A Sarajevo native, Bregović started out with Kodeksi and Jutro, but rose to prominence as the main creative mind and lead guitarist of Bijelo Dugme, widely considered one of the most popular and influential recording acts ever to exist in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. After Bijelo Dugme split up, he embarked on several critically and commercially successful projects, and started composing film scores. Among his better known film scores are three of Emir Kusturica's films ("Time of the Gypsies", "Arizona Dream" and "Underground"). For "Time of the Gypsies", Bregović won a Golden Arena Award at the Pula Film Festival in 1990, among other awards. He had also composed for the Academy Award-nominated film "La Reine Margot" and the Cannes-entered film "The Serpent's Kiss".