Srđan Šaper

Infobox Person
name = Srđan Šaper


image_size =
birth_date = birth date|1958|10|9
birth_place = Belgrade, Serbia
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Musician
Movie director

instruments = Synthesizer
Percussion
Vocals
spouse =
parents =
children =

Srđan Šaper is a the head of the McCann Erickson for the Balkans. He was also a member of the Serbian rock band Idoli.

Biography

Šaper was born in Belgrade in 1958. His family lived in the Vasa Street until they moved to Nevesinjska street in Vračar. He finished the "Sveti Sava" elementary school and the 8th Belgrade high school now known as the 3rd Belgrade high school. During high school he got interested in the work of Carl Jung and his analytical psychology. This was one of the reasons he went to Medical Science University in Belgrade where he met Nebojša Krstić, his future band mate and Boris Tadić who is now the president of Serbia.

In 1979 with his two friends he formed the band Idoli which became one of the most popular bands in former Yugoslavia. Despite the successful studies at the Medical science university, Šaper decided to leave medical studies and turn towards movie directing. He started studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade and finished all the studies in a record-period.

When Idoli disbanded in 1984, Šaper worked with Bucko & Tucko, a company which recorded TV commercials, and starred in the "Davitelj protiv davitelja" movie as Spiridon Kopicl. He also worked on the soundtrack and wrote the song "Beogradski davitelj" which he performed with the imaginary band VIS Simboli. In 1987 he recorded "Poslednja mladost u Jugoslaviji" with Nebojša Krstić.

With Nebojša Krstić he joined the Democratic Party in 1990 and in 1993 started working on political campaigns, later with his own company "Idols & Friends" formed in 1995. The following year Nebojša Krstić and Piloti singer Zoran Lesendrić Kiki and he formed Dobrovoljno Pevačko Društvo. The band released only one album "Nedelja na Duhove" and disbanded.

McCann Erickson company opened an office in Belgrade and Šaper became the head of the company for the Balkans territory. He had been doing this job for more than ten years. Šaper now lives in Kursulin Street in Belgrade and is still single.

Musical career

VIS Dečaci and Idoli

Šaper became interested in forming a musical group with his friend Nebojša Krstić and at a party during the late 1979 he made a deal with his close high school friend Vlada Divljan to start playing together. Šaper was to play guitar, Krstić was to play guitar and Divljan was to be the drummer. The band was called Dečaci (The Boys). Divljan took them to his appartment building basement where he and his friends kept their instruments and tried playing. Having realized there was no progress, the band was joined by Divljan's friends and neighbors Zdenko Kolar (bass) and Boža Jovanović (drums) with whom he previously played. Krstić and Šaper became percussionists and did the vocals. Since the two wore beards, the band was renamed to Dečaci plus Bradonje (The Boys plus The Bearded). The band was soon renamed to Idoli.

In the meantime Dečaci started working with Dragan Papić, who became the band's media activist and published photos in "Vidici" and "Izgled" youth magazines, but when the band included Zdenko Kolar and Boža Jovanović, whom Papić did not like, Papić stopped working with the band. He did however manage to persuade "Vidici" and "Izgled" to finance the recording of the first single.

Idoli were officially formed on March 1, 1980 at a rehearsal where they wrote some of the most notable songs of that period, including "Retko te viđam sa devojkama" and "Pomoć, pomoć" which appeared on the first single released a month later. The single was labeled as Izgled and appeared with the April issue of "Vidici" magazine. Soon after the band started working on the "Paket aranžman" project which was released in 1981 by Jugoton. In the meantime the band released a new single, "Maljčiki" with a new version of "Retko te viđam sa devojkama". Šaper and Divljan were credited as writers of "Maljčiki". The promotional video for "Maljčiki" was first broadcast on new year's eve 1981 in the "Rokenroler" show. The song became a nationwide hit and caused a protest of the Soviet embassy, as the song was a parody on Russian working class.

In 1982 the public was expecting the Idoli debut record which turned out to be a 12" EP called "VIS Idoli". The EP contained six songs including two covers and was a major success as it was sold in about 200.000 copies. The band went on a tour with the band Film). Having finished the tour, during the late 1982, the band started working on the first long play album released in early 1983. The album was called "Odbrana i poslednji dani" and did not become a commercial hit as it was a complex concept album dealing with an anthropological attitude towards orthodoxy which was a bit taboo topic in Yugoslavia. Šaper provided vocals for "Senke su drugačije", "Nemo", "Igrale se delije" and "Odbrana". For this record Šaper played synthesizer and was credited as a partial author.

Since "Odbrana i poslednji dani" was sold only in 50.000 copies which was considered failure, the band had to turn towards a more commercial sound. New album was recorded in London with producer Bob Painter who completely changed the band's style. The album "Čokolada" was the band's greatest success, sold in 350.000 copies which was a record at the time. All songs were written by Divljan, Krstić and Šaper and Šaper provided lead vocals for "Tiho, tiho", "Bambina" (released on single) and "Udri bogataša". The tour followed the album but, beside successful and sold-out shows, after the Ljubljana concert due to a quarrel, the band ceased to exist.

Šaper participated the recording of the last Idoli release, the "Šest dana juna soundtrack" album where he provided vocals.

Post Idoli career

In 1986 Šaper with Nebojša Krstić formed a band called Unutrašnja Imperija and recorded the album "Poslednja mladost u Jugoslaviji" released by Jugoton in 1987. The two also performed live at the Zagreb festival in 1987.

In March 1991 Šaper appeared as guest at the Akcija band concert at SKC and performed the song "Beogradski davitelj" from the movie "Davitelj protiv davitelja". The recording of the song is available on bootleg.

In 1995 the two joined by Piloti frontman Kiki Lesendrić formed a supergoup Dobrovoljno Pevačko Društvo. The band went to Budapest and recorded the album in the "Utopia" studio with Hungarian session musicians. on the album also appeared Nenad Stefanović Japanac (bass and guitar), Milan Đurđević (keyboards) and Aleksandra and Kristina Kovač who did the backing vocals. "Nedelja na Duhove" released by Eastfield Music in 1995 was a successful pop rock album. The three members were credited as song authors. Šaper did the vocals on "Sestrice mala", "Arcadia", "Zemlja", "Laura" and "Little Sister", the last two featuring lyrics in English language.

In 1996 both Šaper and Krstić appeared on the Akcija self-titled debut on the track "7 dana". Since then, they have not recorded nor performed live.

Discography

With Idoli

Singles

* "Pomoć, pomoć" / "Retko te viđam sa devojkama" (Izgled, 1980) - single given as a present with the "Vidici" magazine
* "Maljčiki" / "Retko te viđam sa devojkama" (Jugoton 1981)
* "Bambina" / "Stranac u noći" (Jugoton, 1983)
* "Ona to zna" / "Ljubavi" (Jugoton, 1985) - single given as a present with the "Džuboks" magazine

EPs

* "VIS Idoli" (Jugoton, 1981)

Studio albums

* "Odbrana i poslednji dani" (Jugoton, 1982)
* "Čokolada" (Jugoton, 1983)

Soundtracks

* "Šest dana juna" (Jugoton, 1985)"'

Box Sets

* "Paket Aranžman" (Croatia Records, 2007) - 3 CDs Box Set
* "VIS Idoli" (Croatia Records, 2007) - 4 CDs Box Set

Various Artists Compilations

* "Paket aranžman" (Jugoton, 1980)
* "Svi marš na ples!" (Jugoton, 1981)
* "Vrući dani i vrele noći" (Jugoton, 1982)
* "Novi val osamdesetih" (City Records, 2005)
* "Pop - Vol. 1" (PGP RTS, 2005)
* "Retromanija osamdesetih" (City Records, 2006)

With Nebojša Krstić

* "Poslednja mladost u Jugoslaviji" (Jugoton, 1987)

With Dobrovoljno Pevačko Društvo

* "Nedelja na Duhove" (Eastfield Music, 1995)

With Akcija

* "Akcija" (ITMM, 1996) - guest on the track "7 dana" ("7 Days")

External references

* EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006, Janjatović Petar; ISBN 978-86-905317-1-4
* [http://www.ekapija.com/website/sr/page/67007 Srđan Šaper interview (Serbian source)]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0764543/ Srđan Šaper at imdb]
* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Sr%C4%91an+%C5%A0aper Srđan Šaper at Discogs]