Divlje Jagode

Divlje Jagode is a hard rock and heavy metal band formed in 1977 and led from the start by the guitarist Sead "Zele" Lipovača, its only constant member. It grew out of Zenit, a Zagreb group that Lipovača, the singer Anto "Toni" Janković and the bassist Nihad Jusufhodžić had belonged to; drummer Adonis Dokuzović and keyboard player Mustafa "Muc" Ismailovski completed the first line-up. The name, Wild Strawberries, comes from Ingmar Bergman's 1957 film. The members had first wanted Dobro Ime, which Jugoton's editors mocked.

Signed to Jugoton, the band made its name with "Jedina moja", its first single in 1977, and a new version on the self-titled debut album of 1978, a hard rock record in the spirit of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. In 1980 Alen Islamović joined on bass, with drummer Nasko Budimlić, and the band moved to the Diskoton label. Stakleni hotel (1981) turned them to heavy metal, and Motori (1982), Čarobnjaci (1983) and Vatra (1985) followed, with Islamović as lead singer after Janković left in 1982 for a solo career. After Čarobnjaci and Vatra they were named rock band of the year.

A five-year deal with London's Logo Records took the band to London as Wild Strawberries. They released the single "Shayla" in February 1986, played the Marquee Club and recorded an English album with Don Airey on keyboards, but when Islamović left to join Bijelo Dugme the plan fell apart, and the album came out in the UK in May 1987 with little promotion. Back home Lipovača rebuilt the band with Mladen "Tifa" Vojičić for Konji (1988), produced by Peter Hinton. A spell with Zlatan Stipišić Gibonni produced only demos, and the band broke up in 1990.

Lipovača brought Divlje Jagode back in 1994, now based in Zagreb, with Labude, kad rata ne bude (1994) and Sto vjekova. Od neba do neba (2003) won back their audience across the region, and in 2005 Janković returned as a permanent member. Later albums are Biodinamička ljubav (2013), Jukebox (2020) and Prati moje stare tragove (2024), plus Live in Beograd, recorded on 8 October 2022. They opened for Scorpions in Belgrade in 2018, marked forty years with a concert in Sarajevo in 2019, and their biography, U malom vrtu raste divlji plod, came out in 2020.

In the Rock Express Top 100 Yugoslav Rock Songs of All Times, a poll of more than 3,400 readers, 120 journalists and critics and about 100 musicians that the magazine published in 2000, "Jedina moja" was ranked 89th.