Bulevar

Bulevar was a new wave band from Belgrade, active from 1978 to 1982. It was formed by singer Dejan Cukić, guitarist Nenad Stamatović, drummer Predrag "Bata" Jakovljević and bassist Branko Isaković, who had played in Suncokret, and it was named after the Boulevard of the Revolution, near which they all lived. Keyboardist Dragan Mitrić joined soon after, and his arrangements gave the band its particular sound. Their first big show was at Belgrade's Tašmajdan stadium on 1 September 1979, opening for Riblja Čorba at its famous concert there.

Bulevar released two singles on Jugoton: "Moje bezvezne stvari", backed with "Nemam ništa važno da te pitam", in 1980, and "Nestašni dečaci", backed with "Moja lova, tvoja lova", in 1981. Cukić called "Nestašni dečaci" "the inauguration of symphonic punk", for the way the band mixed punk with Mitrić's arrangements, and it also appeared on the cult new wave compilation "Svi marš na ples!". In 1981 the band sang "Rano jutro" at the Belgrade Spring festival.

The debut album "Loš i mlad" (1981) was produced by the band itself with help from Tahir Durhalić. The second, "Mala noćna panika" (1982), produced by Kornelije Kovač, brought "Unutarnja panika" and "Trenutni lek", but with several members in the army it was never properly toured; at its only live presentation Kovač himself played keyboards. Bulevar played its last concert in Skopje in 1982 and split.

After the army, Stamatović and Mitrić rehearsed a few times as Bulevar and then joined Bajaga i Instruktori, where Dejan Cukić also sang on three albums before starting a successful solo career, in which he recorded new versions of Bulevar's songs. Isaković played in Propaganda and then Idoli, and later in Kerber, and Jakovljević played with several groups, among them Zana and finally Viktorija, before leaving the scene.

The compilation "Nestašni dečaci" reissued the band's recordings in 2008, and in 2011 the Serbian band Trigger covered "Trenutni lek". Predrag Jakovljević died in 2025.