Marin Škrgatic (Croatia) for Eclectic Prog

Marin Škrgatić, a Croatian vocalist, singer-songwriter, and trombonist, was born in Čabr, in Gorski Kotar, Croatia, on October 23, 1950. He spent his early childhood in Senj, most of his life in Zagreb, and then in Crkvenica, to which he moved in the late 1980s. 

After Škrgatić graduated from the music school in Zagreb, he started playing music and performing in clubs and small venues in a duet Škrgatić & Tarbuk with today's well-known composer Radovan Tarbuk, and at the age of seventeen, he became a member of the Soul Sound Band as a vocal soloist and trombonist; the band gave a number of concerts but also performed as a backing band for the then-famous Croatian pop singers.

At the end of 1971, Marin Škrgatić, together with like-minded musicians Branko Kezele (bass), Mladen Lajb (guitar, bassoon, flute), Rajko Dujmić (organ, electric piano, electric violin), and Dragan Brčić (drums), founded the Marin Škrgatić Group, in which he was songwriter, composer, and lead vocalist, and encouraged the other members to create progressive music. 

In the Marin Škrgatić Group, experiments were carried out with the introduction of classical wind instruments like bassoon and motifs into rock music and elements from classical music and from the traditional music of the north-eastern parts of Croatia. This underground group creates unusual music and becomes one of the first Yugoslav bands to stand out from the then-Yugoslav music mainstream. For the music production of Radio Zagreb, the group recorded a large number of original songs, of which only 15 recordings were preserved, while most of the tapes were sadly erased as "uncommercial" by the pop music-oriented Radio Zagreb editors.

They released three singles for the Jugoton label (now Croatia Records), "Beži Janke" and "Vjeruj" (1973), "Čežnja i Rokoko" (1974), and "Tina" and "Budi tu" (1974). At the beginning of 1973, the group changed its line-up (Marin Škrgatić – vocals, Miljenko Srdarević – guitar, vocals, Zlatko Tomerlin – keyboards, vocals, Hrvoje Bibi Galeković – drums, Vladimir Georgev – bass, vocals). The Marin Škrgatić Group gained popularity with its approach to progressive rock, even filling sports arenas all over the former Yugoslavia, until February 1976, when it was supposed to record its debut album, but Marin suddenly left to serve in the army and thus practically concluded his musical career. After serving in the army, he engaged in journalism as a music commentator on Radio Zagreb and as a journalist in the music magazine Studio and youth magazine Tina, and then he started to deal with marketing for the Croatian Chamber of Commerce. That work completely occupied him and took him away from music. Although he announced his return to music in a couple of interviews, this unfortunately did not happen. Marin Škrgatić died on September 28, 2014.

The outstanding archive record "Dawn of the Yugoslavian Prog Rock Era" comes from the Austrian label Everland Music. This is a 2023 release that includes 11 previously unheard radio broadcasts from 1970 to 1976. It is undoubtedly a fantastic listen, especially for those who enjoy genre-conscious progressive rock with a slightly avant-garde attitude, ethereal melodies, mysterious atmospheres, brass, woodwinds, and an overall eclectic approach. https://everland-music.bandcamp.com/album/dawn-of-the-yugoslavian-prog-rock-era-unreleased-radio-recordings-1970-1976

This gatefold LP features previously unreleased images and extensive liner notes regarding the growth of Marin's groups, gleaned from interviews with former band members that warmly introduce us to the interesting history of progressive music in the former Yugoslavia.