The war in Bosnia-Herzegovina finally came to an end in 1995. And that same year a band called Zona Isključenja / Exclusion Zone was formed in Goražde, a town in Eastern Bosnia which very nearly suffered the horrible fate of Srebrenica.

Zona Isključenja got their name from the 1994 UN designation of Goražde. By declaring the town as an exclusion zone, the UN was aiming to protect the civilian population. But given the poor equipment of UN peacekeapers and their very limited rules of engagement, the designation turned out to be a cynical joke. And cynical jokes in Bosnia have a tendency to become band names.

They started playing at the tail end of 1995 and by 1999, they were already in a studio recording their first album. However, that album never saw the light of day, as the band was reportedly not happy with the technical quality of the product. It took seven more years until the release of Vakat, the inaugural – if not necessarily debutante – album by Zona Isključenja.

It took only two more years for the band to release their sophomore album titled Trinaesta soba / Room Thirteen. Which suggests that they had thing to say from the get-go. And say them they did. Not in the least, they noted the band had by then existed for thirteen years, which by itself made them veterans of the industry.

Zona Isključenja and their music span many genres that we collectively recognise as rock. But throughout their creative history they maintained a somewhat artistic streak. Be it by including sevdah, Bosnian folk music or by incorporating other, non-music artistic elements into their work.

The period between second and third albums was significantly longer than the time between the first two. Not in the least, because the band really took great care in crafting their sound and making the album a wholesome auditory experience. And so, in 2016, eight years after Room Thirteen, Zona Isključenja released Trenutak, Sat, Godina / A moment, An Hour, A Year, their third and to date final album.

For a long-lived band, Zona Isključenja have a surprising stable lineup. They’ve only changed or replaced two band members throughout the years. And so, the current lineup consists of Admir Hurem – Atko on vocals, Senko Borovac – Neni on bass, Dženan Hadjović – Hadjy on keyboards, Jasmin Bešlija – Jasa on drums and Omar Softić – Bole on guitars.

And this is all the time we have for today. Check out Zona Isključenja, on YouTube, Spotify and wherever you get your music from and Balkan Express will be back next week.

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Balkan Express brings you the latest and/or the greatest in music from the Balkans. On air every Tuesday at 11am on Ara City Radio, it is hosted by Aljaž aka @pengovsky who once did the world a solid and vowed never to sing again in public. Which is how he ended up doing radio.