The beat and rhythm and blues years (1962-1967) The band was formed in 1962 by Momčilo "Moma" Radovanović (guitar), Radomir Dmitrović "Đura" (guitar) and Minja Tasić (vocals), having their first rehearsals at the Society for Culture and Arts Gradimir Mihajlović. The name Elipse was suggested by Dmitrović, after he took a mathematics exam and had a hard time solving a problem concerning an ellipse. The band had their first notable live appearance in Belgrade club Euridika on 21 June 1963. and a large open-air concert in
Zagreb's
Šalata. In the summer of 1965, they were hired to perform on dances held at the
Belgrade Faculty of Technology. Elipse were one of the 16 bands that entered the finals, and on the final evening on the festival, held on 13 February 1966 in front of some 15,000 people, they won the first place, with their biggest rivals Siluete ending up second. In May 1966, Elipse performed on the opening of the
Belgrade Youth Center in front of Yugoslav president
Josip Broz Tito and the
first lady Jovanka Broz, thus becoming the first Yugoslav rock band to perform in front of Tito. For the latter they recorded a video at the
Belgrade Zoo, performing a cover of
the Monkees song "
I'm a Believer" in front of a cage with
monkeys. At the beginning of 1967, Elipse performed, alongside the band Bitnici, on the promotion of PGP-RTB compilation album
Beat Scene Now, featuring songs of
British beat bands. During 1967, Elipse appeared in
Black Wave films
The Naughty Ones, directed by Kokan Rakonjac, and
The Rats Woke Up, directed by
Živojin Pavlović. The music for the film was written by composer
Zoran Hristić. As he lacked experience in composing popular music, he cooperated with Simjanović on the film score. They were spotted by
ballet dancer Milorad Mišković, who hired them to play on his performances. They had their first performance with Mišković in Belgrade Youth Center, and soon went with him on a tour across
France. Bojan Hreljac died on 18 December 2018. == Discography ==