Korni Grupa | |
|---|---|
 The final Korni Grupa lineup, clockwise: Kornelije Kovač, Bojan Hreljac, Josip Boček, Zlatko Pejaković, and Vladimir Furduj. | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Kornelyans |
| Origin | Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1968–1974 (Reunions: 1987, 2019) |
| Labels | PGP-RTB, Casa Ricordi, Philips Records, Jugoton, Komuna |
| Past members | Kornelije Kovač Bojan Hreljac Vladimir Furduj Velibor Kacl Miroslava Kojadinović Dušan Prelević Dalibor Brun Dado Topić Josip Boček Zdravko Čolić Zlatko Pejaković |
Korni Grupa (Serbian Cyrillic: Корни Група, trans. Korni Group) was a Yugoslav rock band formed in Belgrade in 1968. Launched and led by, as well as named after, the keyboardist Kornelije Kovač, the band was one of the first Yugoslav rock acts to achieve major mainstream popularity in the country, and often considered the first Yugoslav supergroup. Over the period since their dissolution, Korni Grupa went on to be considered among the most prominent and influential bands in the history of rock music in Yugoslavia. The band additionally used the Kornelyans name during a short-lived commercial foray outside of Yugoslavia in an attempt at breaking into the international market with an English-language album.
Since the very beginning of their run, Korni Grupa's activity took place on two parallel tracks: one focused around commercial pop rock in pursuit of mainstream popularity, and the other, an artistically influenced progressive rock sound crossed with influences of psychedelic, folk, jazz, and symphonic rock music. The keyboardist Kornelije Kovač formed the group with the bassist Bojan Hreljac, drummer Vladimir Furduj, and guitarist Velibor Kacl. After going through several vocalists—Miroslava Kojadinović, Dušan Prelević and Dalibor Brun—a period during which Korni Grupa released several singles, the band settled on Dado Topić who brought along his former bandmate Josip Boček as the replacement for Kacl. The lineup with Topić on vocals participated at music festivals, scored a popular film, This Crazy World of Ours, and created a rock epic as a soundtrack for an episode of the Jedan čovek jedna pesma television program that would be released years later on the posthumous studio album 1941. Upon Topić's departure, his substitute was Zdravko Čolić who only lasted six months. Zlatko Pejaković took over the vocals after Čolić left.
With Pejaković the band recorded their eponymous debut album, which was the first full-length album by a rock band coming from SR Serbia and fourth in Yugoslavia, and an English language second album Not an Ordinary Life, under the name Kornelyans. The band had also performed at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest reaching the 12th place, owing to which, along with the little success of the second album, the band had decided to split. They held two farewell concerts at the Novi Sad Studio M and disbanded on December 1, 1974. A part of the recordings from the concerts was released on the posthumous compilation album Mrtvo more, the first double album in the history of Yugoslav rock music.
After the disbandment, Korni Grupa members pursued careers as solo acts, studio musicians and producers, reuniting in 1987 with Topić on vocals for two performances, in Zagreb and Belgrade. In 2019, Kovač, Boček and Topić reunited to hold the farewell Korni Grupa concert in Belgrade; Hreljac's participation in the reunion was also announced, however, he died less than two months before the concert.