Branko Isaković (born June 24, 1958) is a
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
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, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
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, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
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 2022 census, the city itself has a population of 56,145 while the city admini ...
in 1958 and moved to
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
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 within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...
band. Having finished 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 and composer and keyboard player Dragan Mitrić, Isaković formed
Bulevar.
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. When ''Čokolada'' tour started, the relationship between the band members became colder and after the
Ljubljana
{{Infobox settlement
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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 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
.
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 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,
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
band from
Niš
Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...
. 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 ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
where he worked in a toy factory,
Repre Club and as Background Actor in
Barrandov Studio in Emir Kusturica movie ''
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 keyboard player
Margita Stefanović 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, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...
. 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
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
's songs with lyrics in
Serbian language
Serbian (, ) is the standard language, standardized Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties, 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 ...
.
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 as additional producer. 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. 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
*
SFR Yugoslav Pop and Rock scene
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