Marijan Smode

Marijan Smode is a Slovenian singer-songwriter from Carinthia (Koroška), born on 19 October 1960. He is the man behind "Mrtva reka" and "Jožica", and his album Jožica, kje si bla from 1986 sold 127,000 copies, which makes it the best-selling album of all time in Slovenia.

He made his name with "Mrtva reka", a song from 1978 that he recorded in the studio in 1981. Between 1981 and 1986 a run of hits followed: "Jaz in moja dama" (1981), "Ne odhajaj še, Belinda", "Cajt ženitve" and "Še pomahal ni z roko" (1982), "Adrijana, v tvojih očeh" (1983), "Marina" and "Ker nisva vedela" (1984) and "Micka" (1985). In 1982 "Še pomahal ni z roko" won the first audience prize at Slovenska popevka, and in 1983 he took part in the Yugoslav selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with "Adrijana, v tvojih očeh".

From 1981 to 1989 he recorded for ZKP RTV Ljubljana, from 1990 to 1993 for Helidon, and after that on his own label, Korodisc. His albums include To je moja pesem (1982), Slovenski muzikant (1983), Mrtva reka (1984), Zapoj ljudem (1985), Jožica, kje si bla (1986), Svat (1988), Čikita (1990) and V kotu med gorami (1995). In 1991 he made Pozdravite našo deželo together with Petra Bizjak. His sound belonged to the alpine pop of the 1980s, which brought the accordion together with rock guitars, and among his backing bands he has named Don Juan and Agropop.

"Jožica" was not played on the radio at first, but he kept singing it at his concerts and selling it himself. On his fiftieth birthday in 2010 he returned with the single "Špranca", ahead of the album Kapljica, which came out in 2012.