Želimir Altarac Čičak

Želimir "Čičak" Altarac (21 August 1947 – 26 March 2021) was a Bosnian singer-songwriter from Sarajevo.

Widely known as Čičak (burdock) for his curly hair, Altarac attended the First Sarajevo Gymnasium from 1961 until 1965.

During this period he grew increasingly infatuated with Western rock music coming from the United States and the United Kingdom, which had gained a devoted audience among the youth of communist Yugoslavia.

Teenage Čičak often skipped gym classes in pursuit of activities he was more interested in – organizing local rock gigs, writing and reciting poetry, moderating music events, and editing the gymnasium newsletter Polet.

He developed a particular interest in the crossover between poetry and rock music, reciting his own poetry at different student manifestations over the coming years.

Among such events from this period was a beatnik-like stage setup where upstart actors Etela Pardo and Branko Ličen recited Čičak's verses while musician Ranko Rihtman played the keyboard.

In the late sixties, the first underground club Barutana was taking shape in downtown Sarajevo, with Čičak participating from the beginning.

Many later famous musicians of former Yugoslavia started their journey in Barutana in some sort of Bosnian/Yugoslavian "tower of songs".

Čičak soon commenced a program "Čičak plus Čičak" ("Burdock Plus Burdock") where he and the band Čičak jointly performed.

It was also in Barutana that Čičak made a step towards not only working with the music but rather working on music of his own.

His cooperation with the pop-rock group Kodeksi resulted in three chart successes according to the Sarajevo Radio Chart (the best media platform for progressive music waves at the time).

He wrote lyrics for Eduard Bogeljić's song "Lutalica" and he also made a remake of two world hits: "To Love Somebody" by the Bee Gees and "Song of a Baker" by Small Faces.

Čičak's collaboration with the rock group Indexi helped him to further sharpen his poetic expression in pop-rock music.

He wrote lyrics for their most famous songs such as: "Negdje na kraju u zatišju" ("Somewhere, at the end of a road, where everything goes down to silence"), and "Svijet u kome živim" (The World I live In).

A truth seeking of "Negdje na kraju u zatišju" was published in Polet to be later musically arranged and tuned by Slobodan Bodo Kovačević of Indexi, who made a 12-minute-long song which starts and ends with recitation.

It was a somewhat unusual and new form of musical expression at the time, but was very successful according to the Radio Sarajevo Music Chart.

Čičak also later wrote, "Povratak Jacka Trbosjeka" (Return of Jack the Ripper) for Indexi.

Besides his experiences with Barutana and collaboration with Indexi, Čičak was a winner of a European competition of DJs in the Istrian city of Rovinj.

He showed a great interest in working as a music radio host and his journey to achieving this started in 1974 at Radio Sarajevo.

Here he initially hosted Pop Orion and then Attention please, mind the Dynamite on the Vinyl, Ballads in the shadow of skyscrapers, and Joyful Electronics.

From 1977 to 1982 at the Sloga cultural club, in downtown Sarajevo, Čičak paved the way for a new generation of rock musicians to show their talent.

Talented young musicians and rock groups to be, from those garage bands to the school ones, were dreaming of having an opportunity to present themselves at Sloga.

Those who were proven to be the best did really get the opportunity – including Žaoka (Sting), Flota (Fleet), Top (Canon), Kako had, Mali print (Small Prince), Rock Apoteka (Rock Pharmacy), Tina, Ozbiljno Pitanje (A Serious Question), Linija života (Life Line), Posljednji autobus (The Last Bus), Lucifer, and Velika Porodica (The Big Family).

This healthy competition of its own had helped forge new domestic pop-rock concepts and shaped up later to be among the biggest pop-rock bands in the former Yugoslavia – Zabranjeno Pušenje, Plavi orkestar, Crvena jabuka, Bombaj Štampa, Valentino, Gino Banana, and singer Mladen Vojičić Tifa...They had also opened the door of fame to somewhat at the time smaller bands who just later gained their momentum of fame- Vatreni Poljubac, Divlje jagode, Film, Buldožer, Galija...

Čičak continued to spread new narratives and discover new territories.

At Đuro Đaković Workers' University Amphitheatre, from 1977 to 1980, he was organizing lectures about the world and domestic trends in pop-rock music.

As a journalist and music critic, Čičak was publishing articles and editorials in almost all leading newspapers and magazines in Sarajevo and former Yugoslavia – VEN, Večernje novine, Svijet, Oslobođenje, Džuboks, and Rock.

The first one was organised at the Youth Center at Skenderija on January 18, 1979, where many friends showed up, most of whom genuine representatives of Sarajevo music school: Indexi, Vatreni Poljubac, Divlje jagode, Cod, Formula 4, Jadranka Stojaković, Slobodan Samardžić & Narcis Vučina... The second one took place on November 24, 1984, in overcrowded Skenderija where, now famous veterans, Indexi played their hits alongside renowned pop-rock bands: Bajaga I Instruktori, U škripcu, Slomljena Stakla, Elvis J. Kurtovich, Kongres, Gino banana, Leb i sol, Laboratorija Zvuka, Drugi način, Galija, Vatreni Poljubac, Teška Industrija, Resonance, Formula 4...

When Radio Sarajevo started its late-night programme in 1981, Čičak was among the few to jump in.

He helped Radio Sarajevo with his spirit, but he was also helped by them to make his name in the music realm of Yugoslavia.

His late-night program started with a show called Discothèque at 2:30, which was an introduction to Charade of acoustic, which thousands of people from Slovenia to Macedonia tuned into during the prime time between 4.30 p.m. and 6.00 p.m.

He soon started another adventure by traveling to different places within former Yugoslavia with his "flying" discothèque called Top Rock Disco Show.

The positive perception of music critics and thousands of listeners encouraged Čičak to undertake yet another endeavor – to discover and promote new rising stars.

The year 1984 has particular significance in Čičak's career.

Back then Olympic metropolis of the world (that was the year of the Fourteenth Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo), Čičak took over the editorial stick at the so-called Youth Centre Skenderija (Dom Mladih) where he was relentlessly working from 1984 to 1992 His name was well known, his experience undisputed and Sarajevo as a relatively small town and very vivid music scene in comparison to Zagreb and Belgrade was ready for its "five minutes" of fame as a cultural capital of the former Yugoslavia.

It was at Dom Mladih where Čičak first organised traditional music manifestation of wider significance: "Yu heavy metal fest" (1986-1991) i "Festival of pop-rock bands of BIH – significant newcomers" or in native language "Nove nade nove snage" (Dom mladih 1984–1992).

For all those who happen to even superficially know the pop rock scene of the former Yugoslavia names such as: Dino Merlin, Hari Mata Hari, Konvoj (Convoy), Regina (Bosnia and Herzegovina band), Letu štuke, Protest (Demonstration), Knock Out (Apokalipsa), Rupa u zidu – (Damir Avdić Diplomatz) can be enough argument for understanding a role a Youth Centre and Čičak were playing in modern music history of Sarajevo, BiH and region.

All of them started their very successful careers at Čičak's Festival "Significant Newcomers".

A really special place and meaning in Želimir Altarac Čičak's entire career belongs to Rock Marathons organized under the banner: "Ž.A. Čičak – with a little help from my friends".

Every five years, exactly on his working jubilee, Čičak was organizing a ten hour long program with all musicians from former Yugoslavia who either started off with his help or who appreciated in a particular way his contribution to the profession.