DUBIOZA COLLECTION

Once upon a time (2003), in a shady corner of the world, in a country called Bosnia and Herzegovina, a group of friends decided to form a band. But this was no ordinary band, nor was it formed under ordinary circumstances. In addition to local influences from the Balkans, there were also musical influences from all over the world: ska, punk, reggae, electronics, hip-hop. However, there was no music industry, few concerts and no space for cultural or political expression among the new generation of established young people. In fact, the entire region suffered from deep moral and economic stagnation (listlessness) of the post-war period. It was from this environment that Dubioza Kolektiv was born, not silently, but with great screaming, bringing no-go topics to the foreground and thus demanding to be heard. In this way, they have created a phenomenon.

To give a brief overview of the band's history, the self-titled first album DUBIOZA KOLEKTIV was released in 2004 and was immediately received with an enthusiasm that had not existed on the Bosnian scene since the pre-war period. Next up was the EP OPEN WIDE, this time with poet Benjamin Zephaniah and Mush Khan from Fun- da-mental. After that, their second CD called DUBNAMITE was released and their popularity began to spread beyond the Bosnian borders. After publishing FIRMA ILLEGAL in 2008, she has made famous her bold and uncompromising stance against the nationalist establishment across the Balkan region. Album number four followed in 2010 with the track 5 DO 12 (5 before 12) and as an expression of commitment to her fans, Dubioza made the album available for free download on dubioza.org and thus contemptuously offended the ultra-capitalist music labels. Around this time, Bill Gould from Faith No More discovered Dubioza Kolektiv and under his label Koolarrow Records they recorded their fifth album WILD WILD EAST and he brought the band onto the international stage with worldwide distribution.

APSURDISTAN was released in 2013 and was a huge success with more than 350,000 downloads. The animated music video for the track “Kažu” was viewed 50 million times on YouTube and their Western Balkans tour sold out arenas. All of this, combined with her relentless commitment to touring, brought Dubioza's music to every corner of Europe.

In 2016, the band released their seventh LP album, HAPPY MACHINE, with guest appearances from Manu Chao, Benji Webbe from Skindred, Punjabi singer BEE2, Catalan ska rumba band La Pegatina and trumpeter Džambo Agušev from Macedonia. The video for the single from the album “Free.mp3 (The Pirate Bay Song)” was released on the homepage of the most famous torrent site in the world thepiratebay.org.

Another highlight was the video and the song itself “No Escape (from Balkan)”. This was followed by their first US tour, with a debut at SXSW and concerts in several North American cities in venues such as 9:30 in Washington, D.C. They were voted number 1 band at the Eurosonic Festival 2016. PJESMICE ZA DJECU I ODRASLE, another album in their local language, was released in 2017, together with a documentary FILM ZA DJECU I ODRASLE, which documented the history of the band and the creation of the album. “Himna generacije” and “Rijaliti” became instant hits thanks to millions of hits. Following in the footsteps of their previous collaboration on the song “Red Carpet,” Dubioza Kolektiv and Manu Chao have created another power single “Cross the Line”, with which they announced their new album #FAKENEWS, which was released in January 2020. The album includes guest appearances by legendary dub reggae artist Earl Sixteen from Dreadzone, Soviet Suprem, the Mexican band Los de Abajo and an exclusive performance by Robby Megabyte, the almost famous Internet superstar robot. The songs are in English, Spanish and Google translated French.

BAND MEMBERS Brano Jakubović... keys/sampler Vedran Mujagić... bass Almir Hasanbegović... vocals Adis Zvekić... vocals Senad Šuta... drums Mario Ševarac... saxophone Jernej Šavel... guitar DraganJakubović ... sound engineer

Dubioza Kolektiv's last album AGRICULTURA was released in May 2022. The album, with songs in the local language, was written during the Covid-19 pandemic in lockdown. While the world was surfing the Internet and everyone was glued to their screens of any size, Dubioza began to think about the future of agriculture and who would probably produce the food if everyone worked in the IT sector. The album was announced with 3 singles: “Kafana”, “Bubrezi” and “Može li?” , accompanied by music videos that have already been viewed over 8 million times on YouTube.

Over the years, Dubioza Kolektiv became the biggest band in the Balkans, with sold-out concerts in venues with over 12,000 spectators in Zagreb, Belgrade, Ljubljana, Pula, Rijeka, Split, Sarajevo, Sofia, etc. In addition to the Balkan region, they played sold-out shows in the USA, Canada, and all over Europe: London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Dublin, Budapest, Oslo, Prague, Vienna, Madrid, etc.

The band also performed at major European festivals such as Glastonbury, Roskilde, Boomtown Fair, Paléo Festival Nyon, Lollapalooza, Lowlands, Ruhrpott Rodeo and many more. They set the attendance record at Špancirfest and the Exit Festival Fusion Stage and played in front of half a million people at the Pol'and'Rock Festival, where they received the Złoty-Baczek Prize for the festival's best international performance in 2018, which was voted for by the audience. They continue to tour and tour tirelessly and have over 100 gigs a year. Audiences all over the world have recognized them as a live act that must be seen.

Her story has shown: These boys don't stop until they achieve their goals. If you're looking for macho, money and ego attitude, you won't find it here - no MTV gangsters, no strippers, no corporate sponsors from the international fashion industry.

Rather, they take up traditional musical forms and enrich them with their unique outlook, which is conveyed on a positive level that hits you like a gust of fresh air. If you're open to this experience, it could change your life too.