Garavi Sokak

Garavi Sokak, "Sooty Alley", is a band from Novi Sad led by the singer and songwriter Bane Krstić, known for combining the melodies of Vojvodina with folk rock and pop. Krstić, born in Novi Sad on 15 February 1960, writes the music, sings and plays guitar. The band's story began in 1980, when he formed Pa Šta! with Petar Alvirović on bass, Milan Trifunović on drums and Šeri Toplica on rhythm guitar; inspired by The Beatles and Bijelo Dugme, they played school dances across Vojvodina.

In 1986 they released a single as Seks, and in 1987 they took the name Garavi Sokak, after a book of poems by Miroslav Antić. A first self-titled album appeared on cassette in 1988, and the 1989 album on Jugoton, which the band count as their real debut, brought the hits "Skeledžijo", "Teci, teci, Dunave" and "Mađarica". Garavi Sokak 2 (1990) added "Ti si mene caknula" and "Na temerinskom vašaru".

Da se vrate srećni dani (1992) featured guests such as Deže Molnar of Laboratorija Zvuka, with a cover painting by the naive artist Sava Stojkov. Slova tvoga imena (1994), produced by Rambo Amadeus, turned the band towards an acoustic sound, with Slobodan Trkulja on bagpipes, flute, clarinet and saxophone, and brought "Biće bolje ako budeš tu" and "U Perlezu stao voz". Dobro je (1996) and Sagradićemo brod (1998) followed, along with an unplugged concert album.

In 2003 Krstić founded the label Vojvodina Music. Its first release, Svako ima nekog koga više nema, had the hit "Ko te ima taj te nema", also recorded with Zvonko Bogdan. The song was later covered by Dragan Kojić Keba and Branimir Štulić, and Srebrna Krila covered "Svako ima nekog koga više nema" in 2012. The albums Ja bih za tebe dao sve (2008) and Zrnce ljubavi (2014) followed.

The band has filled Belgrade's Sava Centre and the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad several times and has toured Canada and Australia; newer videos include "Dobro jutro Dunave" (2019). Their official videos are gathered here in one playlist.