Ivan Ivica Vdović, better known as Vd, was a member of the cult bands Sharlo Acrobat and Katarina II, and one of the best and most important drummers of Yugoslavia, the native John Bonham, as some call him. Vd was the vanguard, the first to replace the sticks with a rhythm machine; he was completely dedicated to creating and driving a new wave in the rock and roll music scene - a wave that no one could or dared to stop. When Vda was once asked who is the audience of his bands, he answered that they are young people who are fed up with what they have been listening to so far. According to the testimonies of his friends, he was rebellious and fascinating, somewhat mysterious, and above all, charismatic and witty. There is almost no drummer from this area who does not put him in the foreground.
Vd was born on February 23, 1961 in Belgrade. He started his musical career in the third grade of high school in the band Limunovo drvo, which was formed in the late seventies by singer and guitarist Milan Mladenović and guitarists Dragomir Gagi Mihajlović and Milan Mikica Stefanović. The band often changed members, and the last line-up consisted of Milan and Gaga from the old ones and bassist Dušan Kojić Koja and Vd as new members. After the concert with the band Pankrti in SKC (April, 1980), Gaga leaves the band, and the remaining three continue to form the band Charlo Acrobats.
Few bands managed to leave an indelible mark on the Yugoslav rock and roll scene in such a short time, like Charles the Acrobat, with just one album - "Bistriji ili tuplji čovek biva kad..." The name for it was chosen by Vd (according to the quote from the book "Pelagic's National Teacher" Vasa Pelagić). Jugoton released the album in July 1981 in today's unimaginable and then not too big 10,000 copies. Even today, he represents the most significant thing that the Belgrade rock scene has ever produced. The public will remember Šarlo the acrobat for his cult hits with "A brighter or duller man becomes when...", such as "Ona se wake", "No one like me", "Oko moje glava" and "Little man". They were also on the cult compilation "Package Arrangement", together with the famous hits of Idol and Electric Orgasm. Koja once stated that this album was released too late, because the trio was already deeply in disagreements, both musically and privately, and that two fronts were created: Milan and Ivica on one side, and he on the other. However, he only had words of praise for Vda:
Vd was an incredibly talented drummer, perhaps the most talented of all, he was also educated, he loved, but also knew how to play jazz, which is quite important. We got along really well and got along as musicians, it always actually kept the band together when we had a fight.
There is an interesting story from the tour of Charles the Acrobat in Poland. Namely, the Poles were so enthusiastic about the band that the audience carried Vda on their backs after one concert. The acrobats then managed to break up trained jazzers at the jam session of the Warsaw Jazz Festival. It was one of their last performances, because after returning home, the band held a farewell concert in Ljubljana in October 1981.
I tried to create a space for some open forms, where I would manage to create a situation where we could communicate with the instruments during the concert itself. And that was somehow, at least for me, the best part of the music that Charlo made... To some extent, the organized chaos that Charlo managed to create (VD about Charlo the acrobats)
Sharlo the acrobat did the music for one of the best films of Yugoslav cinematography in the early eighties - "The Boy Who Promises" by Miša Radivojević. Three songs recorded for the film ("Slobodan", "Ballad of hard chest" and "Depression", with which the film ends), have never been published, and they are true masterpieces. Koja and Vd played members of the band VIS Dobri dečaci in the film. The acting actor played the role of a silent musician. His friends often said that he was like that in private too. A good boy, with a kind and good-natured boyish appearance, who spoke little but wisely.
I remember him as the most charming guy in the company, a real prankster who was always ready to crack a good joke. He was also known for some habits that he would never change. He never went anywhere without his drumsticks and never answered the phone. When we have to go out, he stands nicely under the window and whistles. God, how much that man whistled under my window. (journalist Dubravka Marković about Vd)
The legendary Yugoslav actress and close friend of the Vd, Sonja Savić, was devoted to the Vd in many ways. She attributed key merits to him, both for the emergence of the new wave, and for shaping Mladenović and Koja, both musically and personally.
The widow's sister, Tanja, described her brother as an above-average werewolf who was often awarded during his schooling. According to her, Sharlo the acrobat broke up after only one year of work due to Vdo's insistence that Goran Vejvoda and Bebi Dol, with whom he previously collaborated on the Announda Rouge project, be brought into the group. Milan allegedly supported that option, while Koja believed that the three of them were enough in the band.
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