CROATIAN MUSIC - PARNI VALJAK

PARNI VALJAK The lyrics that Husein Hasanefendić Hus wrote a long time ago about Parni valjak are still very true: "Let it last". Because Valjak lasts. And lasts. And lasts... From the post-Mlinarec Group 220 and early incarnations of Parni valjak on until today. Despite many stylistic changes, the whimsical taste of the mass audience and taken by the music genre is what drove Hus forward in his 40+ year career. I say "his" because Hus is not the only, sadly without the late Aki, founder of Parni valjak which marked the rock scene of the former and current state, but because he is a remarkable author and excellent musician with distinct taste and killer hit opus. On the scene where there were some shorter some longer "seasonal attractions" and modern affectation, Parni valjak was in its own league. The signature sign of Parni valjak was always recognizable: the music one, as well as the literary one. Within the roots of rock understood always as a "generic term" of urban music, and not as a genre fossil and their recognizable "ich" text form which reflected personal doubts, introspective "daily paranoias", generational jam and frustration, even – uncommonly – thoughts of "aging". Without whining and being pathetic, with precise captures of moments and circumstances ("when the kids are being respectful") and their omnipresent motto: keep going. The same and unchanged, although always aware of the passage of time. Because, as Hus says: "... I am changing, it's painless, but I am changing, and I don't like it". It is a brave and sensible act that guarantees originality and longevity. Even without Aki Rahimovski. Zlatko Gall music critic, journalist and publicist