Misa Relic - Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Pat Ferris
Misa Releic, a composer and frontman for an 11-piece jazz/funk band, is a recent addition
to our site from Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
His band has recently released a new CD, and is planning a tour this summer.
A recent review of the band covered their CD release party: The translation hasn't
been modified.
Finally, something completely different!
The promotion concert of the new Misa Relic album "Inspiration" took place at
the summer scene of the "OH! Cinema" club in Belgrade, on July 6th 2000. The
club is situated in the Belgrade ancient fortress Kalemegdan.
Misa Relic and his band consisted of 11 best young jazz and funk musicians in Yugoslavia,
lead by experienced ace Zoran Radetic, literally elevated more than 2000 invitees who were
there to witness this media and musical event of the season in Belgrade.
The very evening started with the usual combination for the gatherings of the kind; press
conference, cocktails and rumours. At the moment when all the lights went off, it looked
like another fiasco of another "shooting star". But, when the big MR sign came
on the video beam followed by sound effects that resembled of Godzilla doing its
repertoire in Tokyo we knew that something else was going on. The fireworks from the near
fortress tower definitely brought suspense in our midst and when most of us turned our
back to the stage in order to watch this spectacle, the all out audio-visual attack from
the stage knocked us over. The crowd went wild, and we could here the first accords of
"Funky Groove", No. 1 at the MTS chart after only two weeks.
Although we know all the songs from the "Inspiration", we were surprised to hear
how good they sound when played live. The band lead by Zoran Radetic, the producer of the
album, followed by the out of this world rhythm section and legendary brass trio, along
with professional and inspired vocal and stage performance of Misa Relic, simply had blown
us away. Even the part of the audience, well known to most of the club dwellers as the
chairnBud freaks, leaped from their seats and joined the mayhem at the dance
floor struck by the blend of rhythms going from techno to latino and back
It was obvious that all this was professionally done, started with the stage and, for this
occasion, exclusively done outfit by "Centrotekstil", the new MR sponsors.
Now, if this was just a promo gig, I cant wait to see the real stuff. Misas
tour is starting in Belgrade on August 18th. and will spread the new funk jazz fever all
over the country.
We will certainly be there to see it.
I took the time to listen
to three MP3's on their official homepage,
and liked all of what I heard! It definitely took me back a few years when I first heard
"Funky Groove". It had that "70's big-band" similar to the "Earth, Wind & Fire" era,
complete with the synth-strings that was a 70's trademark. Funky Groove was partially in
English, but the others I listened to were in his native language (Slavic?), and although
I couldn't understand the lyrics, it neither detracted from my enjoyment of the
arrangement nor the talents of the artists in his band.
Misa Relic has been creating music in Belgrade since childhood, leading or corroborating
with several different bands as well as three previous solo projects. His most recent band
and project has a sound that can span a vast range of genres and a wide age-demographic
popularity, so I'm quite sure there is a bright future with Misa Relic and his future
projects.
From the MP3's I' heard, I can see that this band would be extremely popular with a dance
crowd as well.
In the timeless re-runs of American Bandstand, I'll use one of their best quotes:
"They have a good beat, and they're easy to dance to, so I'll give them a 94".
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