The band, Hari Mata Hari, has constantly changed its members. Today, the group is composed of
Hari Varešanović (vocal), Izudin Izo Kolečić (drums), Lordan Muzaferija (bass guitar), Dzenan Selmanagic (electric guitar), and Adis Vuga (keyboards). Most of Hari Mata Hari's songs are arranged by Hajrudin Varešanović. The lyrics are primarily written by Fahrudin Pecikoza - also known as Peco. Hari grew up in the
Vratnik neighborhood of
Sarajevo's old town. His grandfather was one of the more well-known singers of traditional Bosnian music called
sevdalinka. At the age of six, Hajrudin began to sing and learned to play the guitar. He performed at the local cultural center; at the age of ten he sang with the group "Omi", and later for the group "Sedam šuma". In Vratnik, Hari recorded his first song "Zašto da ne uzmem nju". In 1979, Hari joined the group Zov with whom he recorded the hit song "Poletjela golubica sa Baščaršije." Next, Varešanović sang with the group "Ambasadori", with whom, it is said, that he matured into a professional artist. After serving his mandatory military service in the town of
Niš, he appeared on the music scene by himself releasing the (1984) album
Zlatne Kočije.
Dino Merlin, who was the runner up, was sent to
Eurovision instead and received seventh place. Hari, together with
Hanka Paldum, recorded the duet "Crni snijeg" (Black snow) in 2001. That same year, the album
Baš ti lijepo stoje suze came out with a few hit songs - ("Kao domine" (Like dominoes), "Zjenico oka moga", "Baš ti lijepo stoje suze" (Tears look really good on you)). In 2002 the group released the song "Ruzmarin" (Rosemary), that became an instant hit. Hari Mata Hari was one of the six finalists in the
Croatian Radio Festival and represented
Bosnia and Herzegovina at the
OGAE competition in France. Also, in 2002 Hari Mata Hari won the first Davorin song of the year award, for the song "Kao Domine" (Like dominoes). The music for the song was written by Miki Bodlović and Hari Varešanović, with lyrics by Fahrudin Pecikoza. In 2003 Hari's song "Idi", brought him to the seventh Croatian Radio Festival. The group competed at the Split festival the same year with the song "Navodno", a duet with
Ivana Banfić. After Hari's small concert tour of the
Balkans, in Europe, and in Australia, the group began to record a new album. Franjo Valentić, Hari's long time friend, joined the group, while Miki Bodlović left to start his own career in the U.S. and was replaced by Nihad Voloder. At the eighth
Hrvatski radijski festival the group competed with the song "Nema čega nema". At the
Splitski festival the group entered the competition with the song "Zakon jačega" (Law of the stronger) recorded with Bosnian singer
Kemal Monteno. Later that year the group released another album under the name of the song "Zakon jačega", for Sarajevo's
Diskoton, Zagreb's
Croatia Records, and Belgrade's HI-FI Centar. In 2007 the group released the single "Zar je to još od nas ostalo". In 2009 the group released the album "Sreća" (Luck) and this album came out with a few hit songs: "Azra", "Sreća", "Ne mogu ti reći što je tuga" with Croatian singer
Nina Badrić, "Tvoje je samo to što daš" with Eldin Husenbegović. Nihat Voloder left the group and he was replaced by Željko Zuber.
Eurovision 2006 PBSBiH, through a public online voting system, chose Hari Mata Hari as the Bosnian representative for
Eurovision 2006. BH Eurosong gave the name "Vrijeme je za Bosnu i Hercegovinu" (It's time for Bosnia and Herzegovina), and the song was described as Bosnia's Romeo and Juliet story. The first time the song was aired to the public was on March 5th, 2006 on a special live evening celebration held by "BH Eurosong 06" in the
Sarajevo National Theatre. Six days later, Hari sang the song at his first stage appearance in
Belgrade on the final evening of Evropesma 2006. The song "
Lejla" is a powerful love ballad about far away love. It uses styles of
sevdah and local traditional instruments.
Eric Clapton and
ZZ Top both used the name Leyla in their songs. It is said the title refers to a popular Bosnian song from 1981, when a song called "Lejla" was the Yugoslavian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. It was sung by Bosnian artist
Seid Memić Vajta and reached 15th place in
Dublin. The lyrics of the song were written by Fahrudin Pecikoza and Dejan Ivanović with the music by
Željko Joksimović. Joksimović represented Serbia and Montenegro at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in
Istanbul ("Lane moje", second place), the song was written for non-profit and was solely voluntary. The music video for "Lejla" was directed by Pjer Žalica, along with Hari and the band. It shows many old
Bosnian traditions. It was recorded in several areas of Herzegovina: on the mountains of Blidinja and on the national park/lake
Hutovo Blato, on Ruištu, and in the city of
Mostar. The video ends with the
Stari Most, the older part of the city, in the background. The song received its name through on-line voting (with 3501 votes, other name ideas were "Zar bi mogla ti drugog voljeti?" (Could you not love another?) with 660, and "Sakrivena" with 462 votes). Hari Mata Hari won 3rd place at
Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with 229 points. ==Group Members==