Teška Industrija

Teška Industrija is a Bosnian rock band formed in Sarajevo in 1974 by keyboardist Gabor Lenđel, with guitarist Vedad Hadžiavdić and bassist Ivica Propadalo, both from Cod, drummer Senad Begović and singer Fadil Toskić. Its name, "Heavy Industry", comes from a verse in "Čisti zrak", a song by Duško Trifunović and Narcis Vučina. Seid Memić Vajta, formerly of Veziri, soon joined as singer, and in its early years the band was known for melodic hard rock.

After the singles "Karavan" / "UFO" and a rock take on the sevdalinka "Aj, kolika je Jahorina planina" in 1975, the debut album Ho ruk came out on Jugoton in 1976, with "Bijeg", "Koncert tročinski" and "Od Olova do Trnova". At the Split Festival that summer the band sang "Život je maskenbal" at the label's insistence and had a big success with it. The second album, Teška Industrija (1976), opens with the rock epic "Nikola Tesla". At the end of 1976 Memić left to form Zmaj od Bosne and later went solo, and bassist Sanin Karić, who had replaced Propadalo, later went on to tour with Bijelo Dugme.

With Goran Kovačević, formerly of Čisti Zrak, as singer, the band made Zasviraj i za pojas zadjeni (1978), which Lenđel conceived as a farewell, and after a tour of Poland in July 1978 it stopped. Hadžiavdić revived it several times, but Ponovo sa vama (1984) and Gospode ne daj da je sanjam (1991) went largely unnoticed, as did Sarajevska noć and Ruže u asfaltu in 1996.

In 2005 Lenđel, Hadžiavdić, Propadalo and Memić reunited for the band's 30th anniversary with a concert on the island of Murter, which led to the album Kantina (2007). Hadžiavdić and Propadalo carried on with new members on Nazovi album pravim imenom (2010), Bili smo raja (2011) and Selfie (2016), with guests Željko Bebek and Kemal Monteno. In 2017 the band recorded two new versions of "Nikola Tesla" with Goran Karan for a large Nikola Tesla exhibition in Zagreb.

Today two line-ups use the name: one with Hadžiavdić and Propadalo, and one with Lenđel and Memić, which released Putnički voz uspomena in 2024 for the band's fiftieth anniversary. In the 1998 YU 100 list of the 100 greatest Yugoslav pop and rock albums, Teška Industrija was ranked 95th.