Robert was the initiator of the event. Often behind the scenes or in the background, he was always the one who brought and put into practice some of the most influential ideas of that time.
Robert Nemeček contributed immensely to the development of popular culture in our region. First of all, through his authentic love for music, which led him to a band that is considered one of our most influential rock bands, but also through his love for film and television, where he proved himself as an impressive editor of the most watched TV programs in Serbia. However, regardless of the excellent classically educated family pedigree on his father's side - his musical activity is not as well known today, nor as appreciated as it should be.
Of the many personalities who made the Belgrade rock scene worthy of all attention, Robert Nemeček stands out for the fact that he always appeared where it had contact with world events and that he achieved concrete results that we can still talk about as important achievements of his era . His pronounced cosmopolitan character drastically distinguished him from other musicians, his flair for the right topics meant that he was always in the company of the most creative personalities, the Belgrade Mangup spirit forced him to try what no one else dared, and his respectable self-aware practicality to turn it all into sustainable business activity.
Robert was the initiator of the event. Often behind the scenes or in the background, he was always the one who brought and put into practice some of the most influential ideas of that time.
Let's take just three examples in which his role as our link with world events was decisively highlighted.
Agreement of 1804
He recorded his debut recordings in 1969 as the bass guitarist of a cult group called Dogovor 1804 - not only our first acoustic psychedelic group, as it is classified today, but also one of the first in Belgrade whose repertoire consisted exclusively of original compositions. That was not enough for them, but they upgraded it all with the absolutely most modern pop innovations of the time, such as combining voices and the use of the sitar. Wherever Robert Nemeček was, they went one step further to meet global events and proved that everything that is artistically relevant, which happens out there, can also happen here without any problems.
As an illustration, we offer you one of only four preserved songs, called "Vetar":
Pop machine
The Pop Machine group released their exceptional first album "Kiselina" in 1972, at the right moment when it comes to the hard rock sound. That genre has just established itself as the leading rock and roll direction in the world, but they didn't stop at effective guitar riffs and playing virtuosity, but went further in the direction of daring psychedelic experiments, characteristic of that era, and added singer-songwriter acoustic passages to all that in an extremely credible way. which cast a completely different light on their high-energy concert, giving it an unusual depth. It was one of the earliest convincing proofs that our bands also have the capacity to create something authentically their own, an encouragement to all those who came after them.
Just listen to the phantasmagorical title track from the debut "Kiselina", which begins with a rhythm that we would only recognize in the 1990s as drum & bass, to spill over into competent jazz and then back into hard rock, all to Robert's text inspired by some personal experiences from the other side of the "door of perception" - which is another "first time" for the Yugoslav rock scene:
Editing of the music program in Dadovo during the "new wave"
In a recent interview - which Robert Nemeček gave to this signatory for a monograph on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Dadov Youth Theater ("Where dreams begin: Dadov 1958 - 2023") - the forgotten fact of how important a role he played as the editor of the music program of that institution is revealed in the period 1979 - 1981. Those years coincided with the explosion of the "new wave" in Belgrade, when the mini rock scene in Dadovo gave a chance practically to everyone who wanted to perform. Little is known how the whole action was based on the fact that at that time the Rock Machine group (as a continuation of the Pop Machine) kept their stage equipment and held rehearsals there. Robert Nemeček enabled young bands to perform on this equipment as part of frequent group gigs and record them, without asking for anything in return, and among them we had the opportunity to see almost everyone who already meant something tomorrow - from Charles the Acrobat and Electric Orgasm to Bezobrazno green and Fiskulturna lanet to Christian Bolbort and Urban Guerrilla.
When we add to this the unforgettable story of the first big free rock concerts at the Hajdučka Česma in 1972 and 1973, directed by the Pop Machine and in the style of local Woodstock - it is clear that in the person of Robert Nemeček, we had before us a rare example of a musical activist, who was not spared himself, selflessly helping the development of the rock scene whenever and however he could. That out-of-the-ordinary enthusiasm in its purest form encouraged everyone around him to do something of their own - and for that we will always remember him.
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