Date: 2 May 2017 (Tuesday) at 7 p.m.
Location: Café Continental, Opatija
Panellists: Velid Đekić and Ivan Šarar
After a multitude of scientific, economic and political topics dealt with within the project Opatija Coffeehouse Debates, a series of panel discussions continues with a focus on socio-cultural and musical topics. Thus, on Tuesday, 2 May, starting at 7 p.m., the 16th panel discussion entitled “Where did Rock’n’Roll disappear?” will be held in the Continental Café.
The development and decline of rock music in Rijeka, which for many years held the title of “rock capital of Yugoslavia”, as well as the development of social and cultural communities (subcultures) related to this style of music, certainly represents an interesting topic for razgovor. However, it is even more interesting to see whether rock music still makes up the cultural identity of Rijeka (and if so, how much?), how and why (social, economic, political causes) there was a decline in the popularity of rock music and related subcultures, whether in Rijeka, Croatia or the world. What do young people listen to today and to which subcultures they belong (but also how appropriate is this term for the 21st century at all), how did it come about and how will it affect future society?
Organizers from the Cultural Front Association and Milenij Hotel are extremely pleased that the next panel discussion will be attended by panellists who are not only extremely professional in this area, but have also partly shaped (and still shape) the music and cultural scene of Rijeka and its surroundings. The first panellist will be Velid Đekić, a publicist, journalist and author, a professor of Croatian language and literature who has been researching Rijeka's industrial heritage and rock scene for years in the second half of the last century, about which he wrote 2 books (“RED! RIVER! ROCK! – Rijeka's '60s rock scene' and '91. DECIBEL – a guide to rock’n’roll Rijeka’) and a large number of columns and presentations in various print and electronic media. Đekić, of course, deals not only with the history of music, but also with social groups and subcultures that developed alongside it. Ivan Šarar, a former member of the cult band Let 3, one of the founders of the Club of Noise Lovers and the organizer of the Hartera Music Festival, the Head of the Department of Culture of the City of Rijeka and one of the leaders of the Rijeka – European Capital of Culture 2020 project, will also comment on this topic. Šararov's contribution is significant since he dealt with this topic as a musician, as a civil society activist, but also as a decision-maker and creator of Rijeka's cultural policy.
It is interesting that, almost 40 years ago, the Rijeka band Termiti held a concert in the Crystal Hall, so the very venue of the panel discussion certainly evokes interesting comparisons and topics for discussion about today's status of rock music and its related subcultures. The organizers invite all interested parties to join the new panel discussion on May 2nd, listen to the interesting presentations of the panelists, but also to share their views and thoughts through discussion with others.
