Gitarijada (Belgrade)

At the beginning of the 1960s, first Yugoslav rock bands were formed, and prior to the first edition of Gitarijada some of them, like Atomi, Bijele Strijele, Crveni Koralji, Iskre and Elipse had already published EPs.

[2] During the festival, present in the audience were some notable public figures of the time: professor at Military Medical Academy and correspondent member of the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts Izidor Papo, politician, writer, and political theorist Dobrica Ćosić, composer and conductor Mihailo Vukdragović, film director Dušan Makavejev, actresses Milena Dravić and Rada Đuričin, singer Đorđe Marjanović and others.

[12] It also stated: Unfortunately, low democratic culture of a great number of our citizens results in the fact that in our country there are also people who could join the Chinese 'Cultural Revolution'.

[13]The TV stations broadcast footage from Gitarijada, including scenes of boys taking off their shirts and waving them high above their heads and girls dancing ecstatically.

[11] The newspaper Politika wrote: Fans of 'electric' music expressed their likes screaming, with the help of various rattles, horns, sirens, throwing their coats, caps, purses and anything else that was in their hands.

Thousands of young people partied for ten hours without stopping, listening to the monotonous music of the famous Beatles, nodding their heads tirelessly, waving their long hair, twisting their bodies furiously, wringing and intertwining their legs, screaming and falling into trans, the trans which also caught the ones that were watching them, as a mass hysteria, all of that followed by the sounds of the 'yeah-yeah' symphony!

[15]The literary magazine Književne novine criticized Večernje novosti as the organizers of the festival: It will become clear that in this historical period, in this country, the press, or at least a part of it, does not have the function it usually had throughout history: primarily, to inform its readers about the things which are happening around them and in the rest of the world.

One part of the press dedicated itself to a more 'noble' cause: to gathering hairy and masked makers of noise, which is produced with the help of appliances resembling the musical instrument called the guitar and the electric energy, gathering those young men in one place, giving them an opportunity to compete in this business, and awarding and helping the chosen ones among them.

[8]On the other hand, the newspaper Borba, the official newspaper of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, defended young rockers in the article entitled "Savremene babaroge" ("Contemporary Bogeymen"): It is unfortunate that the negative view is created by watching marginal details, usually the clothing and the way of entertainment, so one gets the impression that the hair and the clothes are enough for judging the youth, ignoring, at the same time, their life aspirations.

It became clear, however, that in tight trousers and short boots live young men who stand firmly on their feet, and that their long hair does not cover empty heads.

The people asked for opinion included experts from various fields: university professors, neuropsychiatrists, magistrates, most of them rejecting the idea of rock music being harmful for the youth and the society.

[19] The jury pronounced Crni Biseri, Delfini and Siluete the best bands respectively, while the audience polled Plavi Dečaci, Džentlmeni and Vesnici the best.

[3] In her book Koka-kola socijalizam (Coca-Cola Socialism) historian Radina Vučetić wrote: "The authorities were aware there is little space for the youth and its 'cultural and recreational life', and that a group of 'electric guitarists which represent a specific cultural movement' emerged.

That 'spectacular' thing happened in January 1966 [...] This openness, as well as the regime's approval was, like in many other similar remissions, a good way of creating and promoting the positive image of Yugoslavia.