Goran Bregović, a CD edition was printed in Austria with a completely new cover, designed by Pejović's colleague from the band Baby Boom - now famous international designer Branko Lukić. Another song by Pejović, Ringišpil, appears as a bonus track on the CD edition.

Narodno pozorište entered the top 100 albums released after the collapse of the SFRY. The author of the book How rock and roll failed (not) in Serbia (including the 100 best Serbian albums since the collapse of the SFRY), Duško Antonić explains: "Former members of the groups U Škripcu, Košava and Vampiri gathered in the most vocally significant supergroup of the '90. and completely original sound, great singing and infectious rhythms, gave us more than an original album, with several hits for all time".

Familija also appears in the highly popular television film from 1994, Two Hours of Quality New Year's Program, by Srđan Dragojević.

The second album is preceded by the track Brate Murate, which was released in 1996 by Komuna. The song was recorded in Studio 5 of PGP, and produced by Saša Habić. The single version also includes the Ringišpil track.

Familija's second album, Seljačka buna, was released in the same year, and was published by Komuna. As author and co-author, Pejović is behind the songs Niko nije kriv, Boli me kita, Paranoja, Mali Zmaj, Niš Paris Texas and Mamlaze. The producer is once again Đorđe Petrović. Both albums were recorded in the Music Factory studio. Among many others, Peca Popović wrote his review of the album, Goodbye History, which was distributed at the promotion of the album: "The meaning of the existence of a rock band is not only about sharing acquired experiences and new joys. That's the bright side. There is also a more important one - to be a valued witness!...Listening to Seljačka buna is a great and thoughtful experience. As befits the records that stay and bring change. It is not a concept. It is not about the record with a river-like flow. Here we are dealing with a collection of different pieces that individually work quite well, but when combined into a multi-layered whole, they force serious thinking processes. It is an artistic act - leaving a significant mark. Spiritual, civilizational and collective-creative".

In January 1997, Familija took part in the biggest concert in the history of Belgrade, organized by the then active student movement, as a form of a protest against the ruling regime. Rock critic Peca Popović has this to say about this concert and the performance of Familija: "In a space of a few meters, at the fireworks of two miraculously pure forces, the one from the stage and the one returning from the immense crowd, electricity was created of such intensity and such inspiration that can neither be explained nor reconstructed now".

Dibidus
Pejović founded the Dibidus band in 2001, releasing two studio albums with them.

The first album Dibidus (BK Sound) was released in 2003, and Pejović authored the songs Nama treba ljubav, Niko nije kriv, Probudi se, Dude, Ponekad, Di da begamo, Parče sreće, Budala, U krug. He is the co-author of the songs Ko te tera and Idem da spavam. Nemanja Kojić Kojot (trombone) and Maja Klisinski (percussion) appear as guests on the album.

The band gathered with a new line-up in 2007, and the second album, Trenerka & sako (Long play), was released in 2011. Pejović appears as the author of Trenerka i sako, Iz dupeta u glavu, Hleba i igara, Mi imamo sve, Kafana, Pokloniću joj nebo, To nije fer, Moje sve, and as the co-author of Cirkus, Apoteka and Krava trava. The review of the album was written by Peca Popović, who in the text titled "Greetings from the bottom of the circus" says about Pejović: "...poet, singer and leader of Dibidus, capable of saying more with meticulous textual bravado than some authors with their ambitious stories ever could, he is part of the tradition of protest rock, which now here still exists only guarded by a few literate rappers".

The third album was released in 2013, entitled Uživo iz kluba Fest (Maskom rekords). The album was recorded at the concert of the Dibudus band at the Fest club and represents a cross-section of 25 years of Pejović's career, including songs that marked his previous work. Neno Belan appears as a guest for the song Draga, a bonus track on the album.

All three of Peja's bands are included in the ex-Yu rock encyclopedia, authored by Petar Janjatović. Petar Peca Popović, famous Yugoslav rock critic, journalist and publicist, and Mihajlo Pantić, author and University professor of literature, dedicate one part of the book Being Rock and Roll to the band Familija, their importance and the impact their music had on the culture, and not of that time only.

In 2015, Pejović participated in the project Peja i Zmajevo gnezdo (Grand Pop Music) together with his longtime collaborators from the groups Vampiri and Familija, as well as new members. Peja writes the songs: Oči kada kažu, Tako mi fali, Lolita and Ni pakao ni raj. Rambo Amadeus appears as a guest on two songs, and Marija Mihajlović sang the backing vocals.

When it comes to applied arts, Pejović made his mark by composing music for feature and documentary films and series, theater plays, as well as music for children. One of his favorite engagements was for the children's show Fazoni i fore, created by author and poet Ljubivoje Ršumović. He also composed music for numerous TV and radio commercials and shows, and was a member of various juries in the field of music on several occasions. Pejović is often found in the role of narrator, and he also worked on dubbing cartoons, lending his voice to cartoon heroes.