Popular music in Croatia

Some of the most successful and long-lasting rock music acts that are treated as "pop" in Croatia include Parni valjak and Prljavo kazalište.

The latter featured Ivica Percl, who, after leaving Roboti in September 1966 because "they were too loud," became a protest singer-songwriter influenced by the acoustic sound of Bob Dylan, Donovan and Joan Baez.

Another notable female vocalist who emerged in this period was Josipa Lisac (later Karlo Metikoš's wife) who still enjoys huge popularity in Croatia.

In another city on the Adriatic coast, in Split, a notable heavy metal group was Osmi putnik, formed in 1985, which featured the now popular solo pop singer Gibonni.

During the existence of the former Yugoslavia with SR Croatia as its constituent country, the Croatian music scene contributed a lot to the federal Yugoslav pop and rock.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was held in the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, where again, Yugoslavia was represented by a Croatian artist – Tajči.

[1] An important person behind most of these successful Croatian Eurovision acts was the prominent popular music producer and composer Zrinko Tutić.

The latter included the famous song "E, moj druže Beogradski" (Hey my Belgrade comrade) by Jura Stublić, the frontman of the group Film.

Croatia's national music awards, Porins, were established in 1994.. Croatian independence also introduced a new generation of performers such as Daleka Obala, Thompson and pop act Baruni.

Other eminent festival performers include: Tereza Kesovija, Doris Dragović, Jasna Zlokić, Meri Cetinić and formerly the group Dubrovački trubaduri.