Cinkuši

Cinkuši are an ethno band from Zagreb, formed in the mid-1990s, who play the traditional songs of northern Croatia with punk-rock energy. They are based in Zagreb. In the Kajkavian tradition a "cinkuš" is the small bell that follows people from birth to death, and the band took its name from it.

Their own profile lists folk rock, punk, ethno-jazz and world music as their styles. Their music joins their own songs with the folk heritage of the Kajkavian regions, above all Međimurje, Prigorje and Zagorje. Their records tell of the hard life of ordinary people and farm workers, with roughness and melancholy, fire and feeling, and they are often compared with The Pogues for the way they pair old tunes and instruments with a rock and punk temperament. Reviewing their fourth album, critic Toni Matošin wrote that they reconcile the music of Zagorje, Prigorje and Međimurje with the new wave, much as Gustafi had done, and Haustor in their early years.

The first album, Zeleni kader, came out in 1999, followed by Domesticus Vulgaris (2005), Špiritus Sanctus (2009), the live CD and DVD Uživancija! recorded at Teatar &TD in Zagreb in 2010, and Krava na orehu (2017). Špiritus Sanctus and Krava na orehu both won the Porin for best ethno album, and the 2023 album Bog nam greh oprosti won that prize again. They also wrote music for films, including Nosila je rubac črleni.

Cinkuši have recorded with Vlado Kreslin on his albums Muzika and Kreslinčice, with Lidija Bajuk on Kneja, with Teta Liza, Valungari and Jelena Radan, and their songs appear on world-music compilations such as The Rough Guide to the Music of the Balkans. The band today includes Tihomir Kruhonja, Mirko and Natalia B. Radušić, Nebojša Stijačić, Marko First, Krešo Oremuš, Nikola Santro and Marko Meštrović. The playlist is the band's own channel, with "Tiček" featuring Darko Rundek.