Pekinška Patka

Pekinška Patka, "Peking Duck", were a punk rock band from Novi Sad, Serbia, and are counted among the most prominent and influential acts of the Yugoslav punk and new wave scenes. They grew out of the cover band Trafo and the pop rock group Café Express, and singer Nebojša Čonkić "Čonta" and guitarist Sreten Kovačević are credited as founders with drummer Laslo "Cila" Pihler. Čonkić had caught punk in London in 1978, above all at a Clash concert.

Their first show, a nine-minute set at the Mašinac club in Novi Sad in late June 1978, was watched by four friends. Later that year they played the BOOM Festival in their home town. In early 1979 Boris Oslovčan, formerly of Gomila G, joined on bass, and their appearance at the Subotica Youth Festival brought national TV exposure and second place. Signed to Jugoton, they released "Bela šljiva" with "Biti ružan, pametan i mlad", which sold about 35,000 copies, while their provocative shows drew bans and cancellations.

The debut album Plitka poezija, recorded in February and March 1980 and produced by Slobodan Konjović, is often called the first punk rock album by a Serbian band. Kovačević moved to saxophone, seventeen-year-old Zoran "Bale" Bulatović took the guitar, and in autumn 1980 Kovačević left for Kontraritam. With Marinko Vukmanović on bass, the second album Strah od monotonije (1981), again produced by Konjović, turned to post-punk and darkwave; that year they also recorded "Bila je tako lijepa", a cover of a Dragan Stojnić chanson. It sold only about 8,000 copies, and the band split after a last concert at the Rokoteka club in Belgrade in June 1981. Pihler had earlier also played with Laboratorija Zvuka.

Pekinška Patka returned at the EXIT Festival in 2008, and in 2010 released their cover "Un año de amor". A dispute over the name followed, which Kovačević won in court; in 2021 he and Pihler formed a new version of the band, and in 2024 Čonkić, who had moved to Toronto in 1994, formed Profesor Čonta i Patka. Oslovčan died in 2017.

Plitka poezija was ranked 77th on a 1998 list of the 100 best Yugoslav albums and 74th by Rolling Stone Croatia in 2015. In the Rock Express Top 100 Yugoslav Rock Songs of All Times, voted in 2000 by more than 3,400 readers, 120 journalists and critics and 100 musicians, "Bolje da nosim kratku kosu" was ranked 39th.