ŽUR (‘Zhure’, party) is absolute cult and one of the most rare Yugoslavian disco funk albums, originally recorded in 1981, reissued on Everland Music for the first time since the original vinyl came out more than 40 years ago. The album was carefully and brilliantly remastered by grammy nominated sound engineer Jessica Thompson.
Boban Petrović is a legend of Belgrade’s sophisticated disco funk scene from the late 70s and early 80s. Back in the second half of the 70s Boban started one of the first disco clubs in Belgrade and he was one of the biggest organizers of private house parties.
The finest balance between Boban Petrović’s big-hearted party-maker-turned-philanthropist personality and his hustler one was achieved on Žur.
On Žur, he is at home, in his safe place, since the parties, the music and the people are the first out of many things he had completely figured out in his life. He is at the top of his game, occasionally bothered by a casual heartbreak, but always feeling himself, coming out playful and fundamentally peaceful, satisfied and ready to transcend himself in order to put the rest of the world in the limelight. In fact, Žur isn’t about the party, music, lyrics or its, hands down, beautifully balanced sonics. It’s about Boban and the funk he lived thoroughly. The funk before, but the funk he lived after this album even more so. All the ups and downs that he faced since the moment the first needle dropped on a Žur record to this very day are on this album as the unwritten destiny of that lighthearted character he played.
In short, ŽUR represents the essence of underground club life in Belgrade from the late 70s, when the album was recorded. The quality of this trust is confirmed by the fact that Boban Petrovic’s music is still actively listened to today, not just anywhere, but at the finest club events. High end production and extremely authentic arrangements outside the mold of classic disco music, and lyrics that literally convey the vibe of his already jet-set lifestyle in Belgrade at the time.
Shortly after his musical career, Boban Petrovic became a businessman of the conscious class. He was living in Spain on his own luxury yacht for years, he had a private airplane, a car park. But all this time living on highest class level he never lost his identity. In all his offices, yacht, airplane and everywhere was playing loud funk music and he was dressed like a musician who just finished or need to start a gig. Along the way Boban also wrote two books: Rokanje 1 & 2 describing the time when the album ŽUR was created.
The ŽUR album is one of the the holy grails of disco funk music releases on a global level. Original copies in good condition rise up to 500 euro on the market.
ZORA was created seven years before the collapse of Yugoslavia during a period of heavy turmoil, Zora by Slavic disco pioneer Boban Petrović is a psychedelic disco masterpiece that would be the singer’s final album. Surrounded by political unrest, turbulence in the economy, and shifting cultural systems, Petrović found himself at a crossroads and filled with negative energy, which he poured into his magnum opus. “I can say that this album reflects the agony once I had within myself, probably caused by both the subjective circumstances and the objective surroundings. When I finished this album, I left music and departed from the country to do other things and to escape somehow from myself and those around me.
