in the year 1971 from the big tamburitza orchestra of radio osijek, antun nikolić formed the tamburitza ensemble slavonski bećari which remained active until 2011. slavonski bećari is the oldest and the most famous tamburitza ensemble in croatia. through their 40 years of work they have been performing countless number of times, traveled around the world (16 times in the united states and canada, 2 times in australia, in most of the european countries). slavonski bećari published 4 single and 11 long play studio albums, 7 compilations, 35 festival records, 532 in huzip recorded television performances. they have cooperated with many well-known homeland and overseas singers and earned many international and national rewards and prizes.