Galija

Galija is a rock band from Niš, Serbia, formed in 1977 and built around the brothers Nenad and Predrag Milosavljević and drummer Boban Pavlović. Nenad had played acoustic covers and his own songs around Niš, and after a concert at the Niš National Theatre on 11 April 1977 he joined forces with members of the band Dva Lustera. The first line-up was Nenad Milosavljević, guitarist Goran Ljubisavljević, bassist Predrag Branković, drummer Nenad Tančić and keyboardist Bratislav Stamenković. The name comes from a Niš kafana popular with local rockers.

Galija began as a progressive rock band. In 1978 it won first place at the Gitarijada in Zaječar and opened for Smak on tour, and in 1979 it played Bijelo Dugme's Rock Spectacle at Belgrade's JNA Stadium before about 70,000 people. The debut album "Prva plovidba" (1979) gave the band its first hits, "Avanturista", "Gospi" and "Decimen". Predrag became an official member on "Druga plovidba" (1980), and "Ipak verujem u sebe" (1982) brought the ballads "Još uvek sanjam" and "Burna pijana noć".

From "Bez naglih skokova" (1984) the band moved towards mainstream rock, and "Digni ruku" (1986) had a hit in its title song. With guitarist Bratislav Zlatković and lyricist Radoman Kanjevac the band then made a trilogy of politically charged and commercially successful albums: "Daleko je Sunce" (1988), with "Da li si spavala" and "Mi znamo sudbu", "Korak do slobode" (1989), with "Sloboda", sung with Goran Šepa, and "Istorija, ti i ja" (1991), with "Skadarska" and "Trube". Pop Rock magazine named "Na tvojim usnama" the song of the year for 1989. Galija opened for Joe Cocker at Pionir Hall and, in 1991, for Bob Dylan at Zemun Stadium.

In the 1990s the band played at events of the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia, and critics called it a "state band". Predrag left after a 1994 concert in Niš, and "Karavan" (1994), "Trinaest" (1996), "Voleti voleti" (1997) and "Južnjačka uteha" (1999) followed before a break. "Karavan" was later ranked 87th among the 100 best Serbian albums since the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Predrag returned on "Dobro jutro, to sam ja" (2005), and the band has since released "Mesto pored prozora" (2010) and "U raju iznad oblaka" (2018), celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2016 and played the Nišville festival in 2026. Radoman Kanjevac died in 2025.