Leader Gino Yevdjevich became a professional musician in his native Sarajevo when he was 16, making a good living playing commercial music. All that changed in 1991, when the war in the former Yugoslavia began. With no money and precious little food or electricity, the local artistic community made art for itself -- and found it well received as locals braved snipers and bombs to get out of their houses.
However, he left for the U.S. in 1994 under the sponsorship of singer Joan Baez and ended up in Seattle starring in a play with music about the Sarajevo conflict, Behind God's Back.
The band Kultur Shock came after the play closed, playing acoustic music in restaurants. Advised by Krist Novoselic (who has his own Croatian roots in the Balkans) to play louder, they began doing so -- and found themselves thrown out of the restaurants.
After a brief hiatus, they returned to play Seattle clubs with guitarist Mario Butkovich, who'd been persuaded to move from his new home in Portland. Brad Houser (New Bohemians, Critters Buggin') took the bass slot, with Amy Denio and Jessica Lurie filling out the horn section.
In 1999, they recorded and self-released Kultur Shock Live in Amerika, which documented the outfit at the first full stage of their development. While the music they played was all traditional, the treatment of it certainly wasn't, with loud electric guitars complementing the twist-and-turn horn lines. It was, Yevdjevich admitted, "a party album," and though often impressive, it didn't do them full justice.
Changes in personnel ensued. Houser left, to be replaced with Masa Kobayashi from Tokyo, and a second guitarist, Bulgarian Val Kiossovski. With that lineup, they began to make their first studio record, along the way signing with Kool Arrow, the label run by Faith No More's Billy Gould, and continuing to play local gigs as well as touring up and down the West Coast. The album, FUCC the I.N.S., appeared in late 2001, followed by Kultura-Diktatura in 2004 and We Came to Take Your Jobs Away in 2006.
In October 2008 Mario Butkovic and Masa Kobayashi left the band and the new line-up included some already known to the band musicians like:
Guy Michael Davis - well known for his amazing bass work with the bands Sage (mid 90s), Guardian Allien and BenJovi, is the new bassist, he plays banjo and bunch of other strange instruments, considering he grew up in Indonesia.
Paris Hurley - a violinist extraordinair substituted for Matty Noble for month and a half during the summer tour '08. In the process of it she became part of the band and was a natural choice for the forthcoming "Integration" album and the touring season.
Amy Denio recorded and toured with the band as a sax and clarinet player on 'Fucc the INS' and 'Kultura-Diktatura' .*
The last album "Integration" is released in 2009.
* from the interview of Val Kiossovski for the Bulgarian online radio Tangra Mega Rock http://radiotangra.com/?page=int&lng=en&id=183
Kultur Shock are:
Gino Srdjan Yevdjevic (Bosnia)- vocals, trumpet, djumbek
Val Kiossovski (Bulgaria) - guitar, vocal
Chris Stromquist (USA) - drums
Guy Davis (Indonesia, USA) - bass, banjo
Matty Noble (USA)- violin
Paris Hurley (USA) - vocal, violin
Amy Denio (USA) - clarinet, saxophone, vocal
Haide Yano
Kultur Shock Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ajde Jano, kolo da igramo.
Ajde Jano, ajde dušo,
kolo da igramo.
Ajde Jano, konja da prodamo.
Ajde Jano, ajde dušo,
Ajde Jano, kucu da prodamo.
Ajde Jano, ajde dušo,
kucu da prodamo.
Da prodamo, samo da igramo.
Da prodamo, Jano dušo,
samo da igramo.
The lyrics to Kultur Shock's song Haide Yano are in the Serbian language and talk about a person named Jano who encourages others to dance in a kolo, which is a traditional folk dance in the Balkans. The song begins with Jano calling out to encourage everyone to dance, and then she suggests that they sell a horse to have money to continue dancing. As the song progresses, Jano also suggests that they sell a house just to keep dancing in the kolo. The repetition of the phrase "Ajde Jano, ajde dušo" reinforces Jano's enthusiasm and encouragement to keep going.
The lyrics of the song reflect the joy and enthusiasm of Balkan people for their cultural music and dance. The idea of selling a horse and a house might be seen as sacrificing material things in order to keep dancing and celebrating. The song touches upon the importance of preserving one's culture and traditions, even when it means making difficult sacrifices.
Line by Line Meaning
Ajde Jano, kolo da igramo.
Come Jano, let's dance the circle dance.
Ajde Jano, ajde dušo, kolo da igramo.
Come Jano, my love, let's dance the circle dance.
Ajde Jano, konja da prodamo.
Come Jano, let's sell the horse.
Ajde Jano, ajde dušo, konja da prodamo.
Come Jano, my love, let's sell the horse.
Ajde Jano, kucu da prodamo.
Come Jano, let's sell the house.
Ajde Jano, ajde dušo, kucu da prodamo.
Come Jano, my love, let's sell the house.
Da prodamo, samo da igramo.
To sell, just to dance.
Da prodamo, Jano dušo, samo da igramo.
To sell, my love Jano, just to dance.
Contributed by Ella Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@beendazedandconfused
Faith No More and Kultur Shock both make an AMAZING work covering this beautiful folkloric song. Underdog Gypsy Revolution <3
@klessner68
I STILL love this version to pieces
@MorsusPurus
Aide, bratia balkanci, horo da igramo! Greetings from Bulgaria!
@funnygames6701
Very good !
Greetings from Hungary !
@SuperOrkidea
Sellam momci!!! Sto vise slusamo vasu vrstu muzike sve nam se vise dopada!!! Sve vama naj bolje zelimo i lahak rad s novom plocom, jer strplivo cekamo.. Sve naj bolje zelje stizu iz Svetske.....
@klessner68
I love this version to pieces !
@kristinazoric4532
savrseno uglazbljeno kao i sav vas dosadasnji a sigurno i buduci opus..bravo majstori!!
@MrAmebe
Hayde Yano Ainte Yanni Greetings from Greece!!
@salutbobs
Great Music
@Soorowah
They make me happy <3