Mile Lojpur

Mile Lojpur
Mile Lojpur at Red Star basketball courts at Kalemegdan.
Background information
Also known as	Mile Najlon
Born	March 4, 1930(1930-03-04) Zrenjanin, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Died	July 19, 2005(2005-07-19) (aged 75) Belgrade, Serbia, Serbia and Montenegro
Genres	Rock and roll
Occupations	Singer, guitarist, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, keyboards
Years active	1950s – 2005

Milan "Mile" Lojpur (Serbian Cyrillic: Милан-Миле Лојпур) (March 4, 1930 - July 29, 2005) was a former Yugoslav and Serbian rock musician, arguably the first Serbian, Yugoslav (or even Balkan) rock and roll musician.

Biography

Although Lojpur was born in Zrenjanin, he performed mostly in Belgrade. He was one of the first performers of the so-called "električna muzika" ("electrical music", a former Yugoslav slang for rock and roll in the late 1950s and early 1960s). In 1958 he started performing with Sekstet M (trans. "Sextet M") led by trumpeter Mile Nedeljković. In 1959 they changed their name to Septet M (trans. "Septet M"), and performed under that name until 1965. Septet M performed at the dances in Belgrade and during the summer they performed mostly at Rovinj. They rose to fame at the performances they organized at Red Star basketball courts at Kalemegdan. These performances were entitled "Zvezdane noći" ("Stary Nights"). Their act consisted of classics' covers: "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets, "Blue Suede Shoes" by Carl Perkins and others. At the time Lojpur got his nickname Mile Najlon ("Mile Nylon") as being one of the first in Belgrade who wore nylon shirts. He was famous for his spectacular appearance and microphone attached to his guitar. The spirit of the era was revived in 1975 TV series Grlom u jagode by Srđan Karanović, in which Lojpur appeared as himself.

In 1960s Lojpur went to Finland where he performed for six months. After returning to Yugoslavia, all to mid-80s, he performed as a guitar player and singer in Mažestik hotel's bar and many other music venues throughout Belgrade's rich music scene. In the mid-80s, Lojpur had his big comeback, appealing to the young crowds again. He hooked up with Saša Lunginović, son of his former band member, Dušan Lunginović, and started performing. At the same time, Casio and Yamaha companies came up with very sophisticated keyboards for one-man-band performers, and he slowly switched to keyboards and went ahead by performing alone. In 1988 he made a guest appearance on Nikola Čuturilo's first solo album 9 lakih komada in the song "Kad je Lojpur svirao" ("When Lojpur Used to Play") and in 1996 he made a guest appearance on Prljavi inspektor Blaža i Kljunovi album Plagijati i obrade in the cover of his old hit "Šumadijski Twist" ("Šumadija Twist").

He died in Belgrade in 2005.

Legacy

Although neither he nor his band made any recordings, they had a great influence on subsequent development of popular music in Serbia and Yugoslavia. His simple, but catchy lyrics such as "Mile broj jedan, Mile broj dva i Mile Lojpur, to sam ja!" ("Mile No.1, Mile No.2, and Mile Lojpur that is me!") are still remembered as a symbol of the beginnings of rock music in Yugoslavia.

External links

• Mile Lojpur at Eurorockabilly.com
• Leksikon YU Mitologije
• Mile Lojpur at IMDB
• Grlom u Jagode TV show on IMDB

See also

• One-man band

Persondata
Name	Lojpur, Mile
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 4, 1930
Place of birth
Date of death	July 19, 2005
Place of death