Slavonske Lole

Slavonske Lole are a tamburica band from Đakovo in Slavonia, eastern Croatia, founded under that name in 1981 in the nearby village of Velika Kopanica. They are on Muzika-Balkan as a Slavonian band through and through, and Đakovo is their home town: on the Day of the Town, 8 May 2007, Đakovo honoured them with a charter of thanks. Their name uses lola, an old word for a sweetheart or a fun-loving lad.

Their story starts in 1973, when Darko Ergotić and the brothers Goran and Marko Živković began playing together in the folk ensemble KUD Ivan Filipović of Velika Kopanica. Calling themselves Kopančani, they played mostly at weddings and village dances. In 1981 they signed with Croatia concert, needed a proper name, and chose Slavonske Lole after the most popular tamburica band of the day, Slavonski bećari. In the 1980s they played mostly around Đakovo, also as a dance band with drums, bass guitar and organ, and later often went to play for audiences in Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

Their first cassette came out on Croatia Records in 1992, and soon they were backing Miroslav Škoro; a year later they turned professional. Tamburo miljenice (1993) was a hit across Croatia with its title song and "Viruj mi dado". On Crne oči (1994) Vera Svoboda sang "Pavićanske tri kapije", and that autumn began their long work with Krunoslav Kićo Slabinac. Frequent appearances on HRT's programme Lijepa naša made them known all over the country.

Viruj mi, dado (1997) sold enough for a gold record and took them on tours of Australia and Canada. Ličke narodne pjesme (2000) and Malena (2001) followed, and in 2003 Sve je ona meni, whose title song won Zlatne žice Slavonije in Požega by the vote of forty radio stations and was later recorded as a mariachi version by El Combo and a disco version by Sandi Cenov. The album went gold in 2006. Ledina (2006) collected three more Zlatne žice winners, "Prekasno", "Prijatelju nije lako" and "Ti si moje najmilije", with guests Miroslav Škoro, Jerry Grcevich and El Combo. Ispod mjeseca came in 2010.

The band played Zlatne žice Slavonije six times and is best loved for "Moj bagreme", "Sve je ona meni", "Duša bećarska", "Vesela je šokadija" and "Ej Kato, moje zlato", all gathered with their other videos in the playlist.