Branislav Babić

Branislav Babić

Branislav Babić "Kebra" performing live with Obojeni Program at the 2010 Novi Sad Exit festival
Background information
Also known as Kebra
Genres New Wave, Punk rock, Post-punk, Alternative rock, Electronic music, Indie rock
Instruments vocals
Years active 1980–present
Associated acts Urbana Gerila, Obojeni Program

Branislav "Kebra" Babić (Serbian Cyrillic: Бранислав Бабић Кебра) is a Serbian rock vocalist and the founding member of the band Obojeni Program. Beside working with Obojeni Program, he was the vocalist of the Belgrade post-punk band Urbana Gerila.

Contents

Musical career

Urbana Gerila

Having appeared on the 1981 the compilation album Artistička radna akcija, featuring the second generation of the New Wave and punk rock bands from Belgrade, Urbana Gerila vocalist Zoran Kostić "Cane" left the band, being replaced by Babić. At the time, the band moved towards post-punk, influenced by Joy Division and Bauhaus. However, the lineup existed until 1982, when they disbanded.

Obojeni Program

In 1980, Babić became the vocalist of the Novi Sad (capital of Vojvodina) by a group of people who were strongly influenced by the ideas and actions of the punk rock movement. Obojeni Program were later also influenced by the New Wave and post-punk bands such as The Fall, Television, Magazine, Gang of Four and others. From the early beginning, the band was trying to create and maintain an authentic and independent sound.

After 10 years of constant concerting (at first, the band was against publishing), mostly on the territory of former Yugoslavia, they released the album Najvažnije je biti zdrav (The Most Important Thing Is to Be Healthy) in 1990, for the first indie record label in Yugoslavia, Search and Enjoy.

In spite of the hard political situation in the country throughout next ten years, the band succeeded to publish and promote 5 more studio and 1 live album. Obojeni Program were one of the first Yugoslav bands to have a video played on MTV's 120 Minutes and they were also on John Peel's tracklistings in year 2002. They were the support band at the Placebo concert in Belgrade, 2003. Also, Obojeni Program is one of the rare bands that performed at the EXIT festival every year since its conception.

During the 20 years of the band's existence, its members were changing, but for the last few years the lineup was: Branislav Babić Kebra (lead vocal), Dragan Knežević (guitar), Ljubomir Pejić (bass guitar), Vladimir Cinkocki (drums), Miloš Romić (sound engineer and DJ on Yamaha's re-mixer sequencer).

Their latest music presents a combination of guitar groove and electronic sounds with lead male vocals and female backing vocals. Their last album was recorded, mixed and produced in Studio Sing Sing in the Netherlands, in the late 2004, which followed with a very successful promotion tour across Europe in year 2005.

Discography

Videography

Bibliography

Poetry books

Novels

References