Zdenko Kolar

Zdenko Kolar
Zdenko Kolar performing live with Vlada Divljan & Nevladina Organizacija in 2010
Background information
Born	1956 (age 60–61) Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia
Genres	New wave, punk rock, art rock, rock, blues
Instruments	Bass guitar, Vocals
Years active	1969 – present
Associated acts	Idoli, Zona B, Vlada Divljan & Old Stars Band, Die Tonzentrale, Vlada Divljan & Nevladina Organizacija

Zdenko Kolar is a Serbian bass guitarist, most notable as the member of Idoli and Zona B.

Kolar was born in Zemun in 1956 where he lived until 1963 when he moved to inner town in Belgrade. He moved to a building where two of his future bandmates lived, Vlada Divljan and Boža Jovanović. In an interview Kolar noted that Divljan was the first boy he had met in his new neighborhood on the day his family was moving in.

In 1968 Divljan decided to take up playing and so did Kolar. Divljan managed to get a mandolin and later bought a guitar while Kolar got his first guitar by getting a vacuum cleaner on a newspaper lottery. His parents sold the vacuum cleaner and bought him a guitar. The two started learning how to play while watching others play in their neighborhood at the places where the young were gathering. Later they went to a guitar course at RU "Braća Stamenković" held by professor Branko Perišić.

In the meantime Kolar, Divljan and Boža Jovanović formed a band called Faraoni (Pharaohs) as Divljan at the time had a necklace from Egypt. The band was soon renamed to Hoplipe when the three found out there was a popular band from Kopar called Faraoni. In May 1969 the three had a very successful appearance at their school which Zdenko credits as the beginning of his musical career.

The first serious band Kolar and Divljan formed in 1976 called MARILYN (after youthful infatuation with Marilyn Monroe - but the first concert that was to be played in I Bgd Gimnasia featured newly ordered T-shirts from USA which came misspelled, so the name was promptly changed to MERLIN (the magician)) which was soon renamed to Zvuk Ulice. The lineup featured Vlada Divljan first only on guitar and vocals, Kolar on bass, Kokan Popović on drums, Dragan Mitrić on keyboards, Bora Antić on saxophone and Dragana Milković on piano and vocals. The band played a combination of melodic rock, hard rock and jazz rock. Beside their own tracks they also performed songs by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, etc.