Boa is a Croatian

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

music group, which was especially active during the 1980s around the former

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

History

The band's early history started in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, then

SR Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), commonly abbreviated as SR Croatia and referred to as simply Croatia, was a ...

in 1974, when its founding members Mladen Puljiz and Slavko Remenarić, switched their interest from

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

to rock music, inspired by

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ar ...

acts such as

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...

and

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

. The group started its concert activity in 1979 with a line-up consisted of: Mladen Puljiz ( keyboards,

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

), Slavko Remenarić (

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

), Igor Šoštarić (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

) and Damir Košpić (

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

).Bio at ''Menart Records'' record label, Croatia
The band moved towards the then actual

New Romantic New Romantic was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New Romantic mo ...

sound and fashion and after the release of their debut album for Suzy in 1982, they were voted by the readers of the prominent Yugoslav musical magazine ''

Džuboks ''Džuboks'' ( sr-cyr, italic=no, Џубокс, trans. ''Jukebox'') was a Yugoslav music magazine. Launched in 1966, it was the first magazine in SFR Yugoslavia dedicated predominantly to rock music and the first rock music magazine to be publish ...

'' as the best upcoming act of the year. Their next album ''Ritam strasti'' (''Rhythm of passion'') followed by around a hundred concerts around

former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

brought them even higher popularity. Despite the fact that their next album ''Govor tijela'' (''Body language'') included some successful hits, the band fell into creative crisis and thus the group halted its activities until 1989 when the group got a new

rhythm section A rhythm section is a group of musicians within a music ensemble or band that provides the underlying rhythm, harmony and pulse of the accompaniment, providing a rhythmic and harmonic reference and "beat" for the rest of the band. The rhythm ...

consisted of the drummer Paolo Sfeci (former member of Aerodrom and

Parni valjak Parni Valjak (; trans. '' Steam Roller'') is a Croatian and Yugoslav rock band formed in Zagreb in 1975. They were one of the most popular acts of the Yugoslav rock scene, and have maintained large popularity in all former Yugoslav republics a ...

) and the bass player Zvonimir Bučević (prominent session musician). In 1990 the band released the album ''Prvi val'' (''First Wave''), and performed as a

support act An opening act, also known as a warm-up act, support act, supporting act or opener, is an entertainment act (musical, comedic, or otherwise), that performs at a concert before the featured act, or "headliner". Rarely, an opening act may perform ...

's concert at

Maksimir stadium Maksimir Stadium (, ) is a multi-use stadium in Zagreb, Croatia. Named after the surrounding neighbourhood of Maksimir, it is one of the largest stadiums in the country with a current seating capacity of 25,912 and a maximum possible capacity ...

in Zagreb in front of over 50,000 people. Two years after, they released the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

''81-92'' featuring live performances and studio recordings with new arrangements. The CD also included the song ''Zemlja'', which was recorded in 1991 for the Rock za Hrvatsku (''Rock for Croatia'') music project tributed to the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...

. In 1993, a new member of the group is the keyboard player Gojko Tomljanović. In the next year they release the CD ''Kraj djetinjstva'' (''End of Childhood'') featuring guest appearances by prominent artists such as:

Josipa Lisac Josipa Lisac (; born 14 February 1950) is a Croatian and SFR Yugoslavia, Yugoslav singer whose work has spawned many different genres, from Rock music, rock and Pop music, pop to jazz and ethnic music. Known for her unique contralto, Lisac is wid ...

, Dino Dvornik and Vanna. The feature song "Kao mir" (''Like peace''), a duet with Josipa Lisac was nominated in two categories for the prestigious Croatian music award Porin. In 2002

Croatia Records Croatia Records is a record label in Croatia owned by AUTOR d.o.o., based in Zagreb. Summary Croatia Records d.d. is a joint-stock company currently led by the chief executive officer Želimir Babogredac, a sound engineer. It releases mostly (but ...

released the integral versions of the two first albums on

Audio CD Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA or CD-DA), also known as Digital Audio Compact Disc or simply as Audio CD, is the standard format for audio compact discs. The standard is defined in the '' Red Book'' technical specifications, which is why t ...

, which was awarded with Porin in the ''Re-release of the year'' category. Following this success, the band also released a compilation featuring songs from their third and fourth album in 2004 under the title ''Kao nekad'' (''Like in the old days''). All of the songs were

remastered A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

and in some of them the authors modified the arrangements. The CD also contains

bonus tracks An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

such as "Boa Constrictor", an experimental

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

, which includes sound effect that Puljiz i Remenarić recorded back in 1974 on their old

Grundig Grundig ( , , ) is a Turkish home appliances and consumer electronics brand. It is owned by Arçelik A.Ş., the white goods (major appliance) manufacturer of Turkish conglomerate Koç Holding. Originally a German consumer electronics comp ...

2-track open-reel tape recorder. The group is still active.

Discography

*LP ''

Boa Boa, BoA, or BOA may refer to: Snakes * Any member of the Boidae, a family of medium to large, non-venomous, constricting snakes ** Any member of the Boinae, a subfamily of boid snakes *** Any member of ''Boa'' (genus), a group of boid snakes * ...

'' ( Suzy, 1982) *LP ''Ritam strasti'' (Suzy, 1982) *LP ''Govor tijela'' (Suzy, 1983) *LP ''Prvi val'' (Suzy, 1990) *CD ''81-92'' (Orfej/DEA Music, 1992) *CD ''Kraj djetinjstva'' (Orfej 1994) *CD ''Boa/Ritam strasti'' (Suzy/

, 2002) *CD ''Kao nekad'' (Suzy/

Hit Records Hit Records was a record company based in Nashville, Tennessee, which specialized in sound-alike cover versions of hit records. These types of releases are often categorized as exploito. Background It was run by entrepreneurs Bill Beasley and ...

, 2004) *CD ''Dnevnik putovanja, skice ostanka'' (

Dancing Bear A tame bear, often called a dancing bear, is a wild bear captured when young or born and bred in captivity. These bears have been used to entertain people in streets or taverns. Dancing bears were commonplace throughout Europe and Asia from the M ...

, 2006)

References

Janjatović, Petar. ''Ilustrovana Enciklopedija Yu Rocka 1960-1997'', page: 34, publisher: Geopoetika, 1997
* {{Authority control Musical groups established in 1979 Croatian pop music groups Yugoslav rock music groups Yugoslav art rock groups Croatian post-punk music groups