Ruke

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Ruke is Darko Rundek’s third solo album, released on September 9, 2002. The 12-song set includes popular tracks like the title song Ruke, Makedo, and Ista slika. By the end of 2002 it had sold about 1,950 copies, a modest result after the weaker sales of his previous album.

Before Ruke, Rundek published a book of poems in December 2001. He also joined the Velvet Bananas project in September 2001 with artists such as Gile and Zoran Predin, and he participated in a Milan Mladenović tribute with a cover of Ona se budi. He briefly collaborated with Ivana Brkić.

Ruke was announced at the 2001 Exit festival as “less literary,” and Rundek later revealed that the original working title was Barbarstvo pijanca. The album was released by Menart in Croatia, Metropolis Records in the FRY market, and later by Pirahna in Germany. Music videos were made for Makedo, Ista slika, and Ruke. The track “Tigidigi rege” was re-released in 2017 as “Tamni jorgovan,” and a remastered version came out in October 2022. In April 2023, the re-release of Ruke won the Porin award for best thematic-historical album.

The song Sjaj što izdaje was originally written for The Three Men of Melita Žganjer, with its video shot in October 2022.

Critics described Ruke as adventurous and cross-genre, blending Balkan, East, and Caribbean influences with world music and chanson. It features more improvisation and warmer acoustic textures, signaling a departure from Rundek’s earlier sound and marking a high point in his career. Some reviews noted occasional vocal quirks in languages like French and Spanish, but many found the album magical and bold.