Nežni Dalibor (; trans. Gentle Dalibor) are a Serbian alternative rock band from Vranje and one of the most notable acts of the New Serbian Scene.
History
2000s
Formed in Vranje in 1995, and having performed as a highschool five-piece band for three years, the band Nežni Dalibor was reformed in 2000 by the original members Ivica Marković (guitar, lead vocals), Ljubomir Vučković (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Branimir Bogdanović (drums), with the new member Miomir Stojković (guitar). At the time, the three were living and studying in Belgrade, thus Nežni Dalibor became a Belgrade-based band. However, after several name changes and live appearances in Vranje and Belgrade, the band went on hiatus in 2003. Two years afterward, in 2005, guitarist Stojković had moved to London and the band was reactivated as a trio during the same year.
In January 2007, on the webzine Popboks annual lists, the band had been pronounced the seventh best debut act of the year 2006. During the same year, the band had sent the recordings of their three songs, "Značajan događaj" ("A Significant Event"), "Kratka šetnja" ("A Short Walk") and "Grad još blista" ("The City Still Glares"), to Ivan Lončarević of PGP RTS. One of the songs, "Značajan događaj" appeared on the PGP RTS various artists compilation Jutro će promeniti sve? (Morning Would Change Everything?), featuring the prominent bands of the so-called New Serbian Scene. After the compilation release, the band started performing more often and on March 30, 2007, they appeared as an opening act for Presing on their last concert, held at the Belgrade Dom Omladine. The following month, on April 14, as a part of the Scena Uživo! concert series, with the band The Mothership Orchestra, the band held a sold-out concert at the club of the same venue. In the meantime, the band added a live musician Dragan Novković as the second guitarist and sound engineer.
On January 29, the performance held at the Belgrade club Plasic had been broadcast live by Radio B92 in their show Stand By Live. During the same year, the band had recorded three songs at the Belgrade Technical College studio, "Ne vidim gde si" ("I Cannot See Where You Are"), "Samo magli" ("Only To The Fog") and "Vekovi" ("Centuries"), produced by Boris Mladenović, were released on the Kultur Akt various artists compilation Zdravo, zdravo, zdravo (Hello, Hello, Hello) in 2008. With Mladenović as the producer, from March until July of the same year, the band had been recording the material for their debut studio album at the Digimedia studio. Having the work-title Pokidane niti (Broken Threads), the material featured the songs written during the band's entire career, the previously released songs, "Značajan događaj", written in 1997, "Kratka šetnja", written in 2002, and "Grad još blista", written in 2003.
The debut studio album Sredstva i veštine (Means and Skills), featuring fourteen songs, was released on September 1, 2008 by the independent record label Odličan Hrčak, being the first release of the New Serbian Scene edition, made by the label and the Digimedia studio in order to promote the most popular bands of the webzine Popboks section Scena. The material featured the music entirely written by the band themselves and the song lyrics written by Ivica Marković, except for the tracks "Značajan događaj", written by Branimir Bogdanović, "Kratka šetnja", written by Milan Stojković, "Pokidane niti" and "Grad još blista", written by Miomir Stojković. In the Popboks album review, the critic Dragan Ambrozić in comparing the album with the Eva Braun 1992 debut album Prisluškivanja (Eavesdroppings) stated that "No matter if you believe that Nežni Dalibor has created a kind of a "sped up Prisluškivanja" for the new times or not, it is clear that this kind of elan is here and that it is following such examples of high achievements which happen in unexpected moments, almost unintentionally."