Rundek and Ekipa Play Second Luka Beograd Night for Bolero
Darko Rundek and Ekipa close two Luka Beograd concerts on June 6, marking 41 years of Haustor's album Bolero with guests from that era on stage.
- Darko Rundek and Ekipa play the second of two Luka Beograd concerts on June 6, billed as "Uz reku za reke" (Along the River, For the Rivers).
- The occasion is 41 years since Haustor's album Bolero, released in 1985 by Jugoton.
- Rundek is joined on stage by Zoran Zajec Zexa, Damir Prica Capri and Igor Pavlica.
- It is framed as a living survey of the catalogue with open arrangements, not a faithful re-creation.
Some albums are not listened to so much as worn, like an old coat you refuse to throw out because you know every seam. Bolero, by the band Haustor, is one of those, and when Darko Rundek steps onto the Luka Beograd stage tonight for the second time, he is not opening a museum but a wardrobe still full of things you can put on. The concert, titled “Uz reku za reke”, closes a two-night run that began on June 5, and the occasion is a round, almost improbable figure: forty-one years since the record came out in 1985 on Jugoton.
Rundek has never been one for celebrations. That is why it matters how this anniversary has been framed, not as a wake held over his own youth, but as a chance to take old material out and air it. A second night, as festival lore has it, is rarely a plain repeat of the first. An audience that heard the same set last night returns tonight to hear how the same song breaks differently.
Why Bolero, and not another album
Part of the answer lies with Rundek himself. Speaking about the record, he said that “Bolero was complementary to the previous album and the material was strong”, a typically restrained line from a man who dislikes praising himself. Behind that sentence sits a record that produced three songs that local pop history is hard to imagine without:
- “Ena”, with a chorus that became a shared language across generations.
- “Sejn”, where a film hero moved into Yugoslav daily life.
- “Sal od svile” (Silk Scarf), a ballad that outlived its decade.
What makes Bolero suited to live reworking is not nostalgia but its openness. The arrangements were porous from the start, leaving room for horns and improvisation, so the material yields easily to new hands. That is why the organiser, the production house Long Play, bills the concert not as a re-creation but as a living survey of the catalogue.
"Bolero was complementary to the previous album and the material was strong." (Darko Rundek)
Who takes the stage, and what that changes
The most intriguing part of the evening is the line-up. Rundek is joined by musicians tied to exactly that period: Zoran Zajec Zexa (guitar, backing vocals), Damir Prica Capri (saxophone, keyboards) and Igor Pavlica (trumpet). The brass section here is not decoration but structure, since saxophone and trumpet were part of the sound that set Haustor apart from the rest of the scene.
Bringing those names under one roof changes the nature of the concert. Instead of a 1985 version, we get songs that have passed through four decades of playing experience and now sound more mature, slower where they should be, sharper where they can be. That is the difference between a recording and a living organism, and the reason nights like this are worth attending even if you know the album by heart.
What does Bolero mean to you today, a memory of one particular summer or a record you still play?
