Old authentic 1980s price sticker featuring Jugoton company logo. The price is in Yugoslav dinars

Jugoton was the largest record label and chain record store in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia based in Zagreb, Socialist Republic of Croatia. After the breakup of Yugoslavia the company continued to work in independent Republic of Croatia under the name Croatia Records.

History[link]

Jugoton was formed in 1947. It is notable for releasing some of the most important former Yugoslav pop and rock records. In addition, the company owned a widespread network of record shops across SFR Yugoslavia.

After the process of dissolution of Yugoslavia began, the name of the company became Croatia Records in 1990.

Artists[link]

Artists that have been signed to Jugoton include:

Jugoton also released the influential compilation album Paket aranžman. Many artists that represented Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest were signed with Jugoton, including the 1989 winners Riva.

Besides signing a great number of eminent former Yugoslav artists, the label also released some of the most important international pop and rock stars for the domestic market including albums by The Beatles, David Bowie, Kate Bush, Deep Purple, Eurythmics, Iron Maiden, Kraftwerk, John Lennon, Madonna, Gary Moore, Mötley Crüe, Elvis Presley, Pink Floyd, Public Image Limited, Queen, The Rolling Stones, Scorpions, U2, Whitesnake, and others.

Competition[link]

Other major labels in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were: PGP-RTB and Jugodisk from Belgrade; Suzy from Zagreb; Diskoton from Sarajevo; ZKP RTLJ from Ljubljana and others.

Yugonostalgia[link]

Jugoton, as an important part of the former Yugoslav culture is one of the subjects of Yugonostalgia.

The former Jugoton record shop located in the main shopping mall in Skopje (Gradski Trgovski Centar), Republic of Macedonia, still operates under the same name managed by the Macedonian record label Lithium Records.^[1]

An example of different kind is the online radio and web tv station called "Jugoton" which operates in the Yugoslav diaspora in Vienna, Austria.^[2] It plays music from the former Yugoslavia, but also from all the contemporary ex-Yugoslav countries, including pop, rock and folk. However, it is not formally related to the actual Jugoton, and not all the Yugoslav artists represented in its program were really signed to the label.

Yugoton[link]

Yugoton is a tribute album to the former Yugoslav rock scene released in 2001. Its title is a nod to Jugoton.

References[link]

See also[link]

• SFR Yugoslav Pop and Rock scene
• List of record labels

External links[link]

• Croatia Records - Official site

Tomislav Ivčić

Tomislav Ivčić (January 6, 1953 – March 4, 1993) was a Croatian singer, songwriter and politician. He died in a car accident and is buried in Zagreb at the Mirogoj Cemetery.

A native of Zadar, Tomislav Ivčić became one of the most popular singers and songwriters during his appearances on 1970s pop music festivals. His specialty was pop music inspired by Dalmatian folklore. Ivčić also wrote and performed "Večeras je naša fešta", a song that would become a semi-official anthem of Dalmatia, often sung and performed whenever a Dalmatian athlete or sports team won a title or important game. He has written over two hundred songs and released twenty three albums during his career.

During the war in Croatia, Ivčić wrote the song "Stop the War in Croatia" which became a hit. It even charted in the Top 10 in Australia in 1991. In 1990, Ivčić also became a member of Croatian Democratic Union. He expressed his patriotism through the song "Bože čuvaj Hrvatsku", that would become semi-official anthem of his party. In February 1993 he ran as his party's candidate for House of Chambers of Croatian Parliament, and won a seat. A few weeks before he was supposed to take office and shortly after a Globus interview in which he was described as "first Croatian senator", his automobile was involved in traffic accident that would claim his and lives of three more people.

His older half-brother Đani Maršan is also an accomplished singer and songwriter, and his other older brother Vedran Ivčić, was, to a lesser degree, as well.

External links[link]

• Discography of Tomislav Ivčić
• Tomislav Ivčić lyrics