Subotica Youth Festival appearance

In May 1979, alongside the Zagreb -based punk rockers Prljavo Kazalište , Pekinška Patka appeared at the Subotica Youth Festival —the very first time punk rock acts performed at the prominent competitive musical festival promoting youth culture in Yugoslavia. Unlike most other young acts competing at the festival, neither of the two bands had submitted a formal application; instead, as a consequence of both already creating sufficient buzz on the scene, their respective appearances came courtesy of a special invitation from the festival director Vitomir Simurdić. Pekinška Patka performed ” Bela šljiva ” at the festival’s opening night, easily qualifying for the final. The JRT -televised final saw Vox Populi, a duo featuring at the time little-known singer Vesna Vrandečić , win the festival’s audience award while Pekinška Patka finished runners-up. In his write-up about the 1979 Subotica festival, Džuboks music magazine staff writer Branko Vukojević [ sr ] described the band’s performance in glowing terms as “the biggest breath of fresh air”.