music
March 12, 2026
Dražen Ričl Zijo: The Tragedy That Shook Yugoslavia
He marked the lives of an entire generation, and then tragedy interrupted everything
TL;DR
- Dražen Ričl Zijo, co-founder of Crvena jabuka, died tragically at 24.
- The accident occurred in September 1986 while traveling to a concert in Mostar.
- A collision with a truck resulted in the immediate death of bassist Aljoša Buha.
- Ričl and Zlatko Arslanagić were critically injured and hospitalized.
- Ričl was transferred to a hospital in Belgrade due to severe head injuries.
- He died on October 1, 1986, after failing to wake from a coma.
- Ričl was buried in Sarajevo, remembered by a monument shaped like a halved apple.
- Thousands attended his funeral, mourning the loss of a symbol of a generation.
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