Branko Isakovic
Encyclopedia
Branko Isaković is a Serbia
n bass player born in Valjevo
in 1958. He was a member of notable rock bands active in former Yugoslavia
. He closely collaborates with Dejan Cukić
and Bilja Krstić
and has his own projects TeodulIja and Divine Sound, focusing on ambiental, ethno and spiritual music.
in 1958 and moved to Belgrade
in 1961. His first interests in music came about 1970 when his school friend, today well known guitar player and producer Dušan "Duda" Bezuha needed a rhythm guitarist for his rhythm and blues
band. Having finished the Sixth Belgrade
high school Isaković joined the acoustic rock band Suncokret
as a replacement for Bata Sokić who went to serve the army. Isaković left the band in 1978.
With former Tilt members Dejan Cukić (vocals) and Predrag Jakovljević (guitar), guitarist Nenad Stamatović, Isaković formed Bulevar
. The band got the name "Bulevar" because all of the members lived near The Boulevard Of Revolution
in Belgrade
. The band performed as an opening act for Riblja Čorba
including the September 1, 1979 appearance which was one of the band's major appearances. In the meantime the band Zvuk Ulice disbanded and their keyboard player Dragan Mitrić joined the band. Soon after the band, with the help of Riblja Čorba guitarist Momčilo Bajagić
recorded their first single "Moje bezvezne stvari", but due to the illness of the president Josip Broz Tito
, it was released in 1980 by Jugoton
. The next single "Nestašni dečaci" became one of the anthems of New Wave in Yugoslavia and was included on the Jugoton compilation Svi marš na ples!
. In the meantime, the band started writing material for their debut record which was released through PGP RTB records in 1981. Loš i mlad was produced by the band themselves with the help of Tahir Durhali. The next album Mala noćna panika did not get a live tour as Mitrić, Stamatović and Cukić had to go to serve the army. The last concert the band held was in Skopje
in 1982 and ceased to exist. Mitrić and Isaković joined the off project band Propaganda
and released one album, Apatija javnosti in 1982. Isaković, beside bass, also played rhythm guitar.
After Bulevar
disbanded Isaković went to Idoli, as a replacement for Zdenko Kolar
who went to serve the Yugoslav People's Army
, the band was about to record a new album. Idoli members went to London and with producer Bob Painter recorded Čokolada
. The album was a high success and was sold in about 350,000 copies. When Čokolada tour started, the relationship between the band members became colder and after the Ljubljana
show, due to a quarrel, Idoli disbanded. Isaković together with Zdenko Kolar recorded bass sections on the Šest dana juna soundtrack album which was released as an Idoli record. In 1986 Isaković went to serve the army and on his returned joined the Krstić & Šaper backing band Unutrašnja Imperija and recorded the Poslednja mladost u Jugoslaviji album released by Jugoton in 1987. Later he toured with Bisera Veletanlić
in the USSR and employed as a fireman in Belgrade
.
When Dejan Cukić left Bajaga & Instruktori
he decided to start a solo career and formed his backing band Spori Ritam Band. The lineup featured Isaković on bass, Dragoljub Đuričić
on drums, Dragan Mitrić on keyboards, Saša Lokner on snare drums and Safet Petrovac on guitar. Together they released the Spori ritam album in 1987. He left Spori Ritam Band in 1989. Together with Dragoljub Đuričić, Isaković went to Kerber
, hard rock
band from Niš
. With Kerber he recorded live album 121288
and studio album Peta strana sveta
. He left the band in 1992 and returned to Cukić's Spori Ritam Band and played until 2003.
In 1993 Isaković moved to Prague
where he worked in a toy factory. When he came back to Yugoslavia, he appeared in the movie Underground. During a trip to India Isaković got interested into ambiental and ethnic music. In 1996 he formed The Glissers with Ekatarina Velika
keyboard player Margita Stefanović
and Marija Mihajlović from Spori Ritam Band. This is the first time Isaković used a computer for recording which made him more interested in computer technology.
In 1997 came out the Dejan Cukić & Spori Ritam Band live album Unplugged recorded live in Novi Sad
. At the same time Isaković met Ljuba Ninković who used to be the frontman of a famous acoustic band S Vremena Na Vreme
. Together they recorded soundtracks for theater plays and commercial and TV music. The two with Bilja Krstić
recorded the album Bistrik on a Pentium I computer in 1999. Together they formed the Bistrik Orchestra which became Bilja Krstić's backing band. The album was a huge success and the band toured Brazil, Russia, France, Italy and Greece. The following year Dejan Cukić recorded a soundtrack for the Divlji med play which is actually a cover album of Bob Dylan
's songs with lyrics in Serbian language
.
In 2001 with Ivica Stojanović, a friend from the First Belgrade Singers Company, Isaković started a project TeodulIja which was a combination of ethnic music and Christian Orthodox spiritual music. They released the Priče iz davnina CD in 2002. Bilja Krstić & Bistrik Orchestra
participated the soundtrack album for Zona Zamfirova in 2001 and in 2003 released a studio album Zapisi.
The Romani music band Kal recorded their debut album in 2005 with Isaković on bass. The self titled album came out in 2006 through B92 records and Asphalt Tango Records
. In the meantime Isaković started his own project Divine Sound which is a healing ambiental music band. The album Order of Love came out in April, 2005. It was created as music background for spoken word meditations by Vlado Ilić as part of family system therapy, following Dr Bert Hellinger
's Systemic Constellations method. The CD contains five meditative compositions enriched by the voice of Marija Mihajlović and native flute played by Milinko Ivanović. In September, 2005 Bilja Krstić & Bistrik Orchestra started recording a new album released in 2007 entitled Tarpoš. A new TeodulIja album Vino istine came out in 2007.
At the moment Isaković is composing, arranging, producing and recording new material for his musical project. He mostly works in his home studio in Belgrade
.
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n bass player born in Valjevo
Valjevo
Valjevo is a city and municipality located in western Serbia. It is the center of the Kolubara District, which includes five other smaller municipalities with a total population of almost 180,000 people...
in 1958. He was a member of notable rock bands active in former Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. He closely collaborates with Dejan Cukić
Dejan Cukic
Dejan Cukić is a Serbian rock musician, journalist and writer.During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Cukić was the frontman of the New Wave band Bulevar, releasing two albums with the band. After Bulevar disbanded in 1982, he retired from music...
and Bilja Krstić
Bilja Krstic
Biljana "Bilja" Krstić is a Serbian singer. She was born on November 9, 1955 in Niš and brought up on the folk traditions of central Serbia. Biljana first studied music in Niš at the music school "Dr. Vojislav Vučković", after graduating she continued her education by travelling to Belgrade to...
and has his own projects TeodulIja and Divine Sound, focusing on ambiental, ethno and spiritual music.
Biography
Isaković was born in ValjevoValjevo
Valjevo is a city and municipality located in western Serbia. It is the center of the Kolubara District, which includes five other smaller municipalities with a total population of almost 180,000 people...
in 1958 and moved to Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
in 1961. His first interests in music came about 1970 when his school friend, today well known guitar player and producer Dušan "Duda" Bezuha needed a rhythm guitarist for his rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
band. Having finished the Sixth Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
high school Isaković joined the acoustic rock band Suncokret
Suncokret
Suncokret was a former Yugoslav acoustic rock band from Belgrade.-Band history:The band was formed in 1975 by former Zajedno member Bora Đorđević , a former U Cvetu Mladosti member Nenad Božić and female singers Snežana Jandrlić and Vesna Rakočević...
as a replacement for Bata Sokić who went to serve the army. Isaković left the band in 1978.
With former Tilt members Dejan Cukić (vocals) and Predrag Jakovljević (guitar), guitarist Nenad Stamatović, Isaković formed Bulevar
Bulevar (band)
Bulevar were a Serbian and former Yugoslav New Wave band from Belgrade.-Band formation:The band history dates from the days of the group Tilt consisting of young highschool attendants Dejan Cukić , Nenad Stamatović , Dušan Bezuha , Miroslav Cvetković and drummers at different times,...
. The band got the name "Bulevar" because all of the members lived near The Boulevard Of Revolution
Bulevar kralja Aleksandra
Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra , with length of 7,5 kilometers, is the longest street entirely within the urban limits of Belgrade, capital of Serbia...
in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
. The band performed as an opening act for Riblja Čorba
Riblja Corba
Riblja Čorba is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. Their presence on the scene has lasted from 1978 to today. They reached their peak of popularity in the 1980s, but it has declined in the 1990s, partly due to controversial political attitudes of the band's leader Bora Đorđević...
including the September 1, 1979 appearance which was one of the band's major appearances. In the meantime the band Zvuk Ulice disbanded and their keyboard player Dragan Mitrić joined the band. Soon after the band, with the help of Riblja Čorba guitarist Momčilo Bajagić
Momcilo Bajagic
Momčilo Bajagić "Bajaga" is a highly popular Serbian rock musician born in Bjelovar. He is best known as the leader of the Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band Bajaga i Instruktori, as well as a former member of the hard rock band Riblja Čorba.-Early career:Bajagić started his musical career as a...
recorded their first single "Moje bezvezne stvari", but due to the illness of the president Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
, it was released in 1980 by Jugoton
Jugoton
Jugoton was the largest record label and chain record store in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia based in Zagreb, Socialist Republic of Croatia. After the breakup of Yugoslavia the company continued to work in independent Republic of Croatia under the name Croatia...
. The next single "Nestašni dečaci" became one of the anthems of New Wave in Yugoslavia and was included on the Jugoton compilation Svi marš na ples!
Svi marš na ples!
Svi marš na ples! is a compilation album released by Jugoton in 1981 in SFR Yugoslavia.The compilation features various pop and rock artists, mostly from the local new wave scene...
. In the meantime, the band started writing material for their debut record which was released through PGP RTB records in 1981. Loš i mlad was produced by the band themselves with the help of Tahir Durhali. The next album Mala noćna panika did not get a live tour as Mitrić, Stamatović and Cukić had to go to serve the army. The last concert the band held was in Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
in 1982 and ceased to exist. Mitrić and Isaković joined the off project band Propaganda
Propaganda (Serbian band)
Propaganda was a former Yugoslav New Wave band from Belgrade, consisting of former Zvuk Ulice and Bulevar members. The band released only one album, Apatija javnosti, and disbanded.- Zvuk Ulice :...
and released one album, Apatija javnosti in 1982. Isaković, beside bass, also played rhythm guitar.
After Bulevar
Bulevar (band)
Bulevar were a Serbian and former Yugoslav New Wave band from Belgrade.-Band formation:The band history dates from the days of the group Tilt consisting of young highschool attendants Dejan Cukić , Nenad Stamatović , Dušan Bezuha , Miroslav Cvetković and drummers at different times,...
disbanded Isaković went to Idoli, as a replacement for Zdenko Kolar
Zdenko Kolar
Zdenko Kolar is a Serbian bass guitarist, most notable as the member of Idoli and Zona B.-Biography:Kolar was born in Zemun in 1956 where he lived until 1963 when he moved to inner town in Belgrade. He moved to a building where two of his future bandmates lived, Vlada Divljan and Boža Jovanović...
who went to serve the Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
, the band was about to record a new album. Idoli members went to London and with producer Bob Painter recorded Čokolada
Cokolada
Čokolada is the second studio album by Serbian rock band Idoli. It is considered to be one of the best selling Yugoslav records.- History :...
. The album was a high success and was sold in about 350,000 copies. When Čokolada tour started, the relationship between the band members became colder and after the Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
show, due to a quarrel, Idoli disbanded. Isaković together with Zdenko Kolar recorded bass sections on the Šest dana juna soundtrack album which was released as an Idoli record. In 1986 Isaković went to serve the army and on his returned joined the Krstić & Šaper backing band Unutrašnja Imperija and recorded the Poslednja mladost u Jugoslaviji album released by Jugoton in 1987. Later he toured with Bisera Veletanlić
Bisera Veletanlić
Bisera Veletanlić is a jazz singer, one of the greatest names of Yugoslavian evergreen scene and the star of music festivals in the 1970s.-Singles:...
in the USSR and employed as a fireman in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
.
When Dejan Cukić left Bajaga & Instruktori
Bajaga i Instruktori
Bajaga i Instruktori are a highly popular Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band...
he decided to start a solo career and formed his backing band Spori Ritam Band. The lineup featured Isaković on bass, Dragoljub Đuričić
Dragoljub Đuričić
Dragoljub Đuričić is a Belgrade, Serbia-based Montenegrin musician. He is known as the drummer for the bands YU grupa, Leb i Sol, and Kerber, as a member of Zdravko Čolić's and Đorđe Balašević's backing bands, as well as for his solo work.-Biography:Đuričić was born in 1954 in Cetinje...
on drums, Dragan Mitrić on keyboards, Saša Lokner on snare drums and Safet Petrovac on guitar. Together they released the Spori ritam album in 1987. He left Spori Ritam Band in 1989. Together with Dragoljub Đuričić, Isaković went to Kerber
Kerber
Kerber is a Serbian and former Yugoslav hard rock band from Niš.-1980s:The original members of Kerber were Goran Šepa "Gale" , Tomislav Nikolić , Branislav "Bane" Božinović , Zoran Stamenković and Zoran Madić . In 1981, formerly known as Top Kerber (Serbian Cyrillic: Кербер; trans. Cerberus) is a...
, hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
band from Niš
Niš
Niš is the largest city of southern Serbia and third-largest city in Serbia . According to the data from 2011, the city of Niš has a population of 177,972 inhabitants, while the city municipality has a population of 257,867. The city covers an area of about 597 km2, including the urban area,...
. With Kerber he recorded live album 121288
121288
121288 Uživo is the first live album by former Yugoslav and Serbian hard rock band Kerber.The material was recorded on Kerber concert in Dom Omladine in Belgrade...
and studio album Peta strana sveta
Peta strana sveta
Peta strana sveta is the fifth studio album from Serbian and former Yugoslav hard rock band Kerber, released in 1990.-Track listing:All music written by Kerber, except for track 9, written by Dragan Ilić...
. He left the band in 1992 and returned to Cukić's Spori Ritam Band and played until 2003.
In 1993 Isaković moved to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
where he worked in a toy factory. When he came back to Yugoslavia, he appeared in the movie Underground. During a trip to India Isaković got interested into ambiental and ethnic music. In 1996 he formed The Glissers with Ekatarina Velika
Ekatarina Velika
Ekatarina Velika , sometimes referred to as EKV for short, was a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock group from Belgrade, being one of the most successful and influential music acts coming out of former Yugoslavia....
keyboard player Margita Stefanović
Margita Stefanovic
Margita "Magi" Stefanović was a Yugoslav and Serbian musician best known as a keyboardist for the Serbian rock band Ekatarina Velika.Born in Belgrade as the only child of well-known theatre and television director Slavoljub Stefanović-Ravassi and Desanka Nikolić...
and Marija Mihajlović from Spori Ritam Band. This is the first time Isaković used a computer for recording which made him more interested in computer technology.
In 1997 came out the Dejan Cukić & Spori Ritam Band live album Unplugged recorded live in Novi Sad
Novi Sad
Novi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain on the Danube river....
. At the same time Isaković met Ljuba Ninković who used to be the frontman of a famous acoustic band S Vremena Na Vreme
S Vremena Na Vreme
S Vremena Na Vreme was a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade...
. Together they recorded soundtracks for theater plays and commercial and TV music. The two with Bilja Krstić
Bilja Krstic
Biljana "Bilja" Krstić is a Serbian singer. She was born on November 9, 1955 in Niš and brought up on the folk traditions of central Serbia. Biljana first studied music in Niš at the music school "Dr. Vojislav Vučković", after graduating she continued her education by travelling to Belgrade to...
recorded the album Bistrik on a Pentium I computer in 1999. Together they formed the Bistrik Orchestra which became Bilja Krstić's backing band. The album was a huge success and the band toured Brazil, Russia, France, Italy and Greece. The following year Dejan Cukić recorded a soundtrack for the Divlji med play which is actually a cover album of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's songs with lyrics in Serbian language
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
.
In 2001 with Ivica Stojanović, a friend from the First Belgrade Singers Company, Isaković started a project TeodulIja which was a combination of ethnic music and Christian Orthodox spiritual music. They released the Priče iz davnina CD in 2002. Bilja Krstić & Bistrik Orchestra
Bilja Krstic
Biljana "Bilja" Krstić is a Serbian singer. She was born on November 9, 1955 in Niš and brought up on the folk traditions of central Serbia. Biljana first studied music in Niš at the music school "Dr. Vojislav Vučković", after graduating she continued her education by travelling to Belgrade to...
participated the soundtrack album for Zona Zamfirova in 2001 and in 2003 released a studio album Zapisi.
The Romani music band Kal recorded their debut album in 2005 with Isaković on bass. The self titled album came out in 2006 through B92 records and Asphalt Tango Records
Asphalt Tango Records
Asphalt Tango Records is a Berlin-based record label specialising in Balkan Gypsy music and East European rock, psych-folk, cabaret and electronic music.-Origins:Asphalt Tango Production was formed by Henry Ernst and Helmut Neumann in 1997...
. In the meantime Isaković started his own project Divine Sound which is a healing ambiental music band. The album Order of Love came out in April, 2005. It was created as music background for spoken word meditations by Vlado Ilić as part of family system therapy, following Dr Bert Hellinger
Bert Hellinger
The German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger is associated with a therapeutic method best known as Family Constellations and Systemic Constellations. In recent years, his work has evolved beyond these formats into what he now calls Movements of the Spirit-Mind...
's Systemic Constellations method. The CD contains five meditative compositions enriched by the voice of Marija Mihajlović and native flute played by Milinko Ivanović. In September, 2005 Bilja Krstić & Bistrik Orchestra started recording a new album released in 2007 entitled Tarpoš. A new TeodulIja album Vino istine came out in 2007.
At the moment Isaković is composing, arranging, producing and recording new material for his musical project. He mostly works in his home studio in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
.
Singles
- "Dlakavo čudo" / "Noćna ptica" (1979)
- "Sviće novi dan" / "Tvoja mama gunđa protiv mene" (1979)
Studio albums
- Loš i mlad (1981)
- Mala noćna panika (1982)
- Nestašni dečaci (2008)
Singles
- "Moje bezvezne stvari" / "Nemam ništa važno da te pitam" (1980)
- "Nestašni dečaci" / "Moja lova, tvoja lova" (1981)
Studio albums
- Spori ritam (1987)
- 4 ½... Ja bih da pevam (1996)
- Igramo na ulici (1998)
- Divlji med (2000)
- Kalendar (2002)
External links and references
- Official site
- Official Myspace
- Branko Isaković at Discogs
- EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006, Janjatović Petar; ISBN 978-86-905317-1-4
See also
- Serbian rockSerbian rockSerbian rock is the rock music scene of Serbia. During the 1960s, 1970s and the 1980s, while Serbia was a constituent republic of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbian rock scene was a part of the SFR Yugoslav rock scene....
- SFR Yugoslav Pop and Rock scene