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In Bregović's youth, he was frequently moving and out of school bands, often due to his own misbehaviour resulting in his dismissal from the school. Despite this, Bregović built his talents on bass, guitar and violin, eventually becoming a sort-after musician, invited to play with Željko Bebek in his band Kodeski at the age of 18. Kodeski was to be the precursor to the development of Bijelo Dugme, a rock band that would go on to become one of the most popular bands in SFR Yugoslavia. Bregović became the main creative force in the band, playing lead guitar with them from 1974 to 1989, with their Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath influenced rock finding widespread appeal in the Balkans, releasing a total of nine albums before the band collapsed.
After the end of Bijelo Dugme, Bregović turned to film music, finding fortunate success with his first project, Emir Kusturica's "Time of the Gypsies" (1989), with both the film and the soundtrack receiving praise. Their partnership continued for Kusturica's next film "Arizona Dream" (1993), with Bregović's compositions being performed by Iggy Pop for the film.
Moving to Paris following the outbreak of the Balkan war, his next project was for Patrice Chéreau's "Queen Margot," continuing his previous successes, with the film winning two awards at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. The following year, Bregović worked on another award-winning film, composing the music for Kusturica's "Underground" which received the Golden Palm Award. These early successes in his film composition career cemented his reputation and esteem, leading to continuing achievements in his music career.
Bregović has been involved with over thirty film scores and has composed music for eleven movie soundtracks. His prolific work over three decades has led to achieving 6 million album sales to his name. As well as his film composition, Bregović has also released collaborative ventures with various musicians, creating his own 40-piece band and orchestra, who perform traditional Balkan music, known as his Weddings and Funerals Orchestra.
Probably best known, in the West at least, for his numerous film scores, and particularly those for director Emir Kusturica. However, he’s been known as a Rock star in former Yugoslavia since the 1970s. Bregovic’s latest project is called the Wedding and Funeral Orchestra, which varies greatly in size, its smallest incarnation consisting of 10 members, going up to 37 at its largest. The orchestra includes a male choir, a string quartet, a brass section, a smaller female choir, and Bregovic himself, seated at the center, in a white suit brandishing his electric guitar. At London’s Royal Festival Hall we got the 18-strong version of the Wedding and Funeral Orchestra. Their two-hour concert took us through many different ‘settings’ - there was something decidedly filmic or dramatic about a lot of the music. Some pieces were mournful and sad, and those were perhaps the best vehicles for really savouring the choirs’ dissonant yet beautiful Balkan harmonies. The brass band was central in delivering what the audience had come for - a Gypsy knees-up, although having said that the set was very varied, in an almost rollercoaster-like fashion. The audience were with him the whole way. I highly recommend checking them out if they’re in town!
philsomervell
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