Vladimir Graić ( sr, Владимир Граић, born 19 February 1968) is a
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...
n
composer of popular, film and television music. Among other pieces, he composed the song
Molitva, performed by
Marija Šerifović, which won the
2007 Eurovision Song Contest.
Biography
Born in
Belgrade,
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...
, to renowned composer
Radoslav Graić, he had an affinity and showed aspiration for music from early childhood and began with private
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...
lessons at the age of four. While attending
primary and
secondary school, he continued simultaneously with his
music
Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...
education. At the age of six he was enrolled into the Music school “Josif Marinković” where he had piano lessons for 3 years. He then continued his studies in piano and theory from 1977 to 1982 at the Music school “Mokranjac”, the oldest, one of the most respectable and most renowned
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...
n musical institution, representing the foundation of musical culture and education in Serbia and the former
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
. After he finished secondary school, he graduated from the
University of Belgrade Faculty of Electrical Engineering.
In the beginning, he was mostly interested in
electropop
Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a r ...
music, but soon after he introduced a pure
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* ''Pop'' (G ...
sound and since then has been writing immensely popular "pop" songs. He has also composed in most other
music genre
A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from '' musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are som ...
s such as
rock, electric, artistic, children’s music, etc. and since 2000 he has also been involved with
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
in Serbia. Vladimir Graić always maintained that he wrote his serious pieces for himself and his less serious ones to make a living; nevertheless his melodic talent was so abundant that one can hardly distinguish a quality gradient between the two.
In 1996 he joined the Serbian state TV and radio broadcasting service
Radio Television of Serbia
Radio Television of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, Радио-телевизија Србије, sr-Lat, Radio-televizija Srbije, italics=yes; abbr. RTS/PTC) is Serbia's public broadcaster. It broadcasts and produces news, drama, and sports programming thr ...
(RTS), where he assumed the position of Music Editor of the RTS’s entertainment programme. After six years, in 2002 he was promoted to the position of the Editor in Chief for Music Production at RTS’s music publishing house
PGP RTS records. He had been always active in recording, enriching Serbian discography with dozens of records. Since he has been in this position, PGP has had over 300 releases in classic, etno, pop, rock and folk categories.
During 14 years of his professional engagement at the RTS, he created as an author or music director numerous entertainment TV shows: Hit 2000, Sunday Afternoon (Nedeljno popodne), Music Hot Report, Impulse (Impuls)...
In 1996 he began collaboration with the Serbian theaters, and wrote music for several plays of the contemporary theatrical repertoire.
A versatile, many-sided personality, he used his talents in many more artistic activities: he co-founded and co-directed the biggest Serbian pop music festival “Beovizija”, first held in 2003, and organized by RTS, the Serbian national broadcaster. In 2004, it became the Serbian semi-final to choose songs for the final of “Evropesma” (Eurosong). The winner of
Evropesma was to represent
Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
in the
Eurovision Song Contest. In 2004 he founded the
Radio Festival of Serbia
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
(Radijski festival Srbije), organized by the most popular radio station in the country “
Radio S”, promoting Serbian pop music. Apart from this, he has participated in all major music festivals as music director, member of the jury and author of compositions.
More than 20 of his compositions were awarded in different categories at music festivals throughout the country. His compositions have been awarded at international festivals as well:
*1998 - International music festival
Slovenski bazar,
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
*2003 – "
Universe Talent", Festival in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
*2002, 2003 - Grand Prix at the International music festival
“Sunflower” held in
Zrenjanin
Zrenjanin ( sr-Cyrl, Зрењанин, ; hu, Nagybecskerek; ro, Becicherecu Mare; sk, Zreňanin; german: Großbetschkerek) is a city and the administrative center of the Central Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia ...
(Serbia)
*2007- Grand Prix at the
Eurovision Song Contest in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
,
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...
(song "
Molitva", sung by
Marija Šerifović)
*2012- Grand Prix at EMA in
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...
and his song "
Verjamem" represented Slovenia at the
Eurovision Song Contest in
Baku,
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
, sung by
Eva Boto
Eva Boto (born December 1, 1995) is a Slovenian singer. She represented Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012
The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, foll ...
Many of his compositions were entitled “Hit of the Year”, amongst others:
*1994 - "Odlazi", sung by Maja Nikolić, which won the jury prize at MESAM, and received the Oscar for Popularity
*1998 - "Uzmi me", sung by Maja Nikolić
*2000 - "A u međuvremenu", sung by pop group
OK Band
''OK'' (spelling variations include ''okay'', ''O.K.'', ''ok'' and ''Ok'') is an English word (originating in American English) denoting approval, acceptance, agreement, assent, acknowledgment, or a sign of indifference. ''OK'' is frequently ...
*2006 – "Ludi letnji ples", sung by pop group
Flamingosi
Flamingosi ( sr, Фламингоси) was a popular Serbian- Montenegrin duo. Its members were the Serbian TV presenter Ognjen Amidžić (a.k.a. Renato) and actor Marinko Madžgalj (a.k.a. Valentino). The group was founded in the summer of 200 ...
*2007 - "Molitva", sung by Marija Šerifović
He was voted composer of the year on several occasions: 1994 (MESAM); 2000 (Oscar for Popularity); 2006 (“Zlatni melos”); 2007 (all over European countries)
He has also written the music for numerous advertising campaigns: Cosmopolitan (Serbian edition), Men's Health (Serbian edition), Hemofarm (International Pharmaceutical Group), Srbijašume (State Enterprise for Forest Management), Genex Kopaonik (Tourist Ski Center), etc.
From 1986 he is the member of the Association of jazz, popular and rock musicians in Serbia, and was the member of its Management Board from 1996 to 2000. He is also active as a member of the authors' music rights protection organization
SOKOJ and he is member of Supervisory Board at the moment. From 1998 he is the member of the
Composers' Association of Serbia and he is member of Management Board from 2011. From 2008 he was also member of
GEMA.
Eurovision Song Contest entries
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graic, Vladimir
University of Belgrade School of Electrical Engineering alumni
1968 births
Living people
Serbian composers
Serbian songwriters
Eurovision Song Contest winners