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Edi Dekeng

Edi Dekeng moved from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Yugoslavia to study Medicine in Belgrade. During his studies, in 1964 he was the singer of the band Crni Panteri (“Black Panthers”), composed of six Congolese students. Unfortunately, no documentation about this band seems to have survived. Crni Panteri disbanded soon but Dekeng continued performing.

 

In 1967, he recorded the song “Bobi Smit” with the actor Dušan Golumbovski for the Belgrade television. Then he was noticed by Elipse, already active since 1962-63 and quite popular in Belgrade, which invited him to sing with them. The line-up with Dekeng and a new brass section marked a stylistic turn of the band to soul and R’n’B, increasing the band’s popularity.

 

The same year, Elipse disbanded because some of its members decided to leave music and continue their studies. Dekeng obtained his degree in Medicine at the University of Belgrade; later he moved first to Germany and then to the USA.

Records

Before Dekeng joined Elipse, the band played mostly beat and surf rock and had already released two EPs. As part of the band Elipse, Edi Dekeng recorded a single in 1968 with the Belgrade label PGP-RTB containing covers of Nino Ferrer and Otis Redding, as well as the new funk song in Serbo-Croatian, “Za one što na licu nose bore” (“For those who carry wrinkles on their faces”). The posthumous CD based on extensive recordings of Radio Television Belgrade (RTB), including tracks by Elipse before Dekeng joined them, was released in 1999.

The Cover of the Magazine "Radio Revija TV" in it's issue from October 19th 1976. The cover image shows the Band Elipse and Eli Dekeng performing.

EP: Le Telephone (1968)


Compilation: Za Prijatelje (1999)

Recordings

​​​Archive RTB (now RTS – Radio-Television Serbia):

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Several recordings of TV programs produced by RTB about music included references and performances to Elipse:

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  • Ju rok vremeplov spotovi (1960s)

  • Koncert za ludi mladi svet – Autumn Summary (1968)

  • Rok istorija – episode with Zoran Simjanović (1993)

  • Rockovnik, 6th episode „Uhvati vetar“ (2010). Also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irTBfnisa9Q&t=97s

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Other Recordings:

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The YouTube channel ElipseZaPrijatelje collects several videos of Elipse’s performances before and with Edi Dekeng. Most of these recordings were the basis for the band’s posthumous CD. The following videos feature Edi Dekeng as a singer or as an actor:

Written Sources and References

Credits

Website connected to

DFG-supported research project "Black Musics in the (Former) Yugoslav Region"

Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Department of Musicology

Dr. Linda Cimardi

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© 2026 Linda Cimardi / Website setup by Julian Müller

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