Karizma

Karizma ("Charisma") is a Serbian hard rock band formed in Belgrade in 1985 by guitarists Dušan "Duca" Janićijević and Dragoljub "Đoki" Popović, bassist Dejan Lukić "Francuz" and drummer Goran "Edi" Tadić, who were later joined by singer Dušan Zarić and keyboard player Dejan Tomović. The band took its name from the Kiss song "Charisma", and its inspirations were Kiss, Bon Jovi, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard.

In 1988 Karizma won first place at the Gitarijada festival in Zaječar, and the same year they released their debut album, Vreme je za nas, on PGP-RTB, by which time Zoran Miletić and Srđan Milenković had replaced Lukić and Tadić. The song "Vrati se" became a minor hit. Zarić then left the band and was replaced by Dejan "Jelfan" Jelisavčić, formerly of Otkrovenje. Karizma toured Serbia extensively as the opening act on a Kerber tour, and also toured Bulgaria.

The second album, U snovima, came out in 1991 with Tadić back on drums; he also designed its cover. It was produced by Vlada Barjaktarević and included a cover of Oliver Mandić's "Ljuljaj me nežno". In 1993 bassist Saša Đokić and drummer Dragan Živković "Pizzi" joined, and in 1994 the band recorded demos for an album that was never released and split up soon after. That year their song "Daj mi" appeared on the Komuna compilation Pakleni vozači: Jugoslovenski hard rock.

Karizma reunited in 2005 with Jelisavčić, Janićijević, Đokić and Živković, joined by guitarist Duško Maslac and keyboard player Nemanja Petrović, and released the compilation Retro-active with remastered songs from U snovima, "Ludnica" from 1994 and a new version of "Vrati se". In 2006 Nenad "Žvaka" Đorđević, formerly of Ruski Rulet and Alisa, took over the keyboards and Popović returned, and in 2014 the band issued a remixed "Vrati se" as a single.

At the end of 2016 Karizma released their third studio album, Smej se, on PGP-RTS, produced by Jelisavčić, with 12 songs including "Ritam mi daj", a cover of Hardline's "Takin' Me Down". In 2020 they took part in Beovizija, the Serbian Eurovision selection, with "Ona me zna" and reached the semi-finals.