Bora Đorđević

Borisav "Bora" Đorđević (Борисав, Бора Ђорђевић; born 1 November 1952), also known as Bora Čorba (Бора Чорба), is a Serbian singer, songwriter, and poet.

He is best known as the frontman of the rock band Riblja Čorba.

Renowned for his brand of poetic lyrics and husky baritone voice, Đorđević is widely considered one of the top and most influential authors of the Serbian rock scene.

Đorđević was born in Čačak in 1952 to machinist father Dragoljub and mother Nerandža, professor of Serbian.

At age thirteen, he formed his first band, Hermelini (trans. The Ermines), with Borko Ilić (lead guitar), Prvoslav Savić (rhythm guitar), and Aca Dimitrijević (drums).

Đorđević played bass guitar and the band's sound was influenced by the Zagreb-based beat band Roboti.

Two years later, Đorđević switched to rhythm guitar and began writing song lyrics and poetry.

One of his earliest songs/poems, "Moje tuge", would later be recorded and released on Suncokret's debut single "Kara Mustafa" / "Moje tuge" as well as included on their debut album Moje bube.

After Hermelini, Đorđević played with numerous Čačak-based bands: Vesnici Ljubavi, Safiri, Dečaci sa Morave, and Čačanski Plemići.

For a time, he was a member of PORS (Poslednji Ostatak Romantičnog Sveta, trans. The Last Remnant of Romantic World) with Radomir Mihailović Točak on guitar.

Simultaneously, along with a group of friends, teenage Đorđević began breaking and entering into apartment units around his hometown Čačak, looking to steal money and other valuables.

Some of the ill-gotten funds obtained via the activity were later used for purchasing musical equipment.

After three years of committing burglaries, they were arrested and charged as juvenile delinquents.

Đorđević spent seven days in prison detention before being released to await sentencing.

The court's sentence gave the teenager no jail time, ordering him to undergo "enhanced parental supervision and occasional future assessment by the social services".

Upon being released from prison detention, teenage Đorđević was promptly expelled from the gymnasium he had been attending.

Đorđević's parents decided to move the family to Belgrade where he enrolled at the Fifth Belgrade Gymnasium.

For the initial three years after arriving in Belgrade, he didn't participate in any music-related activities.

At the time of his matriculation, nineteen-year-old Đorđević auditioned for the Atelje 212 staging of the Jesus Christ Superstar rock opera, landing one of the apostle roles.

Featuring Korni Grupa singer Zlatko Pejaković in the lead role of Jesus Christ, Branko Milićević as Pontius Pilate, and acoustic singer-songwriter Srđan Marjanović as one of the priests, the show premiered in June 1972.

It would be performed 21 times over the following twelve months until its last show in June 1973.

Đorđević would continue acting in theatre, mostly as an extra, appearing in Atelje 212 plays Purpurno ostrvo, Tom Pejn, and Caca u metrou.

In late March 1973, twenty-year-old Đorđević formed the acoustic rock band Zajedno (Together) with three female vocalists—Ivana Kačunković alongside twin sisters Vukica "Viki" and Gordana "Goca" Stefanović—and keyboardist Đorđe Petrović, all fellow high school students at the Fifth Belgrade Gymnasium.

Initially, the band's activity mostly centred around recording jingles for radio shows.

On invitation by the forty-year-old established actor Zoran Radmilović—whom young Đorđević had met earlier while participating in the Jesus Christ Superstar staging at Atelje 212—the band joined a conceptual theatre tour named Selu u pohode.

Featuring a somewhat hippie vibe, the summer 1973 tour—that, in addition to Zajedno members and Radmilović, also featured painter Zagorka Stojanović—visited numerous remote Socialist Republic of Serbia villages with the aim of exposing their inhabitants to various forms of arts and culture such as acoustic music, painting, and theatre.

Zajedno's debut release, seven-inch single with tracks "Vizija" and "Goro moja", was released in 1974 by PGP RTB.

Đorđević composed the music for the A-side track while the B-side track used the lyrics from the eponymous poem by Aleksa Šantić.

With liner notes written by radio disk jockey Zoran Modli who used the opportunity to draw comparisons to YU Grupa's debut single from four years prior, the release brought Zajedno a small measure of prominence.

In May 1974, Zajedno members wrote the music for the theatre play Bonton (ili kako se ponašati prema osobama suprotnog pola), starring Feđa Stojanović and Ružica Sokić, that was staged on Atelje 212's secondary 'Theatre in the Basement' stage.

He left Zajedno in late 1974.

In January 1975, Đorđević formed the acoustic rock band Suncokret (Sunflower).

They gained popularity with a folk rock repertoire featuring Đorđević's humorous lyrics.

Suncokret worked with disk jockey Zoran Modli whom Đorđević had met a few years earlier while in Zajedno when Modli produced Zajedno's debut single.

Suncokret and Modli released the seven-inch single "Na putu za Stambol" / "Anđelija, čuvaj se Turaka" under the Hajduk Stanko i Jataci name.

Another single with Modli, "Rock and roll duku duku" / "Gili, gili bluz", was released under the Zoran Modli i Suncokret name.

The play was performed 43 times over the following two years until the last show in May 1976 with Zajedno members — Đorđević, Petrović, and Ivana Kačunković — in addition to Kačunković's sister Jasna appearing in acting roles as singers and musicians on stage.

In parallel with being in Zajedno, young Đorđević worked numerous temporary side jobs.

He was part of the production crew of the Radio Belgrade show Veče uz radio that had been created, hosted, and produced by the Yugoslav rock'n'roll media pioneers Nikola Karaklajić and Peca Popović.

Đorđević additionally filed radio reports from acoustic music festivals in Sivac, wrote articles for the Džuboks magazine about Yugoslav acoustic rock scene, and wrote a number of jingles for Beograd 202 and Studio B.