Bijelo Dugme

Bijelo Dugme (transl. White Button) is a Yugoslav rock band, formed in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1974. Bijelo Dugme is widely considered to have been the most popular and the best-selling band ever to exist in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most prominent acts of the Yugoslav rock scene and Yugoslav popular music in general.

Bijelo Dugme was officially formed in 1974, although the members of its default lineup—guitarist Goran Bregović, vocalist Željko Bebek, drummer Ipe Ivandić, keyboardist Vlado Pravdić and bass guitarist Zoran Redžić—had previously played together under the name Jutro. The band's 1974 debut album Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme brought them nationwide popularity with its Balkan folk-influenced hard rock sound. The band's subsequent several studio releases, featuring similar sound, maintained their huge popularity, described by the Yugoslav press as "Dugmemania". Simultaneously, the band's material, especially their symphonic ballads with poetic lyrics—some written by poet and lyricist Duško Trifunović—was also widely praised by music critics. In the early 1980s, with the emergence of Yugoslav new wave scene, the band moved towards new wave sound, managing to remain one of the most popular bands in the country. After the departure of Bebek in 1983, the band was joined by new vocalist Mladen Vojičić Tifa, with whom the band recorded only one, but highly successful album. The band's next (and last) vocalist, Alen Islamović, joined the band in 1986, and with him Bijelo Dugme recorded two albums, initiating the short-lived Sarjaveo-based New Partisans movement with their blend of folk-influenced pop rock and Yugoslavism-inspired lyrics. The group disbanded in 1989, its leader Goran Bregović continuing his career as a successful film music composer and solo artist. In 2005, the band reunited in the lineup that featured most of the musicians that passed through the band, including all three vocalists, for three concerts, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Zagreb, Croatia and in Belgrade, Serbia, the concert in Belgrade being one of the highest-attended ticketed concerts of all time. In 2024, the band made another reunion, with Vojičić and Islamović on vocals, in order to hold 50th anniversary tour.

Bijelo Dugme is considered one of the most influential acts of the Yugoslav popular music, with a number of prominent figures of the Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav music scene citing them as an influence. Their works were critically acclaimed at the time of their release and in retrospect, with a number of their albums appearing on various lists of best Yugoslav rock albums, praised for the composition, musicianship, production and poetic quality of the lyrics. On the other hand, the band is often criticized by a part of region's musicians, music critics and audience who believe that the band's blend of rock music and Balkan folk paved the way for the appearance of turbo-folk music in the late 1980s and the 1990s. Bijelo Dugme's work remains popular in all former Yugoslav republics, the band often being considered one of the symbols of Yugoslav culture and their work being a frequent motif in various forms of Yugo-nostalgia.