Center za dehumanizacijo (CZD)

Although the band is no longer active, Culture.si retains this article for historical purposes.

Archival article

Formed as a punk rock trio in 1984 in Maribor, Center za dehumanizacijo (CZD) (Centre for Dehumanisation) has since then developed its own variation of punk rock music, characterised by a strong inclination towards experimentation. Integrating and adapting a variety of directions like industrial, electro-pop, a cappella, hardcore and other musical forms, CZD are also distinctive for strong lyrics and a strong stage presence. Their artistic path is not limited to music only and the CZD collective has (both separately as individuals and together as a band) also worked and collaborated in the fields of the written word, video artistry, political activism and cultural infrastructure; thus, CZD has for the last three decades contributed greatly to the cultural scene of (especially north-eastern) Slovenia.

Line-up

The CZD line-up consists of: Dušan Hedl (guitar, vocals), Boštjan Imenšek (guitar, vocals), Franci Novak (drums), Bojan Tomažič (sampler, effects, vocals) and Silvo Zemljič (bass, vocals).

Background – CZD in the 1980s

The band's roots go back to the end of the 1970s and to the beginning of the 1980s when, in the rural and partly proletarian outskirts of Maribor, an alternative cultural scene was growing. Out of it, the short-lived punk rock bands Masaker, Džumbus and Butli were bred, and out of their remains the much more persistent band CZD was formed. Besides actively taking part in the scene, the band started recording and self-releasing music that provocatively addressed the social climate of that time. Music-wise, they soon strayed from standard punk patterns, incorporating samplers, synthesisers, and other electronic equipment into their innovative rendition of punk music. For all of this, CZD received the Golden Bird Award, a distinguished Slovene award for young creativity, in 1987.

Dušan Hedl

The band's leader, guitarist, singer, and lyricist Dušan Hedl has been present in all fields of cultural activism since the end of the 1970s, when he first took part in the managing of the Mladinski in rock klub Trate (Youth and rock club Trate). Soon after, he got involved in organising fine arts exhibitions, directing videos, writing and editing work, etc. He founded and led the Front Rock music label, the non-governmental cultural institution Subkulturni azil Maribor (today renamed into Cultural Centre Maribor, and the Studio at the Border. Dušan has also headed (and still heads) the Festival at the Border, the No Border Jam Festival and some other musical cycles, festivals, cultural happenings, and a number of other projects and institutions.

If quantitatively somewhat less creative and productive, other (past and present) members of CZD have also made their mark in a variety of cultural and artistic fields.

CZD discography and performances

Including CZD's first album, released in 1986, the 1980s saw approximately 5 of their music releases and a slightly greater number of them followed in 1990s. The latter decade was for them creatively very productive and they delved deeper and deeper into musical experiments. A cult recording of that time is their 1995 album Ajajajajajajajaja. As videos were an integral part of their artistic approach, a video cassette called Center za dehumanizacijo 1985–1991 was released in 1991.

Since 2000 the have concentrated on systematically sorting and digitalising their house archives and have released or re-released a lot of previously unknown or hard-to-get material. In a somewhat slower tempo they also released new work. Worth a mention is their 2003 album Gverilci brez mej [No Border Guerillas]. Accompanied by the Tamburaški orkester Cirkovce, CZD recorded this album at the Izštekani [Unplugged] show on Val 202, where it was also broadcast live. All their other albums have been recorded at the Studio at the Border and were, since 1989, released by Front Rock. CZD songs are featured on most of the No Border Jam and Rokerji pojejo pesnike (Rockers Sing Poets) compilations and on a number of others.

In 1986 the band performed together with the groups Lačni Franz, Pankrti, Gastrbajtrs, and Masaker as the first punk initiative at the Student Residence Halls in Ljubljana. A number of concerts followed, and besides a thorough touring of Slovenia, they played a lot in other Yugoslavian countries and in Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands. In the last three decades, CZD have appeared on most of the relevant festivals in Slovenia and in many ex-Yugoslav countries. In 2003, they performed at the opening ceremony for Graz 03, the European Capital of Culture, and in September 2004, the band was the Slovene representative at the first Punk! Kongress in Kassel, Germany.

Side projects

CZD - No Money - Nimam Dnara by 5edem on YouTube

CZD song "Nimama dnara" (I have no money) from the album Kupi gnoja (Piles of Shit) accompanied by a video by the artist Neven Korda.

In 1994, the American-Slovene avant-garde music project Punkappella was formed by Dušan Hedl, Bojan Tomažič, Mike Pride, and Jessica Pavone. It was launched and presented in Germany and New York. Some of the Punkappella songs have also been interpreted by CZD and one of them, I am Broke (translated into Nimama dnara), was even a music video hit on Radio-Television Slovenia (RTV Slovenia).

In 2010, the label Front Rock joined with the web-based Slovenian Punk Rock Portal and embarked on a project called Zrcalo Dehumanizacije [Mirror of Dehumanisation], which made an international call for covers of CZD songs. Many bands with different rock credos, not only Slovene but also some from Serbia, Bosnia, Austria, the UK, and the USA, applied and subsequently the record Zrcalo Dehumanizacije came out in 2011.

Bibliography

CZD have also had a dedicated chronicler in the person of Rajko Muršič, a professor at the Faculty of Arts and a well-known ethnologist and musicologist. His first book about them, called Center za dehumanizacijo: Etnološki oris rock skupine (The Centre for Dehumanisation: The ethnological outline of a rock group), was published in 1995. Another followed in 1999. Both books dealt with the band in the context of the regional artistic scene (which was also a theme of Muršič's PhD thesis) and were published by Frontier, a book label under the wing Subkulturni azil Maribor (today Cultural Centre Maribor).

They published their lyrics in two books, the first one in 1993 and the second one in 2007, both also featuring photos and some other artwork.

External links

Center za dehumanizacijo (CZD)

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