Vatra

Vatra ("Fire") is a Croatian pop-rock band from Virovitica, formed in 1999, with British pop as its main inspiration. The band is singer and rhythm guitarist Ivan Dečak, guitarist Robert Kelemen, drummer Mario Robert Kasumović, keyboard player Mihael Kurjančić and bassist Mario Radan; their longtime producer Denis Mujadžić Denyken is often called an extra member.

Their debut Između nas (Jabukaton, 1999) earned a Crni mačak nomination for newcomer of the year and a tour of about a hundred concerts in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Months of work on the second album were lost to a computer error, so Vatra recorded it all over again for Dallas Records in 2002 as Anđeo s greškom, with the singles "Putujem", "Sunce", "Srce", "Želim biti ti" and "Dno od suza". On 1 July 2003 they were special guests at the Simple Minds concert in Zagreb.

Prekid programa (2004) was their most successful album yet: "Anđeo s greškom", "Gorim", "Privremeno nedostupan", "Unutra – van" and "Alkohol" reached number one on national TV and radio charts, and the video for "Privremeno nedostupan" was shown on British MTV. Aritmija (2006), with "Ruska", "Mornarska majica" and "Lak za nokte", was nominated for the Porin for rock album, and they toured Croatia together with Ramirez. Sputnik (2008), produced by Jura Ferina and Pavle Miholjević of Svadbas, changed their sound with "John Travolta" and "Eskim". The band is also close friends with Pavel.

Ima li budnih (2011) featured "Tremolo" with Damir Urban, which won the Porin for best vocal collaboration of 2012, and the title song with Ljubica Gurdulić of Svadbas. The EP VT (2013), with new versions of older hits, won the Porin for alternative music. Then came Zmajevi na vjetru (2015), Nama se nikud ne žuri (2019), whose title song features Massimo, and Javi se kad stigneš (2022), as well as the live albums Akustik u Lisinskom (2017) and Vatra XX uživo (2019). Vatra also recorded "Rum na usnama" with Božo Vrećo, and in 2024 entered Dora with "Slatke suze, gorka ljubav", going through from their semi-final.