Who is Solomun, the Bosnian-German DJ who made Pacha Ibiza his home since 2013?

Mladen Solomun was born on 27 December 1975 in Travnik, then in Yugoslavia and now in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He grew up in Hamburg, Germany, where his family settled during his childhood. From that dual Bosnian and German background comes his stage name Solomun, taken directly from his surname.

As a teenager he worked on building sites with his father before a cousin introduced him to electronic music on cassette tapes. He started mixing at just 16 in Hamburg clubs, while also setting up a small film production company with friends, an activity he kept up for about five years before turning fully to music. He began producing at 23.

In late 2005 he founded the label Diynamic in Hamburg with business partner Adriano Trolio, whose first release came out in 2006. The label, which now counts more than two hundred releases, became a platform for an emotionally driven, melodic house and techno scene. In 2012, British magazine Mixmag named him DJ of the year.

In March 2013, specialist outlet Resident Advisor reported that Pacha Ibiza had handed Solomun its Sunday night, until then reserved for long-established residents. The first season of «Solomun +1» ran from 26 May to 6 October 2013, with guests including Âme, Dennis Ferrer, Miss Kittin and Tensnake. The concept, one guest a week for long sets rather than a string of acts, broke with the island's usual habits. Solomun also set the DJ booth in the middle of the dancefloor rather than on the usual raised stage, to stay close to the crowd.

The residency ran continuously until the forced break of 2020 and 2021, when Balearic authorities kept the big nightclubs closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Pacha reopened on 29 April 2022 with Solomun back behind the decks. For the residency's tenth anniversary, in 2024, Solomun told Rolling Stone UK (3 October 2024) that long sets are key to the format: «The longer the set, the bigger the chance to create a special atmosphere».

According to Ibiza Spotlight (22 February 2026) and Electronic Groove (April 2026), Pacha has renewed «Solomun +1» for a twelfth season in 2026, running from Sunday 31 May to Sunday 4 October. Solomun opens and closes the season himself, and over the course of the Sundays hosts guests such as Skrillex, Jamie xx, Peggy Gou, Anyma, Dixon, Âme and Barry Can't Swim.

Still touring in summer 2026, thirteen years after his Pacha debut, Solomun keeps playing dates off the island alongside his residency. No ongoing legal proceedings or recent controversy are linked to him as of this article's fact-check date.

Photo credit: Solomun performing in Sarajevo, 24 August 2019, photo by Smooth O, CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, Wikimedia Commons.

This portrait was prepared with AI assistance, then cross-checked, verified and edited by our editorial team, who take full editorial responsibility for it. Facts verified on 18 August 2026.