Magazin is a Croatian pop band from Split. Founded in 1979 under the name Dalmatinski magazin ("Dalmatian Magazine" in Croatian), the band quickly began to make a mark on local pop music festivals with its songs influenced by Dalmatian folk music. One of the most prominent bands in Yugoslavia and one of the longest lasting, with 45 years active in the music industry in Croatia and former Yugoslavia.
The band currently consists of lead vocalist Lorena BuÃÂan, guitarist à ½eljko BariÃÂiàand bass guitarist Nenad "Keko" VesanoviÃÂ. BariÃÂiàis the only active founding member even though Vesanoviàfeatured on every album to date.
In 1979, the band Magazin, then under the name "Mladi batali", was founded by à ½eljko BariÃÂiÃÂ, Zoran MarinkoviÃÂ, Miro Crnko, Igor BioÃÂiàand vocalist Majda à  oletiàin Split then Yugoslavia. That same year, they signed a record deal with the record company Jugoton and recorded their first LP singles, but also changed the band's name to "Dalmatinski magazin". At the end of the same year, the band gained two new members, TonÃÂi Huljiàand Nenad VesanoviàKeko.
In early 1982, Majda à  oletiàleft the band, and was replaced by Marija KuzmiÃÂ. That same year, the band changed their name to "Magazin" and recorded their first album ' (Sweet State), and performed at the Split Festival with the song "Dià ¡petoà ¾o moja mala", where they won the first prize of the professional jury. At the end of the year, they performed at the Zagrebfest with the song "Moja mala mila".
Their gradual rise in popularity continued in the 1980s with a series of prestigious festival victories. Their peak of popularity was reached when Marija Kuzmiàleft the group due to family reasons and was replaced by Split born singer of Macedonian descent Ljiljana Nikolovska who became the band's lead singer. The leader and songwriter TonÃÂi Huljiàbegan to insert elements of folk music of other European countries in his songs. On Split Festival '83 they performed Kokolo off of their album ' which was released in December. The album was sold in 270,000 copies and was Platinum certified. Drummer Zoran Marinkoviàleft the band in 1984, and was replaced by Ante MiletiÃÂ. The band performed at the Split Festival that same year with the song "Nikola", and then released their third album, '. In 1985, they performed with the song "Vrati mi, vrati sve" at the Split Festival, and with the song "Pià ¡i mi" ("Write to me") at the Zagrebfest, where despite receiving by far the largest number of audience votes, Magazin did not win due to a set-up. In protest at the ceremony announcing the winner, the band refused to go on stage and accept the second prize from the audience, and the outraged visitors left the Lisinski Hall in large numbers, with loud protests and whistles. TonÃÂi Huljiàstarted collaborating with songwriters from other parts of Yugoslavia such as Marina Tucakoviàwho wrote many of Magazin's songs. In 1985 they released their fourth album ' (Write to Me), with their most prominent songs like: "Tamara", "Oko moje sanjivo", "Pià ¡i mi" & "Istambul". The album 'Pià ¡i mi' got a diamond certification, because it was sold in 380,000 copies and is considered their best album and their masterpiece of Croatian pop music. It was recorded in Zagreb at Janko MlinariÃÂ's studio Truli. It was the beginning of a long-term collaboration with arranger and producer Mate Doà ¡en. At the Split Festival in 1986, they won the second award of the audience with the song 'Ne mogu da ga ne volim'. At the Zagreb Fest in 1986, the song 'Pià ¡i mi' received recognition for the most performed song from the previous festival. In early December of the same year, the album ' (The path I travel) was released, for which they received the "Zlatna Ptica" ('Golden Bird') award for more than 670,000 copies of the album sold and it's considered to be one of the best selling albums in Yugoslavia.
In 1987, the band went on a major tour of Yugoslavia, and at the end of the year they released the self-titled album ', which sold more than 500,000 copies and for which they received the "Zlatna ptica" award. The album was written by Nenad NinÃÂeviÃÂ, Zvonimir (Zvonko) StipiÃÂiàand their previous collaborator Marina Tucakoviàwho wrote: "Ti si à ¾elja mog à ¾ivota" and "Tri sam ti zime à ¡aptala ime". In 1988, they released their seventh album ' (Sleepless nights), which got a diamond certification, sold in more than 200,000 copies and the following year (1989) they released the album ' (Good Morning), the last album with vocals by Ljiljana Nikolovska, which got another diamond certification and equivalent of more than 200,000 copies. At the end of 1990, a large compilation "Svi najveÃÂi hitovi 1983-1990" (All the greatest hits 1983-1990) was released with 26 of the best songs of the group Magazin, sung by Ljiljana Nikolovska. After this compilation and due to war that occurred in Croatia, she left the group and relocated to San Pedro, California where she still resides.
In 1991, instead of Ljiljana Nikolovska, the lead singer became Danijela Martinoviàwho became popular during Split Festival, where she met TonÃÂi HuljiÃÂ. In 1991 they released their 9th album as a group and first with Danijela titled Da mi te zaljubit' u mene (If I could make you fall in love with me). TonÃÂi Huljiàkept on collaborating with Marina Tucakoviàwho wrote "Djana", "Ostani njeà ¾an do kraja", "Ustani", "Svi igraÃÂi", "Tià ¡ina" and most notable song from that album âÂÂBilo bi superâÂÂ. On that album they recorded an anti-war song "Mir, mir, mir do neba" ("Peace, peace, peace to the sky"), and in the same year, keyboard player Miro Crnko leaves the band for family reasons. In 1993, they released a new album Doà ¡lo vrijeme (Time has come) and performed at the festival with the song "NeÃÂu se vratiti" ("I will not return"). The following year, they performed again at the Melodije Hrvatskog Jadrana with the song "Simpatija", a duet with Marija Bubiàand won the Grand Prix of the festival. In the same year, they released the album Simpatija (Simpathy), which was published by Croatia Records and reached a gold certification. In 1995, Magazin won "Dora" (Croatian pre-selection for Eurovision Song Contest) and they performed "Nostalgijaâ with opera singer Lidija Horvat-Dunjko. They represented Croatia with their song "Nostalgija" in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 and finished sixth.
In 1996, Danijela MartinoviÃÂ left the band to start a solo career, and Jelena Rozga took her place. In 1995, TonÃÂi HuljiÃÂ started looking for a new singer for the group, who was supposed to replace Danijela MartinoviÃÂ. TonÃÂi and Jelena's mother Marija arranged an audition. Jelena sang the songs "Opusti se" and "Zlato ljubavi" in a restaurant in Zagreb, after which she was accepted into the group. Jelena first performed on Dora under her own name, performing the song "Aha" and won second place, and only later on in 1996, she made her debut as a singer of the group Magazin with the song "Suze biserne". At the age of 19, Jelena became the band's new and youngest singer.
In the same year, an album called ' (The sky the colour of my love) was released, which included the big hits: "Suze biserne", "Minut srca tvog", "Nebo boje moje ljubavi" and "Samo navika" collaboration with Croatian singer Oliver DragojeviÃÂ. The album achieved a gold circulation in Croatia. The year 1997 was marked by a performance on Dora with the song "Opijum", and after that a performance on Melodije hrvatskog Jadrana '97 with the song "Ime mi spominje". Two years after the album Nebo boje moje ljubavi, in 1998, the album ' (If you were me) was released. The mentioned album also contained numerous successful songs, including: "Gutljaj vina", "Ginem", "Briga me", "Na svijetu sve", "Idi i ne budi lude" , "Luna", "Na Sve Svete" and "Opijum". With the song "Na svijetu sve", the group competed at the Dora in 1998, and with the song "Idi i ne budi ljude" at the Melodije Hrvatskog Jadrana in 1998. The album reached platinum circulation in Croatia and Slovenia.
At Dora 1999, the group competed with the song "Kasno je", and at Melodije Hrvatskog Jadrana with the song "Ako poludim". After the album "Da si ti ja", the album ' was released in 2000. In addition to the aforementioned song of the same name, the album also includes hits such as: "Jel' zbog nje", "Kasno je", "Nemam snage da se pomirim" and "Ako poludim". In 2002, Magazin with Jelena Rozga released their 15th album ' (From the other side of the Moon). The album continued the success of the previous albums and included numerous successful songs such as: "S druge strane Mjeseca", "Ne vjerujem tebi, ne vjerujem sebi", "Dani su bez broja" collaboration with Macedonian singer Esma Redà ¾epova which was internationally successful and "'Ko me zove".
The album with the symbolic name ' (Sooo..?) released in 2004 is the last album of the Magazin group with Jelena as the lead vocalist. Like the previous albums, the album was a great commercial success and contained numerous hits such as the songs: "Ne tiÃÂe me se", "Troà ¡i i uà ¾ivaj", "Kad bi bio bizu" and "Da li znaà ¡ da te ne volim". At the Radio Festival in 2003, the group performed the song "Kad bi bio blizu", and at the Split Festival the same year, the song "Da li znaà ¡ da te ne volim". A year later, the group performed the song "Ne tiÃÂe me se" at the Split Festival and won the festival at the same time. After almost five years of absence, Magazin returned to Dora with the song "Nazaret" in 2005 and won second place, and a year later they performed at the same contest with the song "Oprosti mala". At the same time, this performance is considered to be the last performance of the group with Jelena Rozga as a vocalist. The almost ten years Jelena was a member of the Magazin group is considered one of the most successful and productive periods of the group. In addition to successful songs and albums, the Magazin group also held large concert tours with Jelena as a singer. Thus, concerts were held in Belgrade's Sava Centar in 2002 and 2004, while in 2000 a concert was held in Sarajevo's Skenderija. Jelena left the band in 2006 to focus on her solo career.
As Jelena Rozga stepped out of the band to continue her solo career, the band made a special Live TV competition-audition program on HRT in 2006 to choose a new singer who is going to replace Jelena Rozga. Among those singers were Lidija BaÃÂiÃÂ, Andrea à  uà ¡njara, Lea MijatoviÃÂ, Slavica Buzov, Nikol Bulat and Zorana KaÃÂiÃÂ. The girls took turns and sang in front of the jury, which included the leader of the band TonÃÂi HuljiÃÂ, singer and songwriter ÃÂorÃÂe NovkoviÃÂ, Mirko Fodor and Duà ¡ko ÃÂurliÃÂ. However, in the end, none of them became the new singer of the group, but the new vocal became , daughter of Croatian music legend Mià ¡o KovaÃÂ. In the same year, they released the album '.
In 2010, Andrea à  uà ¡njara, who was one of the girls from the HRT audition, became the new singer of the group. Magazin together with Andrea released the debut single "Sijamski blizanci" ("Siamese twins"), which immediately became a huge success in Croatia and internationally. After "Sijamski blizanci", they released the hits; "Kemija", "Joà ¡ se ne bi udala", "MaslaÃÂak", "Luzer", "Muà ¡ko bez karaktera", "Duà ¡u nemaà ¡ da me na njoj nosià ¡", "Jutro nakon", "à  kolovana da preà ¾ivim", "Doktore", "Ima dana" and many others. à  uà ¡njara became the longest lasting main vocalist of the band lasting 14 years in the band (from 2010 - 2024), and they released an album in 2014 titled: Mislim Pozitivno! ("I think Positive!"). In 2017, Magazin together with Andrea, released the song "à ½ena, a ne broj" (Woman, not a number), which gained massive popularity in Croatia, gaining 17 million views as of 2025.
Andrea left Magazin in 2024, to continue her solo career.
Andrea left Magazin in November 2024 and in one of Zagreb's night clubs Magazin announced their new 22 year old singer from Split Lorena BuÃÂan, and the new Magazin released a single "Nevjestica" on November 8, 2024.
Magazin became one of the most popular and most influential music bands in Croatia and Yugoslavia. Their biggest hits are "Put putujem" (The path IâÂÂm travelling), "Ti si à ¾elja mog à ¾ivota" (You are the desire of my life), "Oko moje sanjivo" (My sleepy eye), "Sve bi seke ljubile mornare" (All girls would kiss the sailors), "Balkanska ulica" (Balkan street), "Istanbul", "Zna srce, zna" (The heart knows, knows), "Boli me" (It hurts), "Besane noÃÂi"(Sleepless nights), and many more. Most of these songs are considered as classics in Croatia. The band won the first iteration of Dora in 1992 with the song "Aleluja" but Croatia was not yet eligible to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest. Later, they entered the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest with "Nostalgija".
Songs of Magazin are popular in region of former SFRJ most prominently in countries of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia. Serbian folk singer Ceca sang "Put putujem" (The path I'm travelling) on 2007 New Years Show on Pink TV channel in Serbia. In December 2018, Dragica Zlatic posted a cover of Magazin song "Dani su bez broja" (Days are without a number) originally sang by Jelena Rozga and Esma Redà ¾epova and as of 2024 has 14 million views on her YouTube channel.
On one occasion, Nenad "Keko" VesanoviÃÂ criticized Rozga for her behavior of not consulting other members of the group for the musical decisions she was making. During their last album together Paaa?, Rozga significantly changed her style into an aggressive persona all covered in black. Some of the songs became very aggressive and involved lyrics related to two people going to war with each other. Rozga on the other hand, cited not being happy as the reason why she left the group. She made the decision in 2004, but HuljiÃÂ persuaded her to go for one more album.