Vojislav Đonović (November 18, 1921 – January 5, 2008), nicknamed Vojkan, was a famous

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

- soloist, member of the Belgrade Jazz Trio and Jazz Orchestra of the

Radio Belgrade Radio Belgrade ( sr, Радио Београд, ) is a state-owned and operated radio station in Belgrade, Serbia. It has four different programs (Radio Belgrade 1, Radio Belgrade 2, Radio Belgrade 3, and Radio Belgrade 202), a precious archive o ...

. He was also a

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

. Vojislav Đonović was born on November 18, 1921 in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, where he spent most of his life. His father, a Serbian diplomat, bought his first guitar in the 1930s. Đonović claimed it was the best guitar he ever owned. After a year of learning, he began playing in the streets of Belgrade. In 1951, Vojislav Đonović joined the Jazz Orchestra of Radio Belgrade. He participated as a composer, soloist, and an arranger. From 1959 - 1962, Vojislav Đonović gained a lot of popularity as a soloist in the Grand Revue Orchestra Elijah Backa Genić. In addition to jazz, Đonović also enjoyed

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 b ...

and romantic genres. Later, Đonović moved his main focus to music production. Đonović died in Belgrade on January 5, 2008.IN MEMORIAM
Danas, January 17, 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donovic, Vojislav 1921 births 2008 deaths Serbian jazz guitarists Yugoslav musicians 20th-century guitarists