Marko Brecelj has died at the age of 70 (in his 71st year), one of the sharpest, wittiest and most sparkling Slovenian musical artists. In his ideas and expression he was most often “blood brothers” with a provocative avant-garde art pole, through which he fused social criticism so brilliantly “underground” with his dark, genius sarcasm, one that never lacked bizarre “pranks,” theatrical show excesses and sheer provocation. Brecelj was one of those merciless artistic proofreaders who, with his profound perceptiveness, held up a caustic mirror to the relentless gnawing at the truth by the castration machines of “fake” democratic dull-mindedness, which for millennia has carried the “philanthropic mission” of intimidating and controlling the masses.
Brecelj wrote himself in giant letters into the story of Slovenian rock music, and he can easily be counted among the avant-garde opposition. In the seventies he founded the unforgettable Buldožer, and even earlier his “eccentricity” had made him famous as a “biting” singer-songwriter, when in 1974, teaming up with Bojan Adamič, he released his cult singer-songwriter debut “Cocktail”, which remains to this day one of the most recognizable records of modern Slovenian singer-songwriting.
Born in Sarajevo at the end of April 1951, Brecelj first tried his hand at studying geology and technical physics (FNT). As fate would have it, his path crossed with that of Professor Alojz Kodre, who taught mathematical physics. Kodre informed Marko that he had no talent worth mentioning for either mathematics or physics, and the musician paid him back vividly not long after, once he had already become a freelance artist, in the extremely cheeky and barbed single Alojz valček, which he dedicated to none other than Kodre.
Brecelj first played violin in the quartet Trije črnci and the trio Krik, but playing violin didn’t bring him much joy, so he gave it up. In 1974 he performed at the Youth Festival in Subotica, where he introduced himself to a wider audience. That same year he released the album “Cocktail”. The album also featured the track Hiškar Rogač, recorded with members of the band Sedem svetlobnih let, which led to the formation of the rock group Buldožer. Together with Boris Bele, Marko became the driving engine and visionary of the band, as well as its main lyricist and singer.
In 1975 Buldožer released their cult debut “Pljuni istini u oči”, and Marko Brecelj cemented and affirmed his place in the band as one of the most unusual, penetrating leaders, vocalists and composers on the all-Yugoslav rock scene of the time. The second Buldožer album, “Zabranjeno plakatiranje”, followed in 1976, and in 1979 came the musical score for the film “Živi bili pa vidjeli”, which Buldožer also released as a mini LP. For this achievement Buldožer received the “Zlata arena” award at the Pula film festival.
That same year Brecelj left Buldožer and turned once more to his singer-songwriter charms. With Ivan Volarič “Feo” he launched the short-lived project Duo Zlatni zubi. Between 1983 and 1984 this was followed by work in the band Marjanov čudni zajec, and then in 1986 and 1991 he released two albums with the band Javna vaja, namely “Desant na rt Dobre nade” and “Moje krave molznice”. In 1994 he took part as a special guest on the Strelnikoff album “Hojladrija * Svinjarija * Diareja * Gonoreja”.
From the early eighties all the way to 2015, Brecelj headed the Youth, Cultural, Social and Multimedia Centre (MKSMC) in Koper. He was also active in the party Akacije and the Društvo prijateljev zmernega napredka. He was known for his runs for mayor of Koper, and when Boris Popovič was elected to the post, Brecelj came up with a barbed maneuver. Every day of Popovič’s term he performed an “art ritual” with his “knee-high men” in front of the municipal building, a ritual he named “Kolenovanje”. Between 2003 and 2007 he was also a councillor on the city council of the Municipality of Koper. Among his series of unforgettable and brilliant provocations, his famous “cotton-wool assassination” still deserves special mention: armed with a pack of Tosama cotton wool and a long blowpipe, with all the lung capacity at his disposal and a skillful ballistic calculation, he spat a bitterly “saliva-soaked” cotton-wool projectile at Dimitrij Rupel.
Between 2003 and 2007 he was also a councillor on the city council of the Municipality of Koper. Marko Brecelj was also a recipient of the Ježek Award, which he received in 2019.
He died in the Izola hospital on 4. 2. 2022. The cause of his death is not known, but about half a year before he died, a panic over Brecelj’s death had already put the Slovenian music public on its feet. It was a false alarm that many media outlets fell for. Given the well-known bizarre art manifestos that crown Marko’s creative legacy, many took the scare as yet another in a series of naughty diversions from this brilliant and unforgettable mind, whose caustic attacks on petty-bourgeois smugness and social bite were never far removed from the “charms” of Frank Zappa either. Then again, since 4. 2., the day Marko departed for a “better world,” is also World Cancer Day, perhaps there’s a tangible connection to be found there, though Marko is surely laughing it off carelessly today as he watches us – bewildered and helpless – from the deep blue expanse of the heavens.
