Magnifico
The concert of the Slovenian band Magnifico will be held in the courtyard of the Ilion Palace in Sremski Karlovci on 13 August at 10:15 p.m. as part of The Danube Sea the programme arch.
With his first albums ‘Od srca od srca’ (1993), ‘Gdo je čefur’ (1996) and ‘Seki Boi’ (1999), Magnifico, as a versatile composer and musician, stood out on the music scene in the former Yugoslavia. He is a musician whose music draws a world without borders, and as a result, when he performs live, the audience experiences a unique atmosphere.
In 2002, his provocative approach reached the European Parliament, when he won the national contest for the Eurovision Song Contest, as the author of the composition ‘Samo ljubešan’ performed by the Sisters band. It was an unprecedented shock, because the trio of transvestites rock the local and foreign audiences with their song. Opinions and energetic debates about the Eurovision representative were also held in the Slovenian parliament, and Magnifico only further strengthened his status as an icon among the LGBT community with the release of the song ‘Magnifico je peder’ (Magnifico is a fag).
In 2004, Sony Music entertainment released his fourth studio album titled ‘Ekport/Import’, including the ‘Hir ai kam, Hir ai go’ and the eclectic ‘Giv Mi Mani’. The diverse album, skilfully interwoven with Balkan rhythms, met with excellent reception on radio stations and discotheques around the world, introducing Magnifico to an even wider international audience.
In 2010, his fifth studio album ‘Magnification’ was presented to the world market by Piranha Musik, a music label founded in Berlin. The first single from the album, ‘Zum zum’, was created in collaboration with Ferus Mustafov, the king of the Macedonian Roma clarinet and saxophone.
Magnifico also showed his wide talent in some Slovenian feature films: ‘Stereotip’ (1997), ‘Pornofilm’ (2000), ‘Poker’ (2001), ‘Kajmak i marmelada’ (2003).
In a constant search for new creative ways through which he can self-reflectively challenge himself, he also participated in the creation of film music for ‘Stereotip’, ‘Potpisani’ (2010), ‘Montevideo, Bog te video”’ (2010) and ‘Montevideo, vidimo se’. (2014). The collaboration with Serbian director Dragan Bjelogrlić continued in 2018 with the creation of music for the TV series ‘Senke nad Balkanom’.
Another one of the compositions that highlighted Magnifico as an excellent composer is ‘Pukni zoro’ – a composition that is sung today immediately after the anthem and is a regular accompaniment to various celebrations, from birthdays to funerals, weddings and departures to the army. Sung by the audience at a football match at the Maracana stadium, it was the official musical accompaniment of the Serbian football team at the 2018 football championship, and was included in the list of 60 most beautiful Serbian folk songs on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of RTS television.
He released his last studio album for the international market, ‘Charlatan de Balkan’, in September 2016.
Although Magnifico has a 30-year career behind him, the pace does not stop. In December 2017, he sold out the Stožice Arena for the first time, and together with the concert, he released an album with carefully selected 24 songs, united under the name ‘Complete II’. In 2020, he set a record for tickets sold for a traditional Christmas concert on the World Wide Web.
The year 2022 brings many musical engagements in theatre and film to the band, and a new studio album is coming soon.
The concert will be held as part of the Danube Culture Festival.
Photo: Tomo Brejc