Founder of Emir & Frozen Camels band, Emir Bukovica began to play guitar when he was 11
year old, motivated by his older brother also a guitarist. His first band named “Metro,” the first gig,
the first demos and everything first happened back in the "former" Yugoslavia. In that time Emir
also collaborated with many popular musicians and bands of “the Sarajevo School of Rock" as well as
some alternative music projects, such as an album for the popular female pop rock band “Cacadou
Look.”
At the end of 1993, Emir moved to the United States, where he completed his education and
began to work on several music projects. In his "American Dream" coming true he had the honor
and luck to meet and play with a number of important and famous names of American and world
music scene. He became very good friend with one of them, the guitarist Danny Shepard with
whom Emir collaborated on many music projects. Shepard is the main "influence" for the idea of
recording a CD featuring Emir’s original songs.
By 1998, in Fort Myers, Florida (USA), Emir Bukovica established his rock band Emir & Frozen
Camels (EFC). Emir became its leader and author of most of the songs of this band.
In addition, beside Emir, the first members of the EFC were, bassist Cliff Williams of famous rock
band AC/DC, drummer Darrell Nutt and Danny Shepard who were already established musicians.
In 1999, EFC recorded their first album "San". After signing a contract with the European record
label Dallas Records, EFC changes its headquarters to former Yugoslavia, where Emir forms a
Balkan's version of "frozen camels". As a result, EFC becomes a unique band because of its dual
member line-up, one American and one domestic.
Emir & Frozen Camels (EFC) has become one of the most intriguing and long lasting media and
public phenomena in Balkan’s region. EFC music has a wide appeal, as revealed by the number
of “number one” hits from their three albums to date. The band enjoys a CV which can hardly be
found in Balkan’s region.
EFC has collaborated with many international music stars, Cliff Williams of AC/DC, US blues
musician Danny Shepard, Darrell Nutt, world's known guitarist Elliott Randall, Spanish rocker
Alberto Ceballos to name a few. Add to it regional music stars like Rambo Amadeus, Djule Van
Gogh, El Bahattee, Elvis J. Kurtovic, etc. The EFC band's name can be found in the official
biography of the legendary AC/DC band "Let There Be Rock." EFC is certainly one of the most
award-winning rock bands in the Balkan region.
In the end of 2002 the American crew of Emir & Frozen Camels, Danny Shepard, Cliff Williams,
Emir Bukovica, Darrell Nutt and Ivan Vranjes had a mini European tour called "The Frozen
Camels Project Tour". There was a big interest for this tour in the world music scene mainly
because it was Cliff Williams's first appearance on tour with a band other than his legendary AC/
DC band.
The second album “Znam” was released in the end of 2003, and this album was selected by the
eminent rock critics among the “10 the best albums of the year” 2003 in Croatia.
EFC won the MTV competition "Catch the Frequency" and represented the region at the
prestigious "FM 4 Frequency Festival" in Salzburg (Austria), where EFC played
accompanying "Nine Inch Nails", "Tool", "Snow Patrol", "Interpol" ... and other world class known
performers.
It is interesting to note that the Emir's song "Sarajevo, New York, Roma" was selected to be the
trademark of the "Be tolerant - be smart!" UN project, which has promoted peace and tolerance in
the Balkan region and where the guests were American blues musician Danny Shepard, Croatian
hip-hopper El Bahattee and Bosnian band "Adi Lukovac & Ornamenti". The video for this
song "spun" has been played in many music television channels around the world. This song is
also part of the official list of songs about New York City, among the world famous hits that
regarding "The Big Apple".
Third album of Emir & Frozen Camels called NO PASARAN was released in May 2009. Shortly
after that EFC started promotional “NO PASARAN 2009 Tour” and played many concerts in the
region: Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia.
The performance of EFC band at the concert of Lenny Kravitz should also be noted, mainly
because EFC performance was explicitly requested by this American rock star.
Other concert highlights of EFC were fantastic concert in front of more than 100000 people in
Belgrade (Serbia) at "Belgrade Beer Fest 2009” as well as EFC open act performance for Iggy
Pop on the main stage at the bigest regional “Exit” festival in Novi Sad.
EFC has won twice the regional annual music award, the "Davorin" in the category "The best
international music collaboration" in cooperation with Cliff Williams of AC/DC and "The best urban
and rock song of the year" for the song "Sarajevo, New York, Roma." In 2010 EFC received the
regional music award "Indexi" in category for "The best Rock'n'Roll Album of the Year" for their
third album "No pasaran". EFC also received an award for "The best Album of alternative rock
music" by the choice of radio stations in the region.
In 2011 and 2012 Emir & Frozen Camels played many very successful concerts in the region - in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia Serbia and Kosovo. EFC finished year 2011 and started year 2012
with a big New Year's Eve concert on the Main square in Sarajevo in front of 50000 people.
On May 21st 2013 EFC released the "Best of" album which contain the most famous songs of this
band from their last three albums.
In December 2013 EFC represented Bosnia-Herzegovina at big international Turkvision festival.
The EFC single "Flaster" was released in December 2015. This song also got its own video spot, whose premiere was on MTV.
In January 2016, EFC changed their record label and moved from Dallas Records to Croatia Records.
Since then, they have released two more singles, which have come to an excellent audience in the entire region, "Volim te" (I Love You) and "Nisam sam" (I'm Not Alone). Both of these songs also received their own video clips, which as well as for the song "Flaster" are directed by a very talented and award-winning director Tarik Hodzic.
EFC band members are:
Emir Bukovica - songwriter/vox/guitar
Sanin Imamović - guitar/vox
Bojan Nikolić - guitar
Sead Hadžić - bubnjevi
Jasmin Smajić - bas gitara
Amazingly gifted musicians played with EFC in the past:
Danny Shepard - songwriter/vox/guitar
Darrell Nutt - drums
Cliff Williams - bass
David C. Johnson - bass
Mike Rogers - guitar
Elliott Randall - guitar
Jure Baljak - drums
Ivan Vranjes - guitar
Luka Putica - bass
Mario Luketa - guitar
Juraj Birin - guitar
Matija Novak - drums
Danijal Bajraktarević - drums
Adnan Muratović - bass
Damir Bajraktarević - guitar
EFC DISCOGRAPHY:
Albums
BEST OF, 2013 - Hayat Production
NO PASARAN, 2009 - Dallas Records
ZNAM, 2003 - Dallas Records
SAN, 2000 - Dallas Records
PILOT CD, 1994 - Hill Top Records
Singles
Ters Bosanka
Flaster
Volim te
Nisam sam
Ters Bosanka
Flaster
Volim te
Nisam sam
