Sanja Ilić & Balkanika is a Serbian musical group formed in 1998 in Belgrade, Serbia. The ensemble was founded by Sanja Ilić with the mission to preserve and modernize Serbian medieval and Byzantine music traditions. The group consists of vocalists Nevena Stamenković, Danica Krstić, Marija Bjelanović, Mladen Lukić, and Nemanja Kojić. Their recordings include the debut album Balkan 2000 (1999) and the recordings Balkan Koncept (2004) and Ceeepaj (2009). In 2018, the band represented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Nova deca” (2018), which reached number 19 in the final. They received the Etno/World Music Song of the Year award in 2019. Their discography includes the compilation The Best of Balkanika (2011).
