Kemal Monteno (17 September 1948 – 21 January 2015) was a Bosnian recording artist and singer-songwriter whose career stretched from the 1960s to the 2010s.

Early life

Monteno's father Osvaldo was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

from

Monfalcone Monfalcone (; Bisiacco: ; fur, Monfalcon; sl, Tržič; archaic german: Falkenberg) is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Gorizia in Friuli Venezia Giulia, northern Italy, located on the Gulf of Trieste. Monfalcone means 'falcon mountain ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he was drafted and deployed to

occupied Yugoslavia World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the U ...

in 1945 where he met a Bosniak woman named Bahrija in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

and fell in love. Osvaldo left his pregnant wife in Italy to marry Bahrija. Osvaldo's Italian wife gave birth in 1946 to a daughter named Daniela, Monteno's half-sister. Kemal was born to Osvaldo and Bahrija two years later in Sarajevo. Although his father was

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and his mother was a Muslim, Monteno was given a Muslim first name. Osvaldo only spoke

and sang

canzone Literally "song" in Italian, a ''canzone'' (, plural: ''canzoni''; cognate with English ''to chant'') is an Italian or Provençal song or ballad. It is also used to describe a type of lyric which resembles a madrigal. Sometimes a composition w ...

s to Monteno when he was a child, while his mother sang him Bosnian sevdalinkas. Both Osvaldo and Bahrija were employed at Sarajevo's

Koševo Stadium Koševo ( cyrl, Кошево) is a neighborhood in the municipality of Centar in central Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located between the older parts of the city under Stari Grad and the newer more modern parts of the city under the ...

Career

He recorded his first song "Lidija" in 1967 and enjoyed a prosperous career in Yugoslavia. He is perhaps best known for "Sarajevo ljubavi moja", a tribute to his home town. Many of his songs have also been performed by others. For instance, "Bacila je sve niz rijeku" was a hit not only for him, but for

Toše Proeski Todor "Toše" Proeski ( mk, Тодор "Тоше" Проески, ; 25 January 1981 – 16 October 2007) was a Macedonian multi-genre singer and songwriter. Considered a top act of the local Macedonian and Balkan music scene, Proeski's music wa ...

, Crvena Jabuka and

Indexi Indexi was a Bosnian and former Yugoslav rock band popular in Yugoslavia. It formed in 1962 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and disbanded in 2001 when singer Davorin Popović died. Some of their most notable songs are "Svijet u kome živ ...

(the latter being the big hit). Similarly, others had success performing " Nekako s proljeća" (that one being a duet with Crvena Jabuka in 1991) and "Nije htjela". In a February 2014 interview, Monteno said that "Nije htjela" (''She Did Not Want To'') was written about a famous Yugoslav musician's wife, who was in love with another singer. Over the years, due to his style of music, he became known as the "Bosnian Roy Orbison", and even the "Bosnian Neil Diamond."

Personal life

Monteno met his future wife Branka in 1967 in Sarajevo. They married on 26 June 1971 when he returned from his mandatory stint in the

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska ar ...

. Together they had a daughter Adrijana and a son Đani. He spent the entirety of the 1990s

war in Bosnia and Herzegovina The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

in besieged Sarajevo.

Illness and death

Monteno was diagnosed with diabetes in the late 1990s and received three-hour dialysis twice a week at the

University Hospital Centre Zagreb The University Hospital Centre (sometimes also Clinical Hospital Centre, hr, Klinički bolnički centar Zagreb, KBC) in Zagreb, Croatia, is the largest hospital in Croatia and the teaching hospital of the University of Zagreb. It serves most of Ce ...

. Diabetes weakened his heart and Monteno felt that the stress of the war in his country also contributed to his illness. Monteno suffered a heart attack on 30 December 2011 and had bypass surgery in January 2012. A performance at the 2012

Split Festival The Split Festival (officially ''Festival zabavne glazbe Split'' or ''Splitski Festival'') is a pop music festival held annually, in July, in Split, Croatia. It has been held since 1960. It is one of the premier Croatian music festivals. Since i ...

that summer was cancelled due to health issues and rumors of his death circled the internet on 10 October 2012, even being picked up as fact by media in the region. On 15 November 2014, after nearly three years of waiting, Monteno received a phone call that a kidney was available for transplant. He received the transplant the following morning in Zagreb. He was again hospitalized in December 2014 and doctors believed that his "body did not accept the kidney that was transplanted in November." Monteno died on January 21, 2015, the birthday of Halid Muslimović before turning 54 at

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

Rebro Hospital of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

and

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

In the hospital, doctors fought for Monteno's life for hours to no avail. He was buried in his hometown of

at the Bare Cemetery on 28 January 2015, seven days after his death.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Muziko, ljubavi moja'' (1973) *''Žene, žene'' (1975) *''Moje pjesme, moji snovi'' (1977) *''Za svoju dušu'' (1980) *''Dolly Bell'' (1981) *''Uvijek ti se vraćam'' (1984) *''Moje najdraže pjesme'' (1985) *''Romantična ploča'' (1986) *''Kako da te zaboravim'' (1987) *''Dunje i kolači'' (2004) *''Samo malo ljubavi'' (2009) *''Šta je život'' (2013)

Singles and EPS

*''Sviraj, gitaro moja / Još juče bili smo sretni'' (1969) *''Tužna je muzika / Pružam ti ruke'' (1971) *''Što sam ti skrivio, živote moj / Jedne noći u Decembru'' (1971) *''Laž'' (1972) *''Dušo moja / Nana'' (1973) *''Pahuljice moja'' (1974) *''Moj prijatelj ari / Mali mir'' (1974) *''Adrijana / Novembar'' (1974) *''Pjesma zaljubljenika / Znam sve o tebi'' (1975) *''Hiljade bijelih marama / Kad nas jednom godine odnesu'' (1976) *''Tajna žena / Kad smo pošli mi u šumu'' (1976) * Sarajevo, ljubavi moja / Kratak je svaki tren (1976) *''Ljubavna bol'' (1977) *''Cvite bili iz Đardina / Nemoj reći doviđenja'' (1977) *''Volim te živote kakav jesi / Na kraju grada'' (1978) *''Sunce djetinjstva / Putovanja, putovanja'' (1978) *''Nije htjela / Nek' sviraju gitare'' (1978) *''Ej, srećo moja / Čekat ću te'' (1978) *''Adriana, Adriana / Bracera'' (1979) *''Postoji li mjesto / Ti si moja poezija'' (1979) *''Energoinvest'' (1982)

Compilation albums

*''Volim te živote kakav jesi'' (1978) *''The Platinum Collection'' (2007) *''The Best Of... // Live'' (2012) *''50 originalnih pjesama'' (2014)

References

External links