If it's value for money, variety and catchy music that tickles your fancy, look no further than the ''zabavna'' version of this year's Croatian Radio Festival song competition (HRF). A whopping 40 songs that are bound to feature no fewer than 20 favourites, this is the ultimate purchase for music fans.

With a whole stack of brand-new albums soon to hit our shores, we thought that it would be appropriate for the feature review to provide a preview of some of the hot new music that is just around the corner.

MELBOURNE - For all of those patrons that braved a freezing and wet Melbourne evening last Saturday, to be part of The New Gen's first-ever Croatian karaoke (Croaoke) event, crowd reactions and feedback meant that the night was an overwhelming success.

The exceptional film by young American-Croatian filmmaker Brenda Brkusic, ''Freedom From Despair'', has just touched down in the country and is now available for purchase. With this debut film production, the talented young director, writer and producer has managed to provide a rarely seen insight into life during the oppressive former Yugoslavia regime.

Turn the clock back to the tempestuous year of 1991 in a war-ravaged Croatia, and one musical/patriotic act will be a consistent, from the bottom of Dalmatia to the top of the capital Zagreb - the song 'Moja Domovina'. The Croatian Homeland War (Independence War) had just begun and music was proving to be a real saving grace for the people of this beautiful, but war-ravaged land.