Rambo Amadeus

Antonije Pušić, better known as Rambo Amadeus, is a cult Balkan musician recognised across the region — poet, composer, innovator, philosopher, social activist and, above all, a chronicler of his time. He was born in Kotor in 1963 to Bosiljka, a literature teacher and writer, and Ilija, an archaeologist and scientist. He grew up in Herceg Novi and today lives and works in Belgrade.

His songs blend many genres, while his satirical lyrics dissect contemporary society and its anomalies. He has recorded some twenty studio and live albums, written music for numerous theatre productions and composed a score for Fritz Lang's silent film “Metropolis” (1927), performed with musicians of the Belgrade Philharmonic. He also wrote a cadenza for Mozart's Piano Concerto in C major, performed at Kolarac in 1995 by Ivan Tasovac with conductor Oskar Danon.

His awards include the Sterija Award, a literary prize at the “Domanović Days of Satire”, a Saatchi & Saatchi award for best radio commercial and the Golden Rose of Montreux. He scored Dragan Marinković's comedy “Boomerang” (Grand Prix in Valencia) and wrote the opera “Passion According to Stella” (Kotor Art 2019, Novi Sad 2021). He collaborates with the Macedonian National Jazz Orchestra and in 2019 launched the solar sailboat “Boka”, a symbol of living in harmony with ecology.

He coined the term “turbo-folk” in 1988 to describe his own sound on his debut album; the label later took on a different meaning. In concert he improvises rather than reproducing studio versions. In 2012 he represented Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest with “Euro Neuro”.