Sanjalice ( sr-Cyrl, Сањалице, trans. ''The Dreamers'') were a
Yugoslav rock band formed in
Belgrade in 1964. Sanjalice are notable for being one of the pioneers of the
Yugoslav rock scene, as well as one of the first Yugoslav
all-female band An all-female band is a musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universally followed. While ...
s.
History
Sanjalice were formed at the end of 1964, when three female friends, Ljiljana Mandić, Slobodanka Miščević and Ljiljana Jevtić, all three living in the same building, decided to form a band influenced by
the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
and
the Walker Brothers
The Walker Brothers were an American pop group of the 1960s and 1970s which included Noel Scott Engel (eventually known professionally as Scott Walker), John Walker (born John Joseph Maus, but using the name Walker since his teens) and Gary L ...
.
The band's first lineup consisted of Ljiljana Mandić (vocals, guitar), Slobodanka Miščević (rhythm guitar, vocals), Ljiljana Jevtić (bass guitar), Vojislav Veljković (drums), and Radomir Vuković (organ), most of them at the time being
elementary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
students.
Sanjalice had their first performance on December 29, 1964 in Belgrade's
Pionirski Grad, performing alongside duo DD and singers Zoran Rambosek and Mirko Šuoc.
In 1965, the band performed, alongside the bands Lutalice, Četiri Bebe,
Siluete,
Plamenih 5, Juniori, Plavi Dečaci and
Elipse
Elipse ( sr-Cyrl, Елипсе; trans. ''The Ellipses'') were a Yugoslav rock band formed in Belgrade in 1962. The band were one of the pioneers of the Yugoslav rock scene.
Elipse initially performed beat music and rhythm and blues. With ...
, on the
Parada ritma festival.
At the end of 1966, Vojislav Veljković left the band and went to serve his mandatory stint in the
Yugoslav army, and was replaced by Snežana Veselinović, who was his girlfriend at the time.
Not wanting to be the only male member of the band, Radomir Vuković left the band, and Sanjalice continued their activity without an organist, as one of the first all-female bands in Yugoslavia.
As one of the rare all-female rock bands in Yugoslavia, Sanjalice gained large attention of the media, but also praise from the music press.
On a competition of bands entitled ''Belgrade —
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Sl ...
'' and held in 1967, they won the first place.
During the same year, they performed on a highly popular festival tour ''Letnji karavan'' (''Summer Caravan''), which featured popular
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describ ...
singers.
During 1967, Sanjalice performed on the
fashion show
A fashion show (French ''défilé de mode'') is an event put on by a fashion designer to showcase their upcoming line of clothing and/or accessories during a fashion week. Fashion shows debut every season, particularly the Spring/Summer and Fal ...
s presenting the ''Simonida'' collection, inspired by Serbian medieval
frescoes
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...
, by the Yugoslav designer Aleksandar Joksimović.
When the ''Simonida'' collection was presented in
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...
, the band traveled to the country to perform on the fashion shows, appearing also on Romanian national radio and television.
During the same year, they released their first
EP, which featured the songs "Idem u svet" ("I'm Going to Travel the World", a cover of
Wilma Goich's song "Per vedere quanto e' grande il mondo"), "Bez reči" ("Without Words"), "Nemoj reći da me voliš" ("Don't Say that You Love Me", a cover of
Pino Donaggio's song "Io che non vivo (senza te)"), and "Mi mladi" ("We the Young"). The EP was released through
Jugoton
Jugoton was the largest record label and chain record store in the former Yugoslavia based in Zagreb, SR Croatia.
History
Jugoton was formed in 1947. It is notable for releasing some of the most important former Yugoslav pop and rock records ...
record labeel. Later that year, they released their second EP, with the songs "Marioneta" ("
Marionette
A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or reveale ...
", a cover of
Sandie Shaw Sandie may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People
* Sandie Clair (born 1988), French professional racing cyclist
* Sandie Fitzgibbon, Irish former camogie player
* Sandie Jones (1950/1951–2019), Irish singer
* Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker ( ...
song "
Puppet on a String"), "Znam da ćeš se vratiti" ("I Know You Will Come Back"), "Haj, Lili, haj-lo", and "Srećni zajedno" ("Happy Together", a cover of
The Turtles's song "
Happy Together"), through
Diskos record label.
By the end of 1967, the band had made more than 600 performances, but also several appearances on
TV Belgrade,
TV Zagreb
''Hrvatska radiotelevizija'' (abbr. HRT), or Croatian Radiotelevision, is Croatia's public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite. HRT is divided into t ...
and
TV Ljubljana
Radiotelevizija Slovenija ( en, Radio-Television of Slovenia) – usually abbreviated to RTV Slovenija (or simply RTV within Slovenia) – is Slovenia's national public broadcasting organization.
Based in Ljubljana, it has regional broadca ...
, some of them in
children's program.
In 1968, the band was offered to perform in
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
and
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
, which they refused to spent the summer performing on the
Adriatic coast
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...
.
They spent two months performing in
Pula
Pula (; also known as Pola, it, Pola , hu, Pòla, Venetian; ''Pola''; Istriot: ''Puola'', Slovene: ''Pulj'') is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the ...
and other cities in
Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian and Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian, Italian and Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic betwee ...
.
During the same year, they released their third EP, with songs "Marijana" (originally a
chanson
A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic ...
composed by
Vlaho Paljetak
Vlaho Paljetak (7 August 1893 – 2 October 1944) was a Croatian composer. He was born in Dubrovnik in the Austro-Hungarian Empire which is now part of modern Croatia. Vlaho was educated in Arbanasi, near Zadar, and worked as a teacher in Hvar and ...
), "To su bili dani" ("Those Were the Days", a cover of
Mary Hopkin song "
Those Were the Days Those Were the Days may refer to:
Music Albums
* ''Those Were the Days'' (Johnny Mathis album) (1968)
* ''Those Were the Days'' (Cream album) (1997)
* ''Those Were the Days'' (Dolly Parton album) (2005)
* '' Those Were the Days – The Best of L ...
"), "Ta mala ledi" ("That Little Lady"), "Misli ponekad na mene" ("Think of Me Sometimes"), through
Beograd Disk
Jugodisk was a record label was established in 1968, in the then Socialist Republic of Serbia in SFR Yugoslavia in Belgrade, today Serbia.
Before 1981, it was known as Beograd Disk. In 2003, the company was sold at a state auction to the show busi ...
.
''Marijana''
Discogs.com In 1968, Slobodanka Miščević sang the theme song for the film ''Pusti snovi'' (''Pipedreams'') directed by Soja Jovanović. The song was released on the EP ''Muzika iz filma Pusti snovi'' (''Music from the Film Pipedreams'').
During their career, Sanjalice often performed on fashion shows presenting clothes designed by Aleksandar Joksimović. They performed in the play ''Bitnici pevaju'' (''Beatnik
Beatniks were members of a social movement in the 1950s that subscribed to an anti-materialistic lifestyle.
History
In 1948, Jack Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation", generalizing from his social circle to characterize the undergr ...
s Are Singing''), performed in the Đuro Salaj Theatre, in which actors Dragan Nikolić, Miša Janketić, Duško Golumbovski Duško ( sr, Душко) is a Slavic masculine given name. It may refer to:
*Duško Đurišić (born 1977), Montenegrin football player
*Duško Ajder (born 1958), retired Serbian professional footballer
* Duško Gojković (born 1931), Serbian jazz ...
, and others performed the poetry of American beatniks translated by Jovan Ćirilov.
In 1969, the members of the band decided to end their activity and dedicate themselves to their studies.
Discography
Extended plays
*''Idem u svet'' (1967)
*''Marioneta'' (1967)
*''Marijana'' (1968)
References
External links
Sanjalice at Discogs
{{Authority control
Serbian rock music groups
Yugoslav rock music groups
Beat groups
All-female bands
Musical groups from Belgrade
Musical groups established in 1964
Musical groups disestablished in 1969