Dino Merlin

Edin Dervišhalidović (born 12 September 1962), known professionally as Dino Merlin, is a Bosnian singer-songwriter and record producer. Born in Sarajevo, he founded and led the band Merlin, one of the best-selling rock groups in Southeast Europe.

Nicknamed "The Wizard" (), Dino is widely regarded as one of the most prominent and commercially successful artists to have emerged from the former Yugoslavia. Throughout his career, he has released over a dozen chart-topping albums, embarked on numerous record-breaking tours, received numerous accolades, including the prestigious Sixth of April Sarajevo Award, and authored the national anthem of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is celebrated for his distinctive voice, charismatic stage presence, and poetic songwriting.

Early life

Edin Dervišhalidović was born on 12 September 1962, in the neighborhood of Alifakovac in Sarajevo, People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (at the time part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). His father, Abid, was a carpenter who came to Sarajevo as a teenager. His mother, Fatima (née Činjarević), was born and raised in Sarajevo, and was a Muslim cleric. His parents divorced when he was 7 years old and he was subsequently raised by his mother.

Dervišhalidović attended Moris Moco Salom primary school (today "Edhem Mulabdić" elementary school), where he was the captain of the school's soccer, basketball, and table tennis teams. The school and its significant surroundings – Emperor's Mosque, President Tito's konak, and Hotel Nacional – influenced his later art.

Dervišhalidović enrolled at Sarajevo Technical High School. During after-school hours, he performed in a music duo with his childhood friend and keyboardist Mensur Lutvica, with whom he later established the band Merlin.

Music career

Early years

Although Dervišhalidović's mother was against the idea of her son being a musician, she helped him buy his first guitar when he was 12 years old. He penned his first song at 14 years old. Dervišhalidović was mostly self-taught, although he did take a few lessons from an older neighbor named Mirsad. Mirsad's younger brother, Mensur Lutvica, played the keyboard and attended the same school as Dervišhalidović. They soon became friends and eventually became the founding members of the later band 'Merlin'. Lutvica began accompanying Dervišhalidović while performing on the streets of Sarajevo.

Dervišhalidović was heavily influenced by the Yugoslavian musicians Bijelo Dugme, Zdravko Čolić, Kemal Monteno, and Toma Zdravković, among others. He entered several music competitions covering their songs. He later became close friends with Goran Bregović, the founder and primary songwriter of Bijelo Dugme.

After enrolling in university, Dervišhalidović formed a band with Lutvica on keyboard, Amir "Tula" Bjelanović on guitar, Džafer Saračević on drums, and Enver Milišić on bass guitar. Each of the five put a paper with their idea for a band name in a hat; the name "Merlin" was pulled and chosen as the name of the band.

Merlin

After completing his first semester at university, Dervišhalidović dropped out to pursue a music career. However, he did not have enough money to rent a recording studio. During this time, he married his girlfriend Amela and worked two shifts a day at a metal factory in the suburbs of Sarajevo for a few years. It was during this time that he started writing most of the songs which would later appear on his first album.

In 1984, Dervišhalidović rented a local studio in Sarajevo owned by producer Brano Likić. Dervišhalidović wrote all the recorded songs and paid the recording fees from his funds. He was rejected by every major record label in Sarajevo. At the same time, Dervišhalidović's private funds were only enough for 6 songs. During the recording session for the final song, a local A&R agent named Muradif Brkić entered the studio where Dervišhalidović and Likić were mixing a song. After listening to the track, "Kokuzna Vremena", a couple of times, Brkić offered Dervišhalidović a contract with his record label Sarajevo Disk and agreed to finance the remainder of the song recordings. Merlin eventually released their first album in 1985 titled '' Kokuzna vremena''. With the band, Dervišhalidović has recorded 5 studio albums: ''Kokuzna vremena'' in 1985, '' Teško meni sa tobom ''in 1986, ''Merlin'' in 1987, '' Nešto lijepo treba da se desi'' in 1989, and '' Peta strana svijeta'' in 1990.

Solo career

Dervišhalidović began his solo career under the name Dino Merlin in 1991 and has since recorded six studio albums: '' Moja bogda sna'' in 1993, '' Fotografija'' in 1995, '' Sredinom'' in 2000, '' Burek'' in 2004, '' Ispočetka'' in 2008, ' Hotel Nacional'' in 2014, and '' Mi'' in 2025.

During the Bosnian War, several members of Merlin were killed, including their long-time manager Kemal Bisić, with whom Dino was close.

Not long after the band dissolved, Dino was invited by the Bosnian state government to write the country's first-ever national anthem " Jedna si jedina". The song acted as the state's national anthem until the late 1990s. In 1993, he wrote the song " Sva bol svijeta" ("All the grief in the world") for and eventually participated in Bosnia's first Eurovision Song Contest in Millstreet in 1993. The song is about the hardships Bosnians endured during the war and calls for peace. He again participated in the Eurovision Song Contests in Jerusalem in 1999 (singing " Putnici" with Béatrice Poulot, a French singer) and in 2011 with "Love in Rewind". Dervišhalidović has also taken part in other big European festivals, such as the Copenhagen festival in 1996 and the Turkovision Song Contest in 1997.

Breaking records, major success

In 2000, aged 38, Dino released his most successful album to date - '' Sredinom'' ("Through the Middle"). The album was a top-selling album in Bosnia and Herzegovina and was sold in all of the former Yugoslav republics.

The album became a classic and was the highest-selling album in the region in 30 years. Some estimates put the album sales at about 2,000,000.

The subsequent tour promoting ''Sredinom'' included over 200 concerts with a performance at the Koševo City Stadium in Sarajevo in front of an audience of about 80,000. This was the largest crowd ever to assemble in the national stadium in Bosnia's history. Dervišhalidović subsequently performed three more times at this stadium and is the only artist ever to have filled this venue on four occasions.

Current success, Billboard recognition

After a six-year hiatus, Dino returned to the stage with his eleventh album '' Hotel Nacional''. It was released in June 2014 and was featured in the top 10 on the Billboard World Albums list upon release due to unprecedented online sales in the region. This is the only album from Slavic-speaking Europe ever to chart on Billboard. The album featured Yoad Nevo, Richard Niles, Hüsnü Şenlendirici, and others. 900,000 people attended The Hotel National World Tour across 4 continents. It is the largest tour ever to have been produced by an artist from Southeast Europe.

Dino released his song "Mi" in October 2020, followed by " Dođi" at the start of 2021, and two more songs ("Mir svim dobrim ljudima" and "Jedan dan, jedna noć") in May.

Personal life

Dino resides in his hometown of Sarajevo, in the same house and street where he was born and raised, in the neighborhood of Alifakovac. He has two children, Naida and Hamza.

Dino is an avid chess player, skier, art collector, and reader. He also owns a record label and store, Magaza, in the center of Sarajevo, in Baščaršija.

Philanthropy

Dino is an active donor to scholarships for underprivileged children in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is a long-time member of the Hastor Foundation, the biggest organization devoted to distributing scholarships to students in the country. He sponsors over a dozen students each year and has been a member of this program since 2008.

Dino worked for five years ''pro bono'' as the honorary and '' de facto'' president of the assembly of AMUS, the main association of music artists of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was one of the founding members of the organization in 2013. In early 2018, he resigned from his position due to the lack of time to do the work.

Dino has played numerous charity concerts. During the 2014 Southeast Europe floods, his team was heavily involved in humanitarian work, distributing water, food, blankets and other provisions to the most endangered parts of Bosnia and Serbia.

In 2013, Dino was awarded the International Humanitarian Award in Urfa, Turkey.

Discography

Albums

Merlin

*'' Kokuzna vremena'' (1985)
*'' Teško meni sa tobom (a još teže bez tebe)'' (1986)
*''Merlin'' (1987)
*'' Nešto lijepo treba da se desi'' (1989)
*'' Peta strana svijeta'' (1990)

Solo

*'' Moja bogda sna'' (1993)
*'' Fotografija'' (1995)
*'' Sredinom'' (2000)
*'' Burek'' (2004)
*'' Ispočetka'' (2008)
*'' Hotel Nacional'' (2014)
*'' Mi'' (2025)

Compilation

*'' Najljepše pjesme'' (1995)
*''The Best of Dino Merlin'' (2001)

DVDs

*''Live Koševo 2004'' (2005)
*''Koševo 19. Juli'' (2009)
*''Beograd 2011'' (2016)
*''Hotel Nacional - Koševo 2015'' (2016)

Blu-rays

*'' Arena Zagreb'' (2018)
*''Arena Pula'' (2020)

Singles

*1989: "Kad zamirišu jorgovani" (with Vesna Zmijanac)
*1991: "Ja joj trijezan prići ne smijem" (from ''Bračna putovanja'')
*1993: "Zaboravi" (with Ceca)
*1995: "Beograd" (with Ceca)
*1997: "Zaspao je mjesec" (recorded around 1989 or 1990, intended to be released on "Peta strana svijeta")
*1999: " Putnici" (with Béatrice Poulot)
*1999: "Smijehom strah pokrijem"
*2000: " I have no cannons that roar" (with Yusuf Islam)
*2001: "Tako prazan" (with Adi Lukovac)
*2002: "Pustite me" (with Osman Hadžić)
*2005: "Kako starim, sve te više volim" (with Bata Zdravković)
*2006: "Kao moja mati" (with Zdravko Čolić)
*2007: "Otkrit ću ti tajnu"
*2008: "Med" (with Emina Jahović)
*2011: "Love in Rewind"
*2011: "Undo"
*2014: "Ruža" (with Hüsnü Şenlendirici)
*2020: "Mi"
*2020: " Dođi" (with Senidah)
*2021: "Jedan dan, jedna noć"
*2022: " Krive karte"
*2022: "Kako da ti kažem"
*2023: "Skoro će zima"
*2023: "Ne radujemo se"
*2025: "Briga"

Tours

*Kokuzna vremena - Yugoslavian Tour (1985–1986)
*Teško meni sa tobom - Yugoslavian Tour (1986–1987)
*Nešto lijepo treba da se desi - European Tour (1988–1989)
*Fotografija - Balkan Tour (1997–1998)
*Sredinom - World Tour (2000–2003)
*Burek - World Tour (2004–2007)
*Ispočetka - World Tour (2008–11)
*Hotel Nacional - World Tour (2014–2019)
*Mi - World Tour (2022–present)

References

External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merlin, Dino
1962 births
Living people
Bosnia and Herzegovina rock singers
Bosnia and Herzegovina singer-songwriters
Bosnia and Herzegovina songwriters
Bosnia and Herzegovina folk-pop singers
20th-century Bosnia and Herzegovina male singers
Yugoslav rock singers
Yugoslav male singers
Singers from Sarajevo
Musicians from Sarajevo
Bosniaks of Bosnia and Herzegovina
National anthem writers
Croatia Records artists
Eurovision Song Contest entrants