Šaban Šaulić
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Šaban Šaulić ( sr-cyr, Шабан Шаулић; 6 September 1951 – 17 February 2019) was a Serbian folk singer. Renowned for his refined
baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...
vocals and performances characterised by emotional intensity and crowd interaction, his career spanning over five decades has enjoyed both critical and commercial success. He is referred to as the " King of Folk Music" ("''kralj narodne muzike''").


Life and career


Early life

Šaban Šaulić was born on 6 September 1951 in
Šabac Šabac (Serbian Cyrillic: Шабац, ) is a city and the administrative centre of the Mačva District in western Serbia. The traditional centre of the fertile Mačva region, Šabac is located on the right banks of the river Sava. , the city p ...
,
PR Serbia , life_span = 1944–1992 , status = Constituent state of Yugoslavia , p1 = Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia , flag_p1 = Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg , p2 ...
,
FPR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yugo ...
to Huso and Ilduza (née Demirović). His mother Ilduza was originally from
Bijeljina Bijeljina ( sr-cyrl, Бијељина) is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the provincial center of Semberija, a geographic region in the country's northeast. Administratively, Bijeljina is part of the Republika Srpska e ...
,
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
where he spent his childhood. Šaban had a sister, Sarajka, who took care of him growing up, and a half sister from his father's previous relationship. Šaulić initially showed an interest and affinity for football. It was his uncle, Alija, however, who first noticed that his nephew's true talent laid in music. In the mid-1960s, Alija asked his nephew to sing at their local
kafana Kafana is a distinct type of local bistro (or tavern), common in former Yugoslav countries and Albania, which primarily serves alcoholic beverages and coffee, and often also light snacks (''meze'') and other food. Many kafanas feature live music ...
, which marked the start of Šaulić's five decade long musical career. Šaban Šaulić was of
Bosniak The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...
descent.


Career

In 1969, at the age of 18, Šaulić recorded his first single ''Dajte mi utjehu'' ("Give me Solace"). The song became an instant hit and led Šaulić to relocate to
Belgrade, Serbia Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 millio ...
so that he could continue working on what was promising to be a successful career. By the mid-70s, Šaulić had become a household name and his songs were much requested in kafane. Šaulić was also a judge on the televised singing competition
Zvezde Granda ''Zvezde Granda'' ( sr-Cyrl, Звезде Гранда; "''Grand Stars''") is a Serbian singing competition show, created by Saša Popović. The show has been airing since 2004 on several networks in the western Balkans, and is considered to be ...
between 2013 and 2016, and the televised singing competition "Pinkove zvezde" in 2016–2017 season.


Personal life

In 1974, Šaulić married his wife, Gordana (b. 1958). The pair briefly separated in 1985, during which Šaulić wrote and dedicated the song "Gordana" to her. Šaulić and his wife reconciled after just 20 days. Together, they had three children; a son, Mihajlo, and two daughters, Sanela and Ilda. Ilda is also a singer. Prior to his marriage to Gordana, Šaulić had a son out of wedlock, named Robert, who he acknowledged and provided financial support for until Robert turned 18. Šaulić's father died unexpectedly during Šaban's
concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...
in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. He was not able to attend his father's funeral which was held the very next day. Šaulić would often express how he would never be able to come to terms with the fact that he was not in attendance.


Death

In the early hours of 17 February 2019, Šaulić was being driven to the airport on his way home as he had held a concert the night before in
Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. His kum, Boban Stojadinović, was a fellow passenger in the car. His
keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...
, Mirsad Kerić, who had accompanied him to the concert, was driving. At approximately 06:50 am, on the
Bundesautobahn 2 is an autobahn in Germany that connects the Ruhr area in the west to Berlin in the east. The A 2 starts at the junction with the A3 near the western city of Oberhausen, passes through the north of the Ruhr valley, through the Münsterland ...
between
Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...
and
Gütersloh Gütersloh () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name and has a population of 100,194 peo ...
, a drunk and unlicensed driver violently collided with the
SEAT Ibiza The SEAT Ibiza is a supermini car that has been manufactured by Spanish car manufacturer SEAT since 1984. It is SEAT's best-selling car. The Ibiza is named after the Spanish island of Ibiza and was the second SEAT model to be named after a Spani ...
that Šaulić was travelling in. This caused serious injuries to all passengers. All three were rushed to the hospital, where Šaulić and Kerić were later pronounced dead. The news of Šaulić's death was met with widespread shock and sorrow from his colleagues and fans. He was buried on 22 February 2019 in the
Alley of Distinguished Citizens The New Cemetery ( sr, Ново гробље, ''Novo groblje'') is a cemetery complex in Belgrade, Serbia, with a distinct history. It is located in Ruzveltova street in Zvezdara municipality. The cemetery was built in 1886 as the third Christia ...
at the
Belgrade New Cemetery The New Cemetery ( sr, Ново гробље, ''Novo groblje'') is a cemetery complex in Belgrade, Serbia, with a distinct history. It is located in Ruzveltova street in Zvezdara municipality. The cemetery was built in 1886 as the third Christian ...
. In February 2020, Šaulić was posthumously awarded the Golden Medal of Merits of the Republic of Serbia.


Discography


Studio albums

*''Dajte mi utjehu'' (1969) *''Bio sam pijanac'' (1972) *''Tužno vetri gorom viju'' (1974) *''Ne pitaj me kako mi je druže'' (1975) *''Gore pisma svedoci ljubavi'' (1976) *''Dođi da ostarimo zajedno'' (1978) *''Dva galeba bela'' (1979) *''Ponovo smo na početku sreće'' (1980) *''Meni je s tobom sreća obećana'' (1981) *''Tebi ne mogu da kažem ne'' (1984) *''Kafanska noć'' (1985) *''Kad bi čaša znala'' (1986) *''Biseri Narodne Muzike'' (1986) *''Kralj boema / Verujem u ljubav'' (1987) *''Samo za nju'' (1988) *''Ljubav je velika tajna'' (1988) *''Ljubav je pesma i mnogo više'' (1989) *''Pomozi mi, druže, pomozi mi, brate'' (1990) *''Anđeoska vrata'' (1992) *''Ljubavna drama'' (1994) *''Volim da volim'' (1995) *''Tebi koja si otišla'' (1996) *''Od srca'' (1996) *''Ljubav je slatka robija'' (1997) *''Tebe da zaboravim'' (1998) *''Za novi milenijum'' (1999) *''Nema ništa, majko, od tvoga veselja'' (2001) *''Kralj i sluga'' (2002) *''Šadrvani'' (2003) *Album 2004 (hitovi + 2 nove pjesme: "Postelja" i "Sa njom sve") (2004) *''Telo uz telo'' (2005) *''Bogati siromah'' (2006) *''Milicu Stojan voleo'' (2008)


Compilation albums

*''Balade'' *''Najlepše pesme''


See also

*
Music of Serbia Music of Serbia represents the music, musical heritage of Serbia, both historical and modern. It has a variety of traditional music styles, which are part of the wider Music of Southeastern Europe, Balkan musical tradition, with its own distinctiv ...
* List of singers from Serbia *
Serbian folk music Serbian folk music ( sr, српска народна музика / ''srpska narodna muzika'') refers to, in the narrow sense, the "older" style of Serbian folk music, predating the "newer" ( sr, link=no, новокомпонована / ''novokomp ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saulic, Saban 1951 births 2019 deaths Grand Production artists Serbian baritones Serbian folk musicians 21st-century Serbian male singers Bosniaks of Serbia Serbian turbo-folk singers Musicians from Šabac Road incident deaths in Germany 20th-century Serbian male singers Yugoslav male singers