Magnifico

Magnifico, born Robert Pešut on 1 December 1965 in Ljubljana, is a Slovenian pop singer and songwriter, and one of the most recognisable Slovenian musicians of his generation. Besides his own hits he writes for other performers, has composed music for films and has acted in some of them.

His mother comes from White Carniola (Bela krajina) and his father is Serbian. As a teenager he danced in a folklore group, and he finished secondary school at Gimnazija Šentvid in Ljubljana. His grandfather fought as a Serbian soldier on the Salonika front in the First World War, and Magnifico later dedicated the song "Pukni zoro" to him.

He started out with the band U'redu, which released the albums Goli (1990) and Let's Dance (1992). He also took part in the project V.I.S. Diamanti, whose Hits of Mr. Džirlo he made with Aleš Klinar, Anja Rupel and Janez Zmazek. His solo albums began with Od srca do srca (1993) and Kdo je čefur (1996), followed by the soundtrack to the film Stereotip (1997), Sexy Boy (1999), the compilation Komplet (2001), Export Import (2003), Grande finale (2007) and Srečno with the Magnifico Balcountry Quartet (2008).

Many of his songs have become Slovenian evergreens, among them "Silvija", with which he took part in EMA 1998, "Kdo je čefur", "24.000 poljubov", "Tivoli" and "Hir aj kam hir aj go". The last became a hit across the former Yugoslavia and in Italy, and its rights were bought by Sony. As a songwriter he also wrote "Lahko ti podarim samo ljubezen", which won EMA 2002 for the group Sestre.

Film has been a second home. He appeared in Stereotip, Kajmak in marmelada, Poker and Porno film, and wrote music for Prepisani and for the Serbian film Montevideo, Bog te video! (2010) and its television series. His 2013 album Montevideo, Bog te video!, made with the Serbian army orchestra Stanislav Binički, came out on Menart, and was followed by Charlatan de Balkan (2016) and Alpe Adria Club (2025).

Magnifico has spoken of his deep respect for Slovenian folk and narodnozabavna music, calling it the most original sound ever made in the country and the one kind of music that musicians in Austria and Germany imitate.