Kalemegdan Disk - ROCK FROM EASTERN EUROPE

Tracklist

Side A

1. Od olova do trnova 3:01
2. Bijeg 5:39
3. Ho-ruk 7:38

Side B

1. Koncert tročinski 8:54
2. Dijanin san 4:03
3. Život 4:52

Full album at YouTube

Croatia Records Release Information

The reissue of the legendary Teška Industrija (Heavy Industry) album “Ho-ruk” is on sale

During the early seventies of the last century Teška Industrija was one of the first groups in Yugoslavia combining heavy progressive rock with local folklore influences. Their debut album “Ho-ruk” still stands today as one of the most authentic and special collections of songs recorded in the early days of classic Yugoslavian rock music. Therefore, the reissue of the remastered version of this album, in a new and luxurious package, is a logical and justified discography step, supported by Croatia Records.

The group was founded in Sarajevo in 1974 by Gabor Lengyel / Lenđel, producer, arranger and composer from Subotica, while attending the Music Academy there. After several successful single records published by Jugoton, and completing the line-up in which, along with Gabor (keyboards), Seid Memić Vajta (vocals), Vedad Hadžiabdić (guitar), Sanin Karić (bass guitar) and Senad Begović (drums), Teška Industrija recorded an album at the end of 1975 in Jugoton’s studio, which still stands today as the most impressive work of their decades-long career.

“The album is a true picture of progressive hard rock nurtured by the band with elements of folklore tradition and symphonic arrangements. Lenđel’s organ and Vajta’s cracked voice are the trademark of the band’s sound” is just one of the criticisms that listeners of the time used to describe “Ho-ruk”.

In the booklet that accompanies this reissue, the Sarajevo journalist and publicist Amir Misirlić says about the album: “Even today, when you listen to “Bijeg” (Escape), “Ho-ruk” and “Koncert tročinski” (Concert Tročinski) in a row, it is clear to you that you are listening to music for which, nor in 1976 neither even today, there probably has been no appropriate name. We can call it “callous rock”, “workers or proletarian rock”, or we can say that it was the “soundtrack of socialism”.

Gabor Lengyel, the founder of the group, said on the occasion of the publication of this reissue: “Since the very foundation of the group, I tried to be different from other groups, both in terms of sound and lyrics. A conceptual approach with a touch of symphony and hard rock, along with an attractive performance, was my goal and vision. “Ho-ruk” was the crowning glory of that. I recently listened to the album after many years and we have nothing to be ashamed of. Very progressive for that time and, thanks to the tone master Petko Kantardžijev-Mlinac, an excellent production.”

The booklet also contains a review of Petko Kantardžijev-Mlinac, Jugoton’s tone master. About the recording of the album he wrote: “It was not an ordinary recording, it was a slightly deeper way of thinking and studio work, a bit Pink Floyd-esque. And just like them, the Teška Industrija album had a lot of experimental sounds and effects. At that time, some of our domestic groups went to London for a “better sound”. Although we had much more modest conditions in Jugoton’s studio, “Ho-ruk” ultimately sounded great and just as good as the albums recorded in London on much more expensive equipment.”

The album “Ho-ruk” comes with a download card for downloading mp3 versions of the songs remastered by Goran Martinac in the Croatia Records Studio. The lacquer cut of the album was done by Sean Magee, the winner of the Grammy Award for the Beatles’ “Mono Box Set” at the Abbey Road Studios in London. The artistic design of this reissue was done by Darko Kujundžić.