The Velid Đekić collection covers beginning of rock and disco culture not only in Rijeka but also in the former Yugoslavia. While working on the books 91 decibels (2009) and Red! River! Rock! (2013), Đekić collected materials on many of Rijeka's bands that have existed from the late 1950s until the early 1980s, and on the places where young people gathered. That is why this collection testifies to the unique history of rock 'n' roll behind the Iron Curtain.
Velid Đekić's collection of Rock and disco culture in Rijeka
Istorijat zbirke
Velid Đekić's collection of rock and disco culture in Rijeka began to be formed in 1978 as a result of Đekić's journalistic and then his non-fiction writing. Although unplanned and not archived, the collection is sorted, mostly digitized and stored on external hard disks. All materials related to youth hangouts and bands are systematically and properly arranged. For example, the collection contains material on the band Uraganiwhich, after the Polish band Rhythm and Bluesfrom Gdansk, were the second rock group formed in a socialist state in Europe. Also in the collection are the materials on the Husar Club founded in 1957, which was the first disco club in Croatia and in the territory of Yugoslavia, and one of the first in Europe. Along with these materials, the materials on bands such as Bohemi and Sirene should be highlighted, because together with Uragani, they were among the first rock bands in Rijeka. Đekić has collected, digitized and partly published photographs of the pioneers of rock photography in Rijeka and Croatia, such as Ante Škrobonje, Ferija Rumić, Damir Krizmanić Kriza, Nikola Petković, Darko Bjelobabe, Dražen Kalinić and Goran Pavelić Pipe.
Velid Đekić's collection of rock and disco culture in Rijeka shows how the cultural values of the West penetrated into a monolithic one-party state like socialist Yugoslavia. Although the emergence of rock culture in the West was the result of young people rebelling against their parents’ culture, rebellion against parents and traditional values in socialist Yugoslavia was indirectly a rebellion against imposed ideological frameworks. As a cultural phenomenon, rock 'n' roll and its subgenres were an oasis where "kids could play and have more freedom" (Interview with Velid Đekić 2018). These liberties were manifested in different fashion statements, slang and visual art. The communist authorities allowed teenagers to "play a little more than adults," but that did not mean that boundaries to freedom did not exist.
Opis sadržaja
Velid Đekić's collection of rock and disco culture in Rijeka is partly in paper form, while mostly it is digitized on external discs. These external discs contain audio and video clips, numerous photos and newspaper articles. The collection is geographically linked to the territory of Croatia, i.e. the area of Rijeka. Đekić's collection can be divided into four units.
The first unit consists of materials covering the period from the late 1950s to the end of the 1960s. There are materials about the first rock bands in the Rijeka area and youth hangouts. The second unit consists of materials on the 1970s. These materials show that the music scene in Rijeka was highly developed, with many where young people gathered. In this unit, the materials on the Palach Student Club are particularly noteworthy. The club was named after Czech student Jan Palach, who set himself on fire to protest against the Warsaw Pact’s invasion of Czechoslovakia.
The third unit covers the 1980s, that is, the New Wave period. The unit contains a number of materials not only about the Rijeka music scene but also materials on the Ljubljana music scene. The fourth unit encompasses the period from the beginning of the 1990s to the beginning of the 2000s. The final unit consists of materials that testify to the musical continuity of Rijeka's rock culture. During the 1990s, many bands were established that are still active today.
