Dražen Ricl
Encyclopedia
Dražen Ričl was a Yugoslav
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...

 rock musician, best known as the first lead vocalist of the extremely popular Sarajevo based rock band Crvena jabuka
Crvena jabuka
Crvena jabuka is a Sarajevo-based pop band that originated in 1985, and since then has remained very popular. They were also a part of the so called New Primitives movement that occurred in the 1980s in the Former Yugoslavia territory....

.

Ričl was born and raised in the Koševo neighborhood of Sarajevo, where he was best known by the nicknames Para and Zijo. Upon finishing musical high school, he started studying journalism at the University of Sarajevo
University of Sarajevo
The University of Sarajevo is the first university in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was originally established in 1531 as a Madrasah or Islamic Law college, with a modern university being established and expanded on top of that in 1949. Today, with 23 faculties and around 55,000 enrolled students, it...

, where he met future fellow musician Branko Đurić. Soon, Zijo left the studies to start playing his first band Ozbiljno pitanje (Serious Question). The band also featured Zlatko Arslanagić, future co-founder of Crvena Jabuka. Soon afterwards, Ričl joins one of the greatest attractions of the New Primitives
New Primitives
New Primitivism was an urban subcultural movement that originated in Sarajevo during early-to-mid 1980s. The movement was identified with Zabranjeno pušenje and Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors bands, whose members were the driving forces behind it. Its creators and most notable personalities...

 movement, Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors and, meanwhile, acts as one of the leading actors in the first season of the popular absurd comedy TV series Top lista nadrealista
Top lista nadrealista
Top lista nadrealista also known as Nadrealisti was a comedy radio broadcast on Radio Sarajevo during early 1980s and later a sketch comedy and variety show on TV Sarajevo in three separate installments from 1984 until 1991.'Top lista nadrealista' started as a segment on Boro Kontić's programme...

, which was also created as a part of the New Primitives movement.

At the beginning of 1985, Ričl leaves Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors to join forces with Arslanagić once again, this time forming Crvena jabuka
Crvena jabuka
Crvena jabuka is a Sarajevo-based pop band that originated in 1985, and since then has remained very popular. They were also a part of the so called New Primitives movement that occurred in the 1980s in the Former Yugoslavia territory....

 (Red Apple, the name making a reference to The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

). Aljoša Buha
Aljoša Buha
Aljoša Buha was a Bosnian musician best known for having played in two bands: Kongress, and Crvena jabuka.In 1979 Buha formed Kongres as bassist/lead singer. He stayed with them until about 1983 when he took a break.Aljoša Buha was recruited in Crvena Jabuka in 1986 as bass player...

, Dražen Žerić Žera
Dražen Žeric
Dražen Žerić Žera is a Bosnian singer and one of the founders and the leading vocal of a famous Bosnian band, Crvena jabuka ....

 and Darko Jelčić Cunja
Darko Jelcic
Darko "Cunja" Jelčić is a Yugoslavian musician best known for having been Crvena Jabuka's drummer from their initial inception in 1985, to the present day...

 have all joined the band in the next several months and they started rehearsing in the attic of Arslanagić's house. In 1986, the band released its self-titled first album
Crvena jabuka (album)
Crvena Jabuka is the first album by the Bosnian band Crvena Jabuka. It was recorded between 1985 and 1986, and the official release was March 22, 1986.This album was the first album to have the band in its original lineup...

, that quickly gained immense popularity. Ričl and Arslanagić, as the leading authors, have combined the rudeness and simplicity of New primitivism with the romantic themes, characteristic of the bands they have considered their predecessors, such as The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 and Indexi
Indexi
Indexi was a Bosnian rock band popular in the former Yugoslavia. It formed in 1962 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and disbanded in 2001 when singer Davorin Popović died...

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Following the summer of 1986, the band scheduled the tour that was meant to confirm their outstanding popularity. The first concert of the tour was scheduled for 18 September 1986 in Mostar
Mostar
Mostar is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the largest and one of the most important cities in the Herzegovina region and the center of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation. Mostar is situated on the Neretva river and is the fifth-largest city in the country...

, and the members of the band traveled from Sarajevo in two cars. Ričl, Arslanagić and Buha were in Arslanagić's Fiat 600
Fiat 600
The Fiat 600 is a city car produced by the Italian automaker Fiat from 1955 to 1969. Measuring only 3.22 m long, it was the first rear-engined Fiat and cost the equivalent of about € 6,700 or US$ 7300 in today's money . The total number produced from 1955 to 1969 at the Mirafiori...

. The car crashed directly into a truck on the road near Jablanica
Jablanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Jablanica is a town and municipality of the same name in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. The town is situated on the Neretva river and Jablanica lake. Jablanica is a part of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton.-Geography:...

. Buha died instantly, and Ričl was transferred to Belgrade, where he was in a coma, until he died, 1 October 1986. Arslanagić had survived the accident and, following a severe depression, continued to work with the remaining members of the band. Fellow musicians across Yugoslavia paid tribute to the victims of the accident and organized concerts in memory of the lost members of Crvena jabuka. After a year, the surviving members of the band began to work on their second album Za sve ove godine
Za sve ove godine
Za sve ove godine is the second album by the Sarajevo based pop band Crvena jabuka. It was released in 1987.This album was meant to be a tribute album to the band's two lost members: bassist Aljoša Buha and singer and guitarist Dražen Ričl-Zijo...

, which was created as an homage to Ričl and Buha.

Ričl was buried in the Bare cemetery in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....

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