Zdravo ( sr-cyr, Здраво; trans. ''Hello'') was a Yugoslav

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

group from

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 ...

Band history

The group was formed in 1976 by the

disk jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

Boban Petrović. Having gathered several teenagers and several Belgrade musicians, Petrović intended to form a band which would perform communicative

music with

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

influences. In order to attract media attention, Petrović chose the name Zdravo after the youth magazine ''Zdravo'', which Politika Newspapers and Magazines started publishing at about the same time. The first lineup consisted of Boban Petrović (vocals, keyboards), Dragan Jovanović (guitar, later a member of the

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

Generacija 5 Generacija 5 ( sr-cyr, Генерација 5; trans. ''Generation 5'') is a Serbian and Yugoslav rock band formed in Belgrade in 1977. The mainstay members of the band are keyboardist and band leader Dragoljub Ilić and guitarist Dragan Jovan ...

), Branko Kojić (bass guitar, later a member of the new wave band

Grupa I Grupa I ( sr-Cyrl, Група И; trans. ''Group I'') was a Serbian and former Yugoslav new wave band from Belgrade, active in the late 1970s and early 1980s. History The band was formed in January 1979 by guitarists Dejan Kostić and Predrag M ...

), Vlastimir Cvetković (drums), and vocalists and dancers Boža Jeremić, Vladislav Kukolj, and Branko Popović. The band also performed with female dancers,

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n girls from

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

. The band's only big hit was the song "Vikend fobija" ("Weekend Phobia"), released in 1977. Although the song became a hit, it was generally disliked by the critics. Soon after, Jovanović left the band to form Generacija 5, so Popović invited at the time unknown guitarist

Momčilo Bajagić Momcilo or Momčilo (Cyrillic script: Момчило) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin. It is often found in Serbia and Montenegro. It may refer to: *Momčilo Bajagić, Serbian rock musician * Momčilo Bošković (born 1951), retired Serb ...

to join the band. However, Bajagić refused the invitation, and the new member of the band became a former Innamorata member Branko Pešić "Amerikanac". In August 1977, Zdravo performed as one of the opening bands on

Bijelo Dugme Bijelo Dugme (trans. ''White Button'') was a Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav rock music, rock band, formed in Sarajevo, Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1974. Bijelo Dugme is widely co ...

concert at Hajdučka česma, at the end of the same year, they performed as an opening band on

Indexi Indexi was a Bosnian and former Yugoslav rock band popular in Yugoslavia. It formed in 1962 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and disbanded in 2001 when singer Davorin Popović died. Some of their most notable songs are "Svijet u kome živi ...

Yugoslav tour. As Petrović was at the time in a relationship with singer

Slađana Milošević Aleksandra Milošević Hagadone ( sr-cyr, Александра Милошевић Хагадон; born 3 October 1955), better known as Slađana Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слађана Милошевић, ) is a Serbian singer-songwriter, composer, ...

, the band played on her debut single "Au au", and Milošević often performed with the band. In 1978, the original Zdravo lineup disbanded, and Petrović continued performing under the name Zdravo with various musicians, also performing with the band Orion. After releasing the single "Žalba" ("Complaint"), Popović disbanded the band, and released the following two singles under the name Boban Petrović & Zdravo, also recording the single "Moram" ("I Have To") with Gordana Ivandić in 1979.

Post-breakup

Petrović dedicated himself to his solo career, releasing studio album ''Žur'' (''Party'') in 1981, and ''Zora'' (''Dawn'') in 1984. The albums, however, did not see big success. In 1986, he published the novel ''Rokanje'' (''Rocking'') focused on the 1980s Belgrade nightlife. After that, he withdrew from the public scene and moved abroad, where he started working as businessman, for a certain time being an owner of the Spanish football club

CA Marbella Club Atlético Marbella were a Spanish football team based in Marbella, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1947 and dissolved in 1997, it was also the reserve team of CD Málaga for a time. History Atlético Marbella had its he ...

. In 2006, his song "Prepad" ("Raid") from the album ''Žur'' was ranked No. 82 on the

B92 Top 100 Domestic Songs 100 najboljih domaćih pesama (''Top 100 Domestic Songs'') was a list compiled by the Serbian Radio B92. In 2006, Radio B92 organized the poll for the selection of top 100 Yugoslav songs. The whole list was presented on radio B92 on November 5, 200 ...

list.The B92 Top 100 Domestic Songs list at B92 official site

Discography

Singles

*"Vikend fobija" / "Roditeljski savet" (1977) *"Disko je prava stvar" / "Raspust i kraj" (1977) *"Sugestivni rok" / "Žalba" (1978) *"Kuc-Guc-Štuc" / "'Ajmo na žurku" (1979) *"Sa tobom, Crvena zvezdo, ja sam jak" / "Balada o šampionu" (1980)

References

;Notes ;Source *EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006, Janjatović Petar; {{ISBN, 978-86-905317-1-4 Serbian rock music groups Serbian pop rock music groups Serbian funk musical groups Yugoslav rock music groups Disco groups Musical groups from Belgrade Musical groups established in 1978 Musical groups disestablished in 1980