Branko Isaković (born June 24, 1958) is a
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
n bass player, producer and composer of Balkan ambient beat. After a long career in pop, rock, and ethno bands he launched his ''Divine Sound'' project with healing music.
Biography
Isaković was born in
Valjevo
Valjevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Ваљево, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Kolubara District in western Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the administrative area of Valjevo had 90,312 inhabitants, 59,07 ...
in 1958 and moved to
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
in 1961. His first interest 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, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
band. Having finished high school Isaković joined the
acoustic rock
Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. While all music was once acoustic, the retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the adven ...
band
Suncokret
Suncokret ( sr-cyr, Сунцокрет; trans. ''Sunflower'') was a Yugoslav acoustic rock band from Belgrade.
Band history
1975 — 1980
The band was formed in 1975 by former Zajedno member Bora Đorđević (vocals and acoustic guitar), a form ...
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 and composer and keyboard player Dragan Mitrić, Isaković formed
Bulevar
Bulevar ( sr-cyr, Булевар; English language, English: Boulevard) is an urban neighborhood of the city of Novi Sad, Serbia. Its name simply means "boulevard" in Serbian language, Serbian. Bulevar is not a traditional city neighborhood; it is ...
.
After
Bulevar
Bulevar ( sr-cyr, Булевар; English language, English: Boulevard) is an urban neighborhood of the city of Novi Sad, Serbia. Its name simply means "boulevard" in Serbian language, Serbian. Bulevar is not a traditional city neighborhood; it is ...
disbanded Isaković went to
Idoli
Idoli ( sr-cyr, Идоли; trans. The Idols) were a Serbian new wave band from Belgrade. They are considered to be one of the most notable acts of the Yugoslav rock scene, and their 1982 album ''Odbrana i poslednji dani'' was on several occas ...
, as a replacement for
Zdenko Kolar
Zdenko Kolar ( sr-cyr, Зденко Колар) 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 ...
who went to serve the
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska a ...
, 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. When ''Čokolada'' tour started, the relationship between the band members became colder and after the
Ljubljana
Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center.
During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...
show, due to a quarrel, Idoli disbanded. Isaković 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 he produced and played bass for Krstić & Šaper album ''Poslednja mladost u Jugoslaviji'' released by Jugoton in 1987. Later that year he toured with
Bisera Veletanlić in the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
.
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
Dragoljub Đuričić ( Serbian and Montenegrin Cyrillic: Драгољуб Ђуричић; 10 February 1953 – 15 March 2021) was a Serbia-based Montenegrin drummer.
Đuričić started his career in the early 1970s in Herceg Novi, playing in l ...
on drums, Dragan Mitrić on keyboards,
Saša Lokner Saša is a South Slavic given name. It is a diminutive of Aleksandar (see Sasha), but in the South Slavic countries it is often a formal name as well. It may refer to:
* Saša Antunović (born 1974), Serbian footballer
*Saša Bjelanović (born 197 ...
on keyboards 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 ( sr-cyr, Кербер, lit=Cerberus) is a Serbian and Yugoslav hard rock band formed in Niš in 1981.
The mainstay members of Kerber are vocalist Goran Šepa "Gale", guitarist Tomislav "Tomica" Nikolić and keyboardist Branislav "Bane ...
,
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
band from
Niš
Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...
. 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
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
where he worked in a toy factory,
Repre Club and as Background Actor in
Barrandov Studio in Emir Kusturica movie ''
Underground
Underground most commonly refers to:
* Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth
Underground may also refer to:
Places
* The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston
* The Underground ...
''.
During a trip to India in 1994 Isaković got interested into spirituality and ambient and ethnic music. In 1996 he formed The Glissers with
Voja Bešić - Beške,
Ekatarina Velika
Ekatarina Velika ( sr-Cyrl, Екатарина Велика, en, Catherine the Great), sometimes referred to as EKV for short, was a Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade, being one of the most successful and influential Yugoslav music acts.
Ini ...
keyboard player
Margita Stefanović
Margita "Magi" Stefanović ( sr-cyr, Маргита "Маги" Стефановић; 1 April 1959 – 18 September 2002) was a Serbian musician best known as a keyboardist of a Yugoslav rock band Ekatarina Velika (EKV).
Born in Belgrade, she wa ...
and Marija Mihajlović from Spori Ritam Band. In 1996, during the recording of the first The Glissers album, at the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade, with producer Vladimir Stojić (AtmanActive) - Isaković met computer technology for the first time.
In 1997 came out the Dejan Cukić & Spori Ritam Band live album ''Unplugged'' recorded live in
Novi Sad
Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...
. At the same time Isaković met
Ljuba Ninković Ljuba may refer to:
* Ljuba (given name), a Slavic given name
* Ljuba, Serbia, a village in Syrmia, Vojvodina
* 1062 Ljuba, an asteroid
See also
* Ljubav (disambiguation)
{{disambig, geo, given name ...
who used to be the frontman of a famous acoustic band
S Vremena Na Vreme
S Vremena Na Vreme ( sr-cyr, С Времена На Време, trans. ''From Time To Time'') is a Serbian and Yugoslav rock band formed in Belgrade in 1972. S Vremena Na Vreme were one of the pioneers of the Yugoslav 1970s acoustic rock scene, ...
. Together they recorded soundtracks for theater plays and commercial and TV music. The two with
Bilja Krstić
Biljana "Bilja" Krstić (Serbian Cyrillic: Биљана "Биља" Крстић, Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: ǐʎana bǐːʎa kř̩ːstitɕ born 9 November 1955) is a Serbian singer. She was born in 1955 in Niš and brought up on the folk t ...
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 (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
's songs with lyrics in
Serbian language
Serbian (, ) is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina and co-official in Montenegro and Kos ...
.
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
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
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
''Zona Zamfirova'' ( sr-Cyrl, Зона Замфирова) is a 2002 comedy-drama film directed by Zdravko Šotra. It is based on the 1906 book by Serbian author Stevan Sremac. The film contains the local vernacular of the Serbian dialect spoken ...
in 2001 and in 2003 released a studio album ''Zapisi''.
The
Romani music
Romani music (often referred to as gypsy or gipsy music, which is sometimes considered a derogatory term) is the music of the Romani people who have their origins in northern India but today live mostly in Europe.
Historically nomadic, though n ...
band Kal recorded their debut album in 2005 with Isaković as additional producer. The self-titled album came out in 2006 through B92 records and
Asphalt Tango Records
Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
.
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. He also played bass in blues-rock bands ''Les Gigantes'' and ''Texas Flood'' He also wrote music for theatre play ''Muma Paduri'' in 2008. In 2011 He wrote music for bestseller book by life coach ''Ivana Kuzmanović'' - I Love.
In 2018 he made ''Aja Sofija'' Balkan ambient beat CD inspired by his spiritual voyage to Istanbul. It vas released for Label Multimedia Music Belgrade.
His latest CD ''Prvi Predak''. is part of inspirational book by his wife ''Snežana Prokić''. ''Divine Sound'' is his band with music healers and music therapists ''Anika Petrović'' playing gong, ''Sonja Kalajić'' on violin, ''Shoica'' and ''Vladimir Stojković -Coka'' on perccusion, ''Maja Pakić'' and ''Ksenija Lea Ronai'' as spiritual and performance artist.
Discography
With Suncokret
Singles
*"Dlakavo čudo" / "Noćna ptica" (1979)
*"Sviće novi dan" / "Tvoja mama gunđa protiv mene" (1979)
With Bulevar
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)
Various artists compilations
*''
Svi marš na ples!'' (1981)
With Propaganda
Studio albums
* ''Apatija javnosti'' (1982)
With Idoli
With Krstić & Šaper
Studio albums
* ''Poslednja mladost u Jugoslaviji'' (1987)
With Dejan Cukić
Studio albums
* ''Spori ritam'' (1987)
* ''4 ½... Ja bih da pevam'' (1996)
* ''Igramo na ulici'' (1998)
* ''Divlji med'' (2000)
* ''Kalendar'' (2002)
Live albums
* ''Unplugged'' (1997)
* ''DC & SRB @ SC'' (2003)
Compilation albums
* ''San na pola puta'' (1994)
With Kerber
Studio albums
* ''
Peta strana sveta'' (1990)
Live albums
* ''
121288'' (1989)
With Bilja Krstić
Studio albums
* ''Bistrik'' (2001)
* ''Zapisi'' (2003)
* ''Tarpoš'' (2007)
With Teodulija
Studio albums
* ''Priče iz davnina'' (2002)
* ''Vino istine'' (2007)
With Kal
Studio albums
* ''Kal'' (2002)
With Divine Sound
Studio albums
* ''Order of Love'' (2005)
* ''Muma Paduri '' ( 2009)
* ''Od kad sam se zavolela - Volim'' ( 2011)
* '' Aja Sofija '' ( 2018 )
* ''Prvi Predak'' (2020)
See also
*
Serbian rock
Serbian 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.
The Socia ...
*
SFR Yugoslav Pop and Rock scene
SFR (; ''Société française du radiotéléphone'', ) is a French telecommunications company.
As of December 2015, it had 21.9 million customers in Metropolitan France for mobile services, and provided 6.35 million households with high-spee ...
External links
Official siteOfficial MyspaceBranko Isaković at Discogs* ''EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006'', Janjatović Petar;
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isakovic, Branko
1958 births
Living people
Musicians from Valjevo
Yugoslav musicians
Musicians from Belgrade
Serbian rock bass guitarists