Alisa (Serbian band)

Alisa
Alisa in the 1980s
Background information
Origin	Belgrade, Serbia
Genres	Rock, pop rock, folk rock
Years active	1984–91 2001–02
Labels	Jugodisk, PGP-RTB, Raglas Records, PGP-RTS
Associated acts	Slađana Milošević, Vožd, Lepa Brena
Past members	Miroslav Živanović Predrag Cvetković Aleksandar Kićanović Zoran Jančeski Marko Glavan Jovan Stoiljković Saša Gnus Dušan Karadžić Dejan Rešanović Bojan Mišković Predrag Stojković Miloš Đurić

Alisa (Serbian Cyrillic: Алиса; Slavic analogue to the female name Alice, referring to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) were a Serbian and former Yugoslav pop rock band from Belgrade.

Alisa was formed in 1984 by Miroslav "Pile" Živanović (a former Zvučni Zid and Jedan Smer member, vocals), Predrag Cvetković (a former member of Slađana Milošević's backing band Ljudi member, drums), Aleksandar Kićanović (keyboards), Zoran Jančeski (a former Sedmi Krug member, guitar), and Marko Glavan (a former BG5 member, bass guitar). They released their debut self-titled album in 1985. All the songs were written by the keyboardist Jovan Stoiljković, leader of Živanović's former band Zvučni Zid, some of them during the 1970s while Stoiljković was the leader of the band Bicikl. Stoiljković decided not to become an official member of Alisa, but rather an author of Alisa's fairy tales-inspired songs. Although poorly produced, album brought hits "Sanja" and "Vojskovođa" ("Warlord") that made Alisa teen stars in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The album featured Saša Gnus on flute and saxophone as special guest.

Their second album Da li si čula pesmu umornih slavuja (Have You Heard the Song of Tired Nightingales), released in 1987, was heavily influenced by the New Partisans music movement. All the songs were written by Stoiljković. This album also featured Saša Gnus, now as an official band member. Main hits were the songs "1389." and "Posle devet godina" ("After Nine Years"), the latter featuring folk music singer Lepa Brena on vocals. The album also featured re-recorded "Vojskovođa". In 1988, Glavan left the band, and was replaced by Dušan "Golub" Karadžić. Alisa's third album Hiljadu tona ljubavi (Thousand Tons of Love), released in 1988, featured similar folk rock sound. For the first time Živanović wrote part of the songs, including the album's main hit "Kesteni" ("Chestnuts"). After releasing the album Glupo je spavati dok svira Rock 'n' Roll (It's a Dumb Thing to Sleep while Rock 'n' Roll Is Playing) in 1989 and several concerts held, the band disbanded at the outbreak of Yugoslav wars.