Okustični

Okustični is a Slovenian acoustic duo: the singer Karin Zemljič and the singer and guitarist Mate Brodar, who also goes by Mate Bro. They are on Muzika-Balkan as a Slovenian group, and both are long-time figures of the Slovenian and Eurovision stages. The sources do not say in which town the duo is based. Brodar has said the name leaves them free to wander between genres, and that for them everything is allowed as long as it is tasteful ("okusno").

The group goes back to 2013 (or 2012). It began as a trio, after Zemljič, Brodar and Katja Koren had sung backing vocals together at Slovenska popevka 2012, and played as Okustični trio. Koren left before the end of 2013. After a two-year pause the project came back in 2016 as a duo; Katja Sever Kržič joined that autumn and sang with them until about the summer of 2017, since when they have been a duo again.

Both had long careers before. Brodar sang backing vocals for Sestre at Eurovision 2002, performed with Magnifico for four or five years, formed the duo Da Phenomena and made two albums with his reggae project BRO. Zemljič studied jazz singing in Klagenfurt, has sung with the RTV Slovenija Big Band, and has been a backing singer at Eurovision for Maraaya (2015), ManuElla (2016), Lea Sirk (2018) and Ana Soklič (2021).

Their first song of their own, "Pri nas", came out in September 2017 as a duet with Jadranka Juras, who often performed with them, at Lent in Maribor among other places. In 2018 they covered "Ta noč je moja", and on 16 February 2019 they sang "Metulji plešejo" at EMA, the Slovenian Eurovision selection, finishing fifth. "Se vrti (Ko si na tleh)" followed.

In November 2019 ZKP RTV Slovenija released their debut album Enkratna, neponovljiva, credited to Okustični and Jadranka Juras, which won the Zlata piščal award for album of the year 2020. Later singles include "Po tisti dolgi poti", "Zvezde" with Marko Črnčec and a version of "Moja mama" for a tribute album to Kuzle; new songs followed in 2026.