This week, Balkan Express makes a stop in Serbia to take a look at band named Kanda, Kodža i Nebojša. While they are usually billed as an alt-rock band, their music encompasses everything from funk, soul, reggae, jazz and, yes, alt-rock

Kanda, Kodža i Nebojša, or KKN for short, have a storied history, starting in earnest all the way back in 1991, just as the old country was going to hell in a handcart. A five-member outfit, their eclectic and cosmopolitan mix of musical styles was increasingly at odds with the prevalent with a country that was drowning in nationalism and extremism that fueled the Yugoslav wars.

Despite this, or maybe precisely because of this, KKN soon found success within what was left of urban way of life in Serbia. They became something of a sought-after band and released three albums in quick succession in 1996, 1998 and 2000. The latter was recorded entirely in English.

In 2001, just as it seemed that Serbia was starting to crawl out of the glut imposed by its autocrat leader Slobodan Milošević, KKN contributed to a track to a cult Serbian film Munje / Ligthning. And then the band, well, disbanded, as founding member Oliver Nektarijević moved to Los Angeles.

However, the hiatus didn't last all that long. Nektarijević returned from the States in 2003 and together with Vladan Rajović, another core member of the group, reformed the KKN and two years alter relesed their fourth album, Prekid Stvarnosti / Reality Inerrupted, which was voted the album of the year by then-influential Popboks website.

The KKN are no strangers to rock venues or conceptual music festivals, as they easily reach out to both sides of the spectrum. Equally proficient in their electric and acoustic forms, they regularly draw large crowds and have, in the last three decades or so, become a must-see band.

Today, Kanda, Kodža i Nebojša are: Oliver Nektarijević, Vladan Rajovič, Nenad Pejović, Janko Mostarlić and Ognjen Beader. To date, they have released nine studio albums, with the latest one, Popis or Census, dated in 2020.

And that's all the time we have for today. Check out Kanda, Kodža i Nebojša 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.