Dražen Ričl, known under nicknames "Zijo" and "Para", (12 March 1962 – 1 October 1986) was a Yugoslavrock musician, best known as the first frontman of popular pop rock band Crvena Jabuka.
Ričl started his musical career in his home city Sarajevo in the early 1980s. He rose to prominence as guitarist for the band Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors and participator in the works of New Primitivismsubcultural movement. He gained nationwide popularity as the vocalist and guitarist of Crvena Jabuka, which he formed in 1985 with guitarist Zlatko Arslanagić, keyboardist Dražen Žerić, drummer Darko Jelčić and bass guitarist Aljoša Buha. The band's 1986 self-titled debut album was an instant commercial success. At the beginning of the album promotional tour, on 18 September 1986, the band members were involved in a car accident which killed Aljoša Buha. Ričl was transferred to Mostar city hospital with severe head injuries. Several days later he was transferred to Military Medical Academy in Belgrade, where he died.
Early life
Ričl was born in Sarajevo to Czech father Ferdinand Ritchel[1][2] and Bosniak mother Elvira Deak. He grew up in Sarajevo's Višnjik neighborhood, where he was known by the nicknames "Para" and "Zijo".
In parallel with primary school, he attended lower music school for acoustic guitar. Already infatuated with the 1970s British and American hard rock, in parallel with his secondary education at Sarajevo's Second Gymnasium, the teenager started a short-lived band Misterija (Mystery).[3] Also during high school, he switched over to play with Znak Sreće (Sign of Happiness).[3] Upon graduating high school, he enrolled in the journalism program at the University of Sarajevo's Faculty of Political Sciences, where he would later meet future fellow musician Branko Đurić, but, for the time being in September 1980, immediately went to serve his mandatory Yugoslav People's Army stint.[3]
Career
Early years (1981–1983)
In September 1981, upon returning home from the army, Ričl reclaimed his spot with Znak Sreće that had in the meantime been reconfigured as Žaoka (Sting).[3] With Žaoka, Ričl appeared at the Mladost Sutjeske (Youth of Sutjeska) event at Skenderija sports arena in early October 1981, featuring a number of up-and-coming Sarajevo-based rock bands commemorating and celebrating the Partisan guerrillas involvement at the Battle of Sutjeska from World War II.[3]
Simultaneously, from fall 1981, he became involved with the Top lista nadrealista segment on Radio Sarajevo's Primus weekly program, joining Nele Karajlić, Zenit Đozić, Zlatko Arslanagić, and Boris Šiber who had been performing comedy sketches on radio for some 6 months already. Already on the rise in terms of local popularity, the unscripted sketches continued doing well with the Sarajevo youth, their target audience.[4] As the only formally trained musician among this group of radio sketch comedy protagonists, in addition to doing comedy, Ričl additionally often provided musical support on guitar in the sketches.[5]
By the end of 1981, he switched over to Ozbiljno Pitanje (Serious Question), a power pop band featuring Zlatko Arslanagić.[4][6] Already rarely attending his university studies, he would soon abandon them altogether in pursuit of a musical career.
In 1983, Ričl joined Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors, a band associated with the nascent New Primitivism movement in the city of Sarajevo.[7] He took part in the recording of the band's 1984 debut album Mitovi i legende o kralju Elvisu [bs] (Myths and Legends about King Elvis).[7] Simultaneously, Top lista nadrealista expanded to television, and Ričl continued as one of the troupe's leading performers;[4] in early June 1984, the show premiered on Television Sarajevo locally and was picked up for the rest of Yugoslavia through JRT exchange, garnering decent reviews and high viewership.
Ričl also performed on the Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors' 1985 album Da Bog da crk'o rok'n'rol [bs] (May Rock 'n' Roll Drop Dead) before leaving the band.[7] His last performance with them took place in mid-June 1985 at the YU Rock Misija open-air concert at Belgrade's Marakana.[8][9]
By early 1985, Ričl began re-connecting with Arslanagić musically, with a view of possibly starting a new band with his former musical collaborator.[4] Following his departure from Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors in 1985, Ričl devoted himself fully to his work with Arslanagić. The Ričl-Arslanagić project was soon unveiled, with the band's name announced as Crvena Jabuka and the rest of the lineup consisting of keyboardist Dražen "Žera" Žerić, drummer Darko "Cunja" Jelčić, and bassist Aljoša Buha.[10][4] Even before releasing any material, the new band began receiving press coverage and soon secured a contract with the country's biggest record label, Jugoton.[4]
In March 1986, the group released their self-titled debut album, featuring songs authored by Arslanagić and Ričl and inspired by the 1960s British scene,[4] with the song "Bivše djevojčice, bivši dječaci" ("Former Girls, Former Boys") featuring the verse "I volio bi' umrijeti prije nego ostarim" ("I hope I die before I get old", from The Who's "My Generation").[4] The album quickly gained immense popularity in Yugoslavia, with several songs becoming nationwide hits.[4]
Death
Ričl's grave at Bare Cemetery with apple-shaped tombstone, in reference to the name of his band Crvena Jabuka (Red Apple)
Following the debut album release, Crvena Jabuka held several promotional performances.[4] In late summer 1986, as a consequence of the outstanding sales of Crvena Jabuka's debut album, the band booked the Bosnia-Herzegovina leg of a planned Yugoslavia-wide tour, the opening date of which was scheduled for Thursday, 18 September 1986 in Mostar at the Kantarevac Stadium.[11]
On the day of the concert, the band members and their small entourage left Sarajevo on their way to Mostar in three cars: vocalist and guitarist Ričl, guitarist Arslanagić, and bass guitarist Buha were in Arslanagić's Zastava 750, keyboardist Žerić and drummer Jelčić were in Žerić's Volkswagen Golf Mk1, while employees of the Zenica-based Atlas company, the organizers of the tour, were in a Zastava 1500.[11] On a single-lane bidirectional road next to the Neretva river near the town of Jablanica, the Zastava 750 driven by Arslanagić veered into oncoming traffic colliding head-on with a truck.[11] Buha died on the spot due to severe injuries,[4] while Arslanagić and Ričl were transferred to Mostar city hospital, with hundreds of the city's young people gathering in front of the hospital offering to donate blood.[4] During the following several days, Arslanagić managed to recover, while the condition of Ričl, who had suffered severe head injuries, got progressively worse.[4] He was transferred to Military Medical Academy in Belgrade by helicopter, but the Academy's staff could do little to help.[4] He died on 1 October 1986, aged 24.[4] He was buried in the Bare Cemetery in Sarajevo. The three surviving members of Crvena Jabuka decided to continue their activity, dedicating their next release, the 1987 album Za sve ove godine (For All These Years) to Ričl and Buha.[4]
