Darko Rundek

At rehearsal in Šabac in July 2017.

Since 1991, he has been living in France.[4] In 1995, Rundek started his solo career at the Croatian music festival Fiju Briju in front of an audience of 10,000 people. He presented new musical material which was to be developed during the following series of concerts throughout Croatia.

In 1997 the album Apokalipso (apocalypse+calypso) was recorded with a multitude of instruments and musicians and with strong support from the record company Jabukaton. The album was stylistically very diverse, viewing the post-communist era with irony and poetry. Apokalipso was the music event of 1997 in Croatia. It won 5 Porins (song of the year, hit of the year, best male singer, best video clip, best vocal collaboration), and 4 Black Cats (song of the year for Apokalipso, best rock singer, best rock collaboration, best video clip).[5]

The album U širokom svijetu turned more towards folkloric influences. Mandolin, bag pipes and tin whistle enhanced the eclectic style of the songs. The atmosphere became intimate and more introspective. The band became more stable and toured in Croatia and other ex-Yugoslavian countries.

Rundek at concert in New York on November 3, 2018.

The project initially stemmed from Darko Rundek's song. It grew out of the need to develop ideas in collaboration with other musicians through improvisation and exchange. Isabel, Đani Pervan, Dušan Vranić and Vedran Peternel started working on Darko Rundek's new songs; Isabel's mill in Burgundy in France, with her collection of exotic instruments, provided the working environment. They also incorporate a musical tradition with a potential for accepting diverse influences, firstly Balkan music, Central European music and Mediterranean, then reggae, Latin American, eastern and African music. Isabel (Swiss violinist), Đani Pervan (percussionist), Dušan Vranić (pianist), Vedran Peternel (sound-designer) and Darko, undertook a ten-day improvisation session in Isabel's converted watermill on the outskirts of a small Burgundian village.[6] When they finally laid down their instruments, they had the basis of the album Ruke (documented by the camera of Biljana Tutorov, whose video projections have become a feature of Cargo Orkestar's concerts). Trumpetist Igor Pavlica (Darko's old collaborator from the Haustor and solo periods), Emmanuel Ferraz (trombone player), and the bass player Bruno Arnal, joined Cargo Orkestar for the promotional tour in 2002. In 2004 Ruke[7] was published by Piranha Musik – Berlin,[8] and distributed in 25 countries.

In 2004, the live album Zagrebačka magla was released under the Menart-Zagreb label,[9] and Mhm A-Ha Oh Yeah Da-Da[10] was published in 2006 by German record label Piranha.[11] For the concerts, Cargo mixes new and old from the rich repertoire of Rundek songs. The informal and open feel is as remarkable in small concert halls as it is in large stadiums. One year later, the album was recorded and simultaneously released by record labels Menart in Croatia and Metropolis in Serbia. Some songs are co-signed by different members of the group. On the promotion tour the band was completed with three more musicians and gradually developed into Darko Rundek & Cargo Orkestar.[12]

Rundek has written and produced film music, and occasionally appeared as an actor (Doctor Kljaić in A View from Eiffel Tower),[13] by N. Vukčević; Karlo in 100 minuta Slave,[14] by D. Matanić; Youngster in The Eagle (Orao),[15] by Z. Tadić, Marjan film). He played Herman in J. Burgerfor's film Ruins (Ruševine),[16] for which he was awarded best male film actor in Slovenia.[17]

Between 1982 and 1991, Darko Rundek directed around 50 radio-plays and documentaries for the drama department of radio Zagreb, for which he also wrote the music.[18] Some of these represented radio Zagreb at various international festivals: Prix Italia, Premios Ondas and Prix Futura.