Branko Isaković

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Branko Isaković


Img_capt =
Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born = birth date|1958|6|24|mf=y
Died =
Instrument = Bass guitar
Guitar
Genre = Acoustic
New Wave
Rock
Hard rock
Ethnic
Ambiental
Years_active = 1977 – present
Associated_acts = Suncokret
Bulevar
Propaganda
Idoli
Krstić & Šaper & Unutrašnja Imperija
Dejan Cukić & Spori Ritam Band
Kerber
The Glissers
Bilja Krstić & Bistrik Orchestra
TeodulIja
Kal
Divine Sound

Branko Isaković is a Serbian bass player born in Valjevo in 1958. He was a member of notable rock bands active in former Yugoslavia. He closely colaborates with Dejan Cukić and Bilja Krstić and has his own projects TeodulIja and Divine Sound, focusing on ambiental, ethno and spiritual music.

Biography

Isaković was born in Valjevo in 1958 and moved to Belgrade in 1961. His first interests in music came about 1970 when his school friend, today well know 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 togerher 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 Inđija Isaković got interested into ambiental and ethnic music. In 1996 he fomed 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 Brasil, 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. 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.

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

Studio albums

* "Čokolada" (1983)

Soundtracks

* "Šest dana juna" (1985)

Singles

* "Bambina" / "Stranac u noći" (1983)
* "Ona to zna" / "Ljubavi" (1985) - single given as a present with the "Džuboks" magazine

Box Sets

* "VIS Idoli" (2007) - 4 CDs Box Set

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)

External links and references

* [http://www.divine-sound.com Official site]
* [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=202773848 Official Myspace]
* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Branko+Isaković Branko Isaković at Discogs]
* "EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006", Janjatović Petar; ISBN 978-86-905317-1-4

See also

*Serbian rock
*SFR Yugoslav Pop and Rock scene