Damir Avdić

Damir Avdić alias Diplomatz is a hardcore poet and performer who talks about Bosnia today, at the twilight of a modern world controlled by fake religion, commercialized revolution, and false democracy serving as a cover for capitalist brutality. He sings in Bosnian: "Whoever wants to understand, will understand!" Razor-sharp lyrics, shot from the heart and hitting you right in the head. The truth hurts, and Diplomatz tells it without compromise, and without mercy. With the eyes of a psycho and hard, powerful, threatening guitar riffs, he delivers a message without any illusions. Damir Avdić (from Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina) was known in the 1990's as frontman of the hard-hitting punk rock band Rupa U Zidu (Hole in the Wall), with whom he released four albums. They kept on playing and putting out records even during the war in Bosnia. In 2004 he made his first solo album ...od trnja i žaoka (...by thorns and stings), a kind of soundtrack for his novel Na Krvi Ćuprija (Bridge over Blood), which talks about Bosnia during and right after the war. The CD and novel were both issued by the legendary underground pioneer Zdenko Franjić. Thanks to Damir Avdić’s intense performances, word quickly spread about this unusual (anti)singer-songwriter. Diplomatz alias Damir Avdić is everything in one: singer, poet, guitarist, band, actor, writer, thinker. Everything he does, he does from the heart. He comes from the tough underground scene of Tuzla, where he has collaborated with bands like rock'n'rollers No Rules, dub/reggae outfit Defence, and hip-hop rhyme fighter Frenkie. He is currently part of the Moonlee Records stable. His second album Mrtvi su mrtvi! (The Dead Are Dead!), recorded for Moonlee Records, will be coming out in March 2008. The new album is more direct than its predecessor and just as raw as his live performances, hitting as hard as ever. "You can't break the system from outside, by explosion. You have to do it from within, by implosion – and that can bring you down, too," says hardcore Diplomatz, ending his challenge with a question: "Are you ready?"