Kalamari

Kalamari was a coastal music group that started in November 1993. Jože Jež (Pepi), Matjaž Švagelj, and Aleksander (Sandi) Kokošar came together to perform a few shows at a hotel. They quickly stood out because of their good performances and especially their three-part singing, which other groups couldn’t do as well.

Early on, they tried writing their own songs and released an album called “Dobra vila” in 1995. This album had some radio hits, but the group became well-known across Slovenia with their second album “S tabo držim.” The song “Angelca” from this album became a big hit and is still popular at parties today.

The group grew from three members to four and then five, which made their live shows even better. They became very successful with their third album, especially with the song “V vetru rdečih zastav,” which won second place and a lyrics award at the “Slovenska popevka” festival. Their live shows became even more popular, and they started performing not just in Slovenia but also in Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro.

Because of their busy schedule, some members left, deciding not to become professional musicians. However, the group kept writing new songs and did well at music festivals, winning awards for songs like “Kup besed,” “Zadnja šansa,” and “Preden zaspi.”

With the song “Boš prišla”, Kalamari took part in EMA 2004, the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. Unfortunately, they didn’t make it to the EMA final.

Their biggest success was at the EMA 2010 competition, where they won with the song “Narodnozabavni rock” along with the Roka Žlindre ensemble.

Slavko Ivančić and the late Danilo Kocjančič, who wrote some of their songs, often performed with Kalamari.

After their big win at EMA, the group’s popularity and the number of performances slowly decreased. In 2014, frontman Jože Jež (Pepi) left the group and was replaced by Darjan Gržina. In 2020, partly because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the group decided to split up.