2 Keyboard players from Ex - Yugoslavia

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I don't know if it's ok to put two artists in the same thread but I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone, since I wanna say something about similiar artists that are from the same period, around late 70's, early 80's still interesting time for prog I think in the prog electronic or prog related area.

Miha Kralj 

Discogs: Slovenian keyboard player. Pioneer of instrumental synthesizer music in Yugoslavia.
I don't know if there were earlier bands but before going solo he was in the group "Prah" ("Dust") which to me had a lot of interesting keyboard performances in their songs but all in all it was a pop rock or just a pop band, whatever you call it, with songs mostly ballad like, here is an sample of that period:

He had 3 solo albums which were non-vocal, with a more experimental and ambiental touch, one song over 18 minutes I think and stuff like that. Here are some from the first album:

And the last thing is something from the last album, maybe a bit less interesting than the earlier stuff, this were the 80's so as time passed he might have had some disco influence on his music:

Igor Savin

I'm a bit lazy at the moment to find a nice translated biography, but his works are mostly related to orchestras, film and television music, and jazz music so the few albums that were released are not in a rock band style, they are more easy listening. Out of three albums that are on discogs (could be more of his work in soundtracks or something which are not listed), first one with the nasty name "Yu Disco Expres" is very jazzy I think and has this nice gem on it, reminds a lot of the "shine on you crazy diamond":

As for the rest of the material there is not much on youtube yet, maybe I get something uploaded one day. Second album which I haven't heard is on discogs marked as jazz and classical so who knows; the last album "Childhood" is for me a very nice I could say Vangelis-like album with two 20-minute songs, instrumental and all keyboards, no orchestra or backing band. 

My bad if these were proposed before, I admit Savin might be a bit of a stretch. 

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Guests Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Guest Group	Topic: 2 Keyboard players from Ex - Yugoslavia Posted: October 18 2011 at 07:28
	I don't know if it's ok to put two artists in the same thread but I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone, since I wanna say something about similiar artists that are from the same period, around late 70's, early 80's still interesting time for prog I think in the prog electronic or prog related area. Miha Kralj Discogs: Slovenian keyboard player. Pioneer of instrumental synthesizer music in Yugoslavia. I don't know if there were earlier bands but before going solo he was in the group "Prah" ("Dust") which to me had a lot of interesting keyboard performances in their songs but all in all it was a pop rock or just a pop band, whatever you call it, with songs mostly ballad like, here is an sample of that period: He had 3 solo albums which were non-vocal, with a more experimental and ambiental touch, one song over 18 minutes I think and stuff like that. Here are some from the first album: And the last thing is something from the last album, maybe a bit less interesting than the earlier stuff, this were the 80's so as time passed he might have had some disco influence on his music: Igor Savin I'm a bit lazy at the moment to find a nice translated biography, but his works are mostly related to orchestras, film and television music, and jazz music so the few albums that were released are not in a rock band style, they are more easy listening. Out of three albums that are on discogs (could be more of his work in soundtracks or something which are not listed), first one with the nasty name "Yu Disco Expres" is very jazzy I think and has this nice gem on it, reminds a lot of the "shine on you crazy diamond": As for the rest of the material there is not much on youtube yet, maybe I get something uploaded one day. Second album which I haven't heard is on discogs marked as jazz and classical so who knows; the last album "Childhood" is for me a very nice I could say Vangelis-like album with two 20-minute songs, instrumental and all keyboards, no orchestra or backing band. My bad if these were proposed before, I admit Savin might be a bit of a stretch.

harmonium.ro Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: August 18 2008 Location: Anna Calvi Status: Offline Points: 22989	Posted: October 18 2011 at 08:47
	Thanks for the suggestions, we'll check them.

yam yam Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 5820	Posted: October 18 2011 at 08:58
	I would imagine Miha Kralj has an outside chance of being put in the prog related category. His music is in the same style as Vangelis and Jean-Michel Jarre. He will need proposing for inclusion by a collaborator for this to happen though. Igor Savin, as you say, is pushing it a bit! Miha Kralj's three solo albums were: Andromeda (1980) Odyssey (1982) Electric Dreams (1985) Before Prah, Miha was in a group called Dekameroni, pretty much a one-hit-wonder band in Slovenia, they had a hit called Sava Sumi (written by Miha), which was covered several times (originally it was recorded somewhere round 1970, & sounded like Procol Harum). Following his three solo albums he collaborated with a band called Black&White, playing keyboards on their biggest hit Prisluhni skoljki (written by Jani Golob). It was main theme from a teenage Flashdance-like Slovenian movie, and was very similar in style to the music written by Giorgio Moroder for Flashdance itself. Afterwards his only moderately successful song was called "Zemlja klice SOS", which was a pure electronic disco song (you can find it on YouTube if you really want to!). He played regularly in a dance club after that, occasionally being accompanied by the ex-singer from another Slovenian band called Moulin Rouge.

harmonium.ro Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: August 18 2008 Location: Anna Calvi Status: Offline Points: 22989	Posted: October 18 2011 at 12:38
	Not a bad suggestion. Both remind me of Jarre and Vangelis, too, who are considered Prog-Related here, but of you check the Prog Related definition, you'll see it's quite difficult to add a musician there.

Marty McFly Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: March 23 2009 Location: Czech Republic Status: Offline Points: 3968	Posted: October 18 2011 at 14:31
	Where is Moris when we need his guiding hand :)
	There's a point where "avant-garde" and "experimental" becomes "terrible" and "pointless," -Andyman1125 on Lulu Even my

Guests Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Guest Group	Posted: October 18 2011 at 19:01
	True that about prog related criteria, I think it's all about how influential a band is on all kind of music so these two guys aren't really something revolutionary that bring some new stuff in the mix, they are not really a role model to anyone. I think a prog listener or electronic might find them good but that's it, I don't know if it would be ok to be in the same category as Beatles, David Bowie, Iron Maiden and other such names. And the bad thing is that unlike Laza Ristovski, Miha Kralj doesn't really have a good famous background, like many solo artists get their page because they were in good bands even if their stuff isn't that interesting. (Laza was playing in both "Smak" and "Bijelo Dugme" so he has that going for him, not that I'm saying he didn't deserve a place here, he was an excellent keyboard player.)

Seyo Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: May 08 2004 Location: Bosnia Status: Offline Points: 1320	Posted: November 06 2011 at 14:27
	Here is my take on MIHA KRALJ. I just listened his first 2 albums. Indeed, his synth keyboards and sequencer style is very close to JM Jarre, I think even closer than to Vangelis! It is very pleasant electronic synth music, very "spacey" (like many of his titles) - not really groundbreaking but also lacking some straightforward stupid hits that even Jarre occasionally produced.. Despite this, I think many prog listeners would like to check his out. This music is also similar to Laza Ristovski, who was a star in Yugoslavia in this genre, while Kralj was not much worse as composer/performer although less known and less commercial. I could see Kralj fit into Prog Related category, although I would not fight too much for that.

clarke2001 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: June 14 2006 Location: Croatia Status: Offline Points: 4160	Posted: March 14 2012 at 23:03
	Miha Kralj is approved and added.