Obvezna smer

Obvezna smer is a Slovenian pop band, formed in 1985 in Kranj. Its voice is Toni Kapušin, who had sung in the group Sibila with Helena Blagne and Romana Krajnčan and joined after his military service in 1985. The first line-up was Slavko Vesel, Franci "Frenk" Kebler, Toni Kapušin, Ivo Žavbi and Dario Plesničar.

The breakthrough came quickly: in 1986 the band won the Pop delavnica festival with "Srce je popotnik" and became very popular all over Slovenia. The debut cassette, also called Srce je popotnik, sold about 80,000 copies. In 1987 they sang "Maj" at Melodije morja in sonca. In 1988 they were due to sing at Jugovizija with Helena Blagne, but the composer Tadej Hrušovar withdrew the song at the last moment; Moni Kovačič sang it instead and finished twelfth.

Albums followed on ZKP RTV Ljubljana and later Mandarina: Na veselici (1985), Valovi ljubezni (1990), Moja Slovenija and Obvezna smer 4 (both 1992), the hits collection Najlepših 12 (1993), Jutro (1996) and Pojdi z menoj (2000). Their best-known songs are "Srce je popotnik", "Čez praznike spet bom doma", "Zaplešiva draga ča-ča-ča", "Komaj ti je 17 let", "Maj" and "Moja Slovenija". Besides the band members, they sang songs by Tadej Hrušovar, Dušan Velkaverh, Ivan Sivec, Tomaž Kozlevčar, Martin Štibernik and Karmen Stavec.

After several changes of line-up the band split up in the early 1990s. Kapušin and the bassist Robi Lukač went on as a trio that played weddings and parties for about ten years. Obvezna smer came back together for EMA 1998 with "Ko pade noč", which finished near the bottom.

In 2010 the band returned as a six-piece and celebrated its 25th anniversary at the sports hall in Medvode, and since 2012 it has played regularly in a renewed line-up. New radio singles followed: "Zapri oči" (2010), "Tako lahko je reči ljubim te" with Anita Kralj (2013), a 2019 remix of "Maj" and "Bilo je kratko, bilo je sladko" (2020). The playlist has the band live at Cankarjev dom in Vrhnika in 2016, playing its hits.