Band

Zlatopis was formed from the band Stupovi, which was formed in 2000 for humanitarian action of renewal of the medieval monastery Djurdjevi Stupovi in Ras and lasted up to 2010. Upon completion of this project, the group leader Ljuba Ninkovic, whose musical career spans from the mid 1960's, along with the musical core of the previous band, began a new musical adventure whose purpose is to make a harmonious blend of traditional Balkan sounds and vibrations brought by the contemporary trends in music, especially world music and elements of psychedelic folk rock. They have started this journey from the belief that there is a common ground that makes the traditional music of one nation understandable to others, and that is sincerity in respond to spiritual, social, emotional and psychological needs of community, which have been the same or similar for all nations through history.

When we put all this in the framework of contemporary musical expression it can easily correspond to contemporary listener by building a two-way highway in his mind - towards a joint origins of civilization and back. The fact that members of the Zlatopis belong to different generations and musical experiences contributes to freshness of sound and stage performance. Some of Zlatopis's members are coming from the ethnomusicological departments of music schools, while others grew up with rock and other musical genres.

Members of Zlatopis

Macedonian mandolin, guitar, vocal: Ljuba Ninkovic

His career began in 1967 in a rock band called The Spooks, with which he gained first stage experiences. In the early 1970s Ljuba founded with three friends the acoustical group "S vremena na vreme" (ENG: From Time To Time), the best band of this genre in the former Yugoslavia. As an author, he signed many hits that the group had. By 1979 the band has published three albums and 10 singles, and two more albums were recorded after the reunion in the 1990s.

In the period 1980 - 1988 Ljuba was playing and composing in the rock band Tunnel, with which he published 10 singles and 8 LPs. At the same time, he began to write music for theater productions in Belgrade and throughout Serbia. In addition to several awards for music for children plays, he received Sterija Award for Music in 1995, the most prestigious theater prize in former Yugoslavia. He wrote music for several TV series. Ljuba has worked for years on national radio as a music editor and show host.

In 1999, he began to work with the famous singer Bilja Krstic on an album with traditional Serbian songs as arranger and record producer. This album was released several years later by Virgin Greece. With Bilja he has made two albums and played many concerts in Europe, South America (Brazil) and countries of Eastern Europe and Russia.

Bass guitar: Dejan Škopelja Škopi

Dejan Škopelja Škopi was born in 1965 in Belgrade. He graduated from the music high school "Kosta Manojlović" on the bass department. As a bass player he has been active since 1981 in the bands: U Škripcu, Rambo Amadeus, Kristali, Vatreni poljubac, Baby Doll, Massimo Savić, Aleksa Jelić...

Since the early 1990s, as a music producer and sound engineer, he collaborated with many bands including Babe, Block Out, Madame Piano, Hazari, Gora, Teodulija, Stupovi, Etar. As a studio musician he worked with bands: Alisa, U škripcu, Rambo Amadeus, Kristali, Saša Vasić, Lee Man and many others. Since 1993 he has been an active member of the Babe, with whom he recorded three albums and gave many concerts. He's currently working in Belgrade as a bass guitarist and a music producer.

Drums and percussion: Goran Petrović Uške

Born in 1970 in Niš. Actively involved in music since he was 14, playing in a variety of local bands. The greatest success he achieved by playing in bands: Hazari (ethno), Straight Jackin' (rap, rock), Stupovi (ethno) and the newly formed Zlatopis.

Serbian pipes, kaval, Armenian duduk: Nebojša Brdarić

He was born in Sombor in 1990. At the age of 10 he started playing wood wind instruments: pipes, flute, kaval, Armenian duduk... He finished music high school “Mokranjac” in Belgrade. Double winner of the Serbian Competition of Pipers 'Oj Moravo' in Prislonica. He is also a multiple winner of the Pipers' Competition in Tresije. Since 2005 he performs with Stupovi, and currently is a member of the band Zlatopis. With his sister Bojana he performed at many events in Serbia and abroad.

Lead vocal: Bojana Brdarić

Bojana was born in 1991 in Sombor. She started singing at the age of 8. In 10 years of public engagement in music together with her brother Nebojša, she performed with numerous orchestras and musicians in the country and abroad. Since 2005, she was a member of the Stupovi, and now she sings in Zlatopis.

Vocal: Jelena Pecaranin

Jelena was born in 1983. She finished music high school "Mokranjac", Department of Ethnomusicology, and before that elementary music school on the Department of Flute. She started performing live at the age of 13 as a member of the Children's Choir of Radio Television Serbia, with whom she performed at the National Theatre in the operas "La Boheme" and "Carmen." Among the most important performances of that period is a concert at The Days of Maria Callas in Athens at the Acropolis. She had a chance to collaborate with famous conductors Bojan Sudjic and Mladen Jagust.

She sang and toured nationally and internationally with the most successful ethnic music bands from Serbia: Balkanika, Vasilisa, Gora, Vasil Hadzimanov Band and Stupovi. Jelena also performed with the international artists Theodosii Spassov, Alexander Petrov and Bachar Khalife. She is a founding member of the band Zlatopis.

Violins: Aleksandra Samolov