S vremena na vreme

S Vremena Na Vreme (Serbian Cyrillic: С Времена На Време, trans. From Time To Time) was a Serbian and Yugoslav rock band formed in Belgrade in 1972. S Vremena Na Vreme were one of the pioneers of the Yugoslav 1970s acoustic rock scene, and one of the pioneers in incorporating elements of the traditional music of the Balkans into rock music. They are considered one of the most prominent acts of the 1970s Yugoslav rock scene. S Vremena Na Vreme was formed by brothers Miomir "Miki" Đukić and Vojislav "Koki" Đukić, Asim Sarvan and Ljubomir "Ljuba" Ninković, all four singing and playing acoustic guitars. The band gained popularity in the early 1970s with their acoustic rock sound, and their debut album, S Vremena Na Vreme (1975), was widely praised by the critics for compositions, poetic lyrics and music arrangements. Their second album, thr 1979 Paviljon G, marked the band's shift towards electric guitar-orineted sound. Soon after the album release, the band ended their activity. They reunited in 1993, releasing a studio, a live and a video album, before disbanding once again in 1997. In 2013, the band reunited for the second time to mark 40 years since their debut release, disbanding for the third and final time in 2020. Prior to the formation of S Vremena Na Vreme, brothers Miomir "Miki" Đukić and Vojislav "Koki" Đukić performed in a high school band Pupoljci (The Buds) with flutist Bane Zarin, performing covers of international rock hits. At the time, Miomir Đukić wrote the ballad "Sunčana strana ulice" ("Sunny Side of the Street"), which achieved some local popularity. During Pupoljci's activity, Vojislav Đukić went to music school, where he took classical guitar lessons, composed music on the lyrics of poet Miljenko Žuborski and music for theatre plays. At the same time, Asim Sarvan came to Belgrade from Mladenovac for his studies of world literature. There he met Ljubomir "Ljuba" Ninković. Ninković came to Belgrade from Smederevo, previously performing in the bands Maskirani Anđeli (The Masked Angels), Pet Sounds and The Spooks (in latter he played the organ). At the time he met Sarvan, Ninković performed as a singer-songwriter. He already gained prominence on the Yugoslav music scene, winning third place at the 1971 Youth Festival in Subotica for his performance of the song "Teuta, ljubavi moja" ("Teuta, My Love"), written by Tomor Beriša. He also had some success as an author, as his song "Slika" ("Picture") was recorded by Korni Grupa and released as a single in 1970. This song, with altered lyrics, would later be recorded by S Vremena Na Vreme under the title "Kao vreme ispred nas" ("Like the Time That's Coming"). The Đukić brothers, Sarvan and Ninković started working together in Radio Belgrade studios, recording humorous songs for the then-popular radio show Tip top kabare (Tip Top Cabaret). Soon they decided to form a band. After the suggestion of Boban Petrović, who worked as a recording technician in Radio Belgrade studios, they chose the name S Vremena Na Vreme (From Time to Time), as up to that point they gathered occasionally only. All four sang and played acoustic guitars, Miomir Đukić also playing prim. Initially, the band mostly wrote music for theatre plays, including music for Lucrezia Borgia and The Mandrake performed in National Theatre in Belgrade, Beleške jedne Ane (Notes of an Anna) performed in the Đuro Salaj Theatre, and Nesumnjivo lice (An Unsuspicious Person) performed in Atelje 212. The band also recorded music for radio; the Radio Belgrade archive contains more than 100 recordings made by the band. During these recordings, the band introduced elements of the traditional music of the Balkans into rock music (being one of the first Yugoslav bands to do so), used traditional instruments and experimented with various musical genres and arrangements. Working mostly in studio, during the first period of their career the band rarely performed live. However, they did make notable appearances on the 1972 and 1973 concerts organized by Pop Mašina members in Belgrade's Košutnjak park, as well as on the 1974 BOOM Festival, the live version of their song "Odisej" ("Odysseus") appearing on the double live album BOOM Pop Festival Ljubljana '74. They also appeared on several pop music festivals. In both 1973 and 1974 they received the Best Original Music Award at the Festival of Yugoslav Radio held in Ohrid. During the initial period of their career, the band cooperated with various musicians: Đukić brothers' former bandmate Bane Zarin, drummer Nikola Jager, drummer Ratislav Đelmaš (of YU Grupa), keyboardist Sloba Marković, bass guitarist Dejan Petković, flutist Dragoslav "Džib" Vokić, and contrabassist Nebojša Ignjatović. During Sarvan's and Miomir Đukić's temporary absence from the band due to their mandatory stints in the Yugoslav army, Ninković and Vojislav Đukić performed with female vocalists Tanja Bošković, Gorica Popović and Ljiljana Dragutinović, all of them drama students at the time and all three later gaining fame as actresses. During this period, the band members took part in the recording of the albums by Jadranka Stojaković, Vlada i Bajka, Srđan Marjanović and Tamara and Nenad Pavlović. On several occasions they recorded music for the songs composed by Kornelije Kovač and performed by pop music singers. S Vremena Na Vreme released their first single, featuring the songs "Sunčana strana ulice" and "Ponekad" ("Sometimes"), in 1973. The track "Ponekad" featured the monologue spoken by the actor Marko Nikolić. The single was released by Radio Kruševac and got the atentnion of the audience and the media, so the band was offered a contract by the one of two biggest record labels in Yugoslavia, Zagreb-based Jugoton. For Jugoton the band released the single with the songs "Čudno drvo" ("Strange Tree") and "Odisej". After the success of the single, the band signed their new contract with the second of two biggest record labels, Belgrade-based PGP-RTB. At the time, the band started appearing in Television Belgrade show Tip top kabare, based on the Radio Belgrade show of the same title, for which the members of the band had already recorded, TV appearances bringing nationwide popularity to their songs "Čudno drvo", "Odisej", "Jana" and "Đački rastanak" ("Students' Farewell"), the latter composed on the lyrics of the poem by Serbian Romantic poet Branko Radičević. In 1975, the band released their debut self-titled album. Most of the album lyrics were written in hotel Turist in Ljubljana on the last night of the album recording. The album featured Nikola Jager on drums—after the album recording he would become an unofficial member of the band—and Pop Mašina member Robert Nemeček on bass guitar. S Vremena Na Vreme brought hits "Tema Classica", originally composed by Ninković as a teenager, "Traži mene" ("Looking for Me"), "Utočište" ("Sanctuary") and "Biblijska tema" ("Biblical Theme"), the latter featuring verses from The Book of Psalms. The album, especially the poetic lyrics and the arrangements, the latter partially inspired by the works of The Beatles, was praised by the Yugoslav music press. The band's following album, Moj svet (My World), released in 1978, was a compilation consisting of the songs from the band's 7-inch singles. During 1978 and 1979, in Belgrade Youth Center, the band held performances under the title Bistro kod plave sove (Blue Owl Bistro), accompanying the play Rastibuđilizovane klejbezable performed by amateur theatre Teatar Levo. In March 1979, S Vremena Na Vreme held a successful tour across Poland, on which they performed together with several amateur theatres from Belgrade. During the same year, the band, with the progressive rock band Tako, organized the first quadraphonic sound concert in Yugoslavia, in Belgrade Youth Center. In 1979, the band released their second studio album Paviljon G (Pavilion G), which marked the band's shift towards electric sound, although the album's biggest hit, "Petak je