Pop rock band Parni valjak, as part of their new lineup with singer Igor Drvenkar, will hold a concert on November 9th at the MTS Arena in Belgrade. One of the biggest rock bands in this region will perform in Belgrade after delighting the residents of the city last year with a gig at Bitef art cafe, and previously appearing at the Arsenalfest in Kragujevac.
Euronews Serbia guests were members of the band, Husein Hasanefendić Hus and Igor Drvenkar.
Hasanefendić said that the audience at the MTS Arena on November 9th can expect „noise and excitement.“
„We always give our best, and people can expect that we will strive to be the best we can be again,“ he said.
The arrival of a new singer in the band has brought some new energy to Parni valjak.
Igor Drvenkar said that the key recipe for a successful concert is the synergy between the band and the audience.
„That is really the most important thing, when we are all in that atmosphere, breathing together, and as far as I understood, the band has always aimed towards that. So the love for the audience from both sides continues. I think that is maybe the most important thing,“ Igor said.
He shared that he always gets nervous when he has to step into the role of the late Yugoslav rock legend Aki Rahimovski, especially when performing in front of a new audience in a place where they have not performed together before, and sometimes he goes without sleep for two days.
„Even though I have absolute support from the entire team, from the band and the production, we are all there as one big family, we all have each other’s backs, and they always reassure me – hey, don’t worry, you are not alone, and it always turns out wonderful. Of course, there is a great respect for Aki and the legacy he left us, and the torch he unofficially passed on to me, so there is always nervousness,” Igor said.
They recalled the difficulty of making a decision regarding a new singer after Aki’s departure.
„After the shock of Aki’s departure, it was hard to make a decision about a new singer. One part of the emotions was – we can’t go on, and the other was saying – we have to go on because that is our purpose in life. When we made the decision, and Igor appeared, something just clicked. Until then, we tried out some excellent singers, and we thought if we don’t find a new path, meaning, it was never our intention to try to replace Aki with his copy. Something else had to happen, and it happened when Igor came, and it is still happening,“ Husein said.
He also said that the band reset in their minds and they no longer felt like an arena band.
„We said – now we start from scratch and we really started building ourselves again in those new clubs, in small places. Of course, with a serious advantage that we have many songs that people know, so very quickly, from those clubs, we had to move to bigger spaces, because simply too many people were coming, they couldn’t fit. Now, we are growing again at an accelerated pace, but we still feel like a band that has to prove itself again. Some kind of energy, it is certainly because of Igor and his years ultimately, but really some new energy has appeared,“ Husein shared.
They knew that what they were doing would be under immense scrutiny.
„Of course, memories don’t disappear, but we are in a positive phase, working on a new album, playing a lot, really this year will be, I believe, over 50 concerts, so it’s like a second youth,“ Husein said.
He added that the audience has accepted the new singer in the band.
„People have somewhat reconciled, so it wasn’t our choice for Aki to leave so suddenly. They simply accepted it, and now they listen to Igor,“ he said.
Igor said they did a lot of rehearsals and listened a lot to Aki from whom he also learned some things.
„It’s impossible to learn emotion, it is felt, but it can be heard in a way. Through my, maybe, theatrical experience, I managed to, of course with the help of the author, get to know the songs more and how they were created, how they were written,“ Igor said.
Husein mentioned that when he was thinking about this new beginning, he was troubled by how a young man would sing the songs he writes as an „old“ man.
„And then I was like, how will this young man sing ‘Jesen u meni’. What autumn in you, you are 32 years old? Then Brk, the guitar maestro, told me, what are you talking about, you were 32 years old when you wrote ‘Jesen u meni.’ I completely forgot about that, maybe I felt old. I have been old since my youth,“ Husein said.
