The rest of the band was working on a subsequent album and slowly assembled a new band lineup, featured drummer Faris Arapović and guitarist Predrag Kovačević (a.k.a. Kova or Kowalski) and bassist Emir Kusturica. At the time, Kusturica was notable filmmaker who won the Palme d'Or at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film with the "When Father Was Away on Business". This refreshed lineup, in collaboration with some studio musicians such as bassist Dragan Bobić and back-vocalists Dado Džihan and Darko Ostojić, released "Pozdrav iz zemlje Safari" () through Diskoton in 1987. Diskoton censors had some objections and the song "Our Proposal for the Eurovision Song Contest" had to be renamed, since the song included comments on the depressed state of the economy and the lack of freedom of expression. The album again included a number of hit songs, such as "Pišonja i Žuga", "Hadžija ili bos", "Fikreta", "Dan Republike", and returned the band to stardom. The album was recorded in Sarajevo and mixed in London, UK, while the record producer was Sven Rustempašić, a Seattle-based producer born in Sarajevo. The following tour, which included 87 concerts, was the largest Zabranjeno Pušenje tour thus far and the band was by that time regarded as one of the Yugoslav rock powerhouse alongside Azra, Bijelo Dugme and Parni Valjak. In January 1988, the band received a gold record for 100,000 copies sold.