Croatia: Ogenj Interview – “We react on the spot and bring our listeners an unpredictable, yet unforgettable energetic experience”

Dora 2025 is in full swing and we are continuing with Q&A sessions with the Croatian national final representatives. Ogenj is a punk-folk band from Koprivnica and is already widely known for its energetic and fierce live performances all over Europe. It is time to meet them a bit better.

Hello Ogenj, thank you for accepting our invitation to talk to us and present yourself to our readers at ESCUnited. Welcome! First and foremost, tell us about your beginnings. Who is in the band and how did you start? 

Many thanks for Your interest and cheers to all readers!

Well, we started in 2015 as an acoustic band, with a strong idea to play just calm and relaxing blues. Very fast, we got a violin and tamburica in the band, and drums of course. Since then, the idea of a relaxing blues-folk band just disappeared. After three long-play albums, and two Croatian music awards PORIN (Croatian Phonographic Association) we believe that we are ready for something bigger. Today, in our four pieces rock band, Petar Šimčić plays electric guitar, Leonardo Ivačić bass guitar, Neven Žnidar is a drum player and Tomislav Mihac Kovačic lead singer and plays acoustic guitar and tamburica ( a six-string traditional folk instrument, like a small mandoline). We have to mention that Andrija Bricelj joined us on accordion for this occasion. He’s an external collaborator of the band who has appeared on our songs on the album a few times, and we have played some good concerts together.

How would you describe your music to people who have never heard it before? Who inspires you?

Our music is a mixture of many genres and musical directions that we have encountered in life and that have inspired us to create. If we had to define it more precisely, we would say that we are an ethno-punk folk rock band with many spices. Also, Tomislav is the band’s songwriter who writes exclusively in the dialect characteristic of northern Croatia (Međimurje, Podravina). A parallel would be what a Scottish accent is compared to standard English.

We are a band that best presents its sound and identity live at performances. We are extremely prone to experimenting with our own songs and giving them an extra charge of energy. This is not something we rehearse, but we react on the spot and bring our listeners an unpredictable, yet unforgettable energetic experience.

Some of the artists who inspire us are: Guns n’ Roses, Nirvana, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, Dropkick Murphys, and numerous legends of the Croatian rock scene such as Azra, Haustor, Kries…

Could you walk us through the songwriting process of your song “Daj, Daj” and what does the song mean to you?

The musical part of the song “Daj, Daj” was created, believe it or not, on one rehearsal. Tomislav came up with a cool riff on the tamburica, and Neven (drummer) and I, together with Tomislav, presented ideas on the spot, most of which are in the final version. We defined the middle (calmer) part during the recording in the studio. I’ve created the pattern for the techno beat in the program, sent it to the guys to listen to, and at the end, they combined the tamburica (which is a Croatian folk instrument), and that’s how we got a very unique moment at the end of the song – a techno tamburica.

The song talks about the purification of the individual’s soul through the symbolism of fire, where a person must find themselves and understand the unimportance of the material, but rather what is inside them.

Your music is often inspired by tradition and culture. What themes and topics do you cover in your music the most?

The main goal and motif is always love. Love of nature, love for your partner, love for your pets, or to be loved. There is such a strong connection with some traditional motifs such as hard work, agriculture, life in the past, love stories that have been told generation after generation, and of course our feelings and reflections on the world and human beings.

How do you feel knowing Dora will be watched not only in Croatia but by people from all over Europe, if not beyond? Do you feel ready to perform in front of such a big audience?

We see Dora as a huge opportunity to present ourselves to the world. We have been around for ten years and have international experience performing from Hamburg to Podgorica, and we are ready to bring all our experience, energy and heart to the Dora stage, but also to the world that will follow Dora. It’s something really exciting and we can’t wait for our performance.

We have performed in front of large audiences a few times and we really feel ready to give our absolute best to give the audience the best possible show.

Since this will be your debut in Dora, what has been the most fulfilling part of the whole journey as of today? Also, what challenges or struggles have you encountered along the way that you may have not expected?

There were many ups and downs, but we would like to highlight the PORIN –  Croatian Phonographic Association – an award we won for our debut album, which brought us many performances, a lot of new followers and public interest, and took the band on an upward trajectory. Unfortunately, due to Covid, we had to start almost from scratch, since it interrupted the momentum we had. We fought, played everywhere, presented ourselves to new people, created friendships, memories and countless anecdotes that we will carry with us forever. Due to Covid, our lineup also changed several times, but we have been a stable team for some time now and we will not let any challenge shake us. That’s why we are where we are and we believe that Dora is a prize for which we had to prepare for ten years in order to be ready for it at the best possible moment.

We are very curious about your performance. Could you share any hints of what we might expect to see on stage? How are you preparing for the show?

We have a very tight rehearsal and preparation schedule that includes physical fitness, as well as choreographic coordination. We can’t reveal all the tricks, but the performance will partly be a reflection of what we offer at our performances, and it’s up to you to explore what that could be. Expect the unexpected!

If you could collaborate with any Eurovision artist, who would you pick and why?

I would definitely choose Baby Lasagna, the best Croatian representative at Eurovision. Besides the fact that we are very close musically, we had the opportunity to meet last year and he really left a very positive impression on us. I think we could make a song that would explode.

Apart from him, I would personally be interested in collaborating with the Ukrainian band Go_A, who left a great impression on me, and along with them, I think collaborating with Käärijä would be really cool.

To finish our Q&A session, do you have any final messages for the readers of ESCUnited?

Dear all, never give up. Our main message in our song „Daj, Daj“ is to never give up. Yes, life is hard, sometimes we are hard on each other, but never give up. There will be times when you will rise stronger than ever, and you should be prepared for that – and don’t forget to give yourself fully for the things you believe in.

Thank you so much Ogenj and we wish you the best of luck in Dora 2025! 

If #YOU want to support Ogenj on their way to Eurovision 2025 make sure you tune in to the Dora second semi-final show on February 28th and vote!