Šaban Šaulić
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Šaban Šaulić (; 6 September 1951 – 17 February 2019) was a Serbian and Yugoslav folk singer. Renowned for his refined
baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...
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''").


Early life

Šaulić was born on 6 September 1951 in
Šabac Šabac ( sr-Cyrl, Шабац, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, 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 ...
,
PR Serbia The Socialist Republic of Serbia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Социјалистичка Република Србија, Socijalistička Republika Srbija), previously known as the People's Republic of Serbia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / " ...
, FPR Yugoslavia to
Bosniak The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...
parents Huso Šaulić and Ilduza (née Demirović). His mother Ilduza was originally from
Bijeljina Bijeljina ( sr-cyrl, Бијељина) is a city and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the provincial center of Semberija, a geographic region in the country's northeast. As of 2013, it has a population of 107,715 ...
,
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
where he spent his childhood. Šaban had a sister, Sarajka, who took care of him growing up, and a
half-sister A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the other person. A male sibling is a brother, and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child. While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raise ...
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 type of local coffeehouse, bistro or tavern, common in the countries of Southeast Europe, which originally served coffee and other warm drinks while today usually also offer alcoholic beverages and food. Many kafanas feature live mus ...
, which marked the start of Šaulić's five decade long musical career.


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 is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
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 between 2013 and 2016, and the televised singing competition "Pinkove zvezde" in 2016–2017 season.


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) *''Sve sam s' tobom izgubio'' (1982) *''Tebi ne mogu da kažem ne'' (1984) *''Kafanska noć'' (1985) *''Kad bi čaša znala'' (1986) *''Biseri Narodne Muzike'' (1986) *''Kralj boema veruje 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'' (2000) *''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''


Personal

From a brief relationship/encounter with Nevenka "Nena" Prodanović, Šaulić had a child in 1969. Born out of wedlock, their son Robert—whom Šaulić had acknowledged paternity of and reportedly provided
financial support An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of in ...
for, along with some limited participation in his
parenting Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and educational development from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a biologica ...
—was reportedly mostly raised by Prodanović's neighbours and extended family in
Zrenjanin Zrenjanin ( sr-Cyrl, Зрењанин, ; ; ; ; ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Central Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The city urban area has a population of 67,129 inh ...
. Prodanović—herself in and out of infant Robert's life due to moving to
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
as part of the
gastarbeiter ; ; both singular and plural) are foreign or migrant workers, particularly those who had moved to West Germany between 1955 and 1973, seeking work as part of a formal guest worker program (). As a result, guestworkers are generally considered t ...
program—eventually married; at some future point, young Robert took his
stepfather A stepfather or stepdad is a biologically unrelated male parent married to one's preexisting parent. A stepfather-in-law is a stepfather of one's spouse. Children from his spouse's previous unions are known as his stepchildren. In fiction Thou ...
's last name, Omaljev. In 1974, Šaulić married Gordana Dragaš (b. 1958). The couple briefly separated in 1985, a short period during which Šaulić wrote and dedicated the song "Gordana" to her. The two reconciled just 20 days later. Together, they had three children; a son, Mihajlo, and two daughters, Sanela and Ilda. Ilda is also a singer. 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 ...
in
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. 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 morning hours of 17 February 2019, following 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 () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, Šaulić was on his way home, being driven to the
Düsseldorf Airport Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the seventh-largest city in Germany, with a 2022 population of 629,047. The Düsse ...
for a flight back to Belgrade. Boban Stojadinović—Šaulić's close friend and
best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be selected. From his groomsmen, the groom usuall ...
at his wedding—was a fellow passenger in the back seat of the car driven by the singer's
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 instru ...
, Mirsad Kerić, who had accompanied him to the concert. 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 Bundesautobahn 3, A3 near the western city of Oberhausen, passes through the north of the Ruhr valley, through ...
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 () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...
and
Gütersloh Gütersloh () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe and the administrative region of Detmold (administrative region), Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a Gütersloh (distric ...
, 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 Span ...
with Šaulić in the passenger seat was violently struck from behind by a
Mazda is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima (town), Fuchū, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima, Japan. The company was founded on January 30, 1920, as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd. ...
vehicle driven by a drunk driver without a driver's license, causing serious injuries to the three individuals in it. 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 at the Belgrade New Cemetery. In February 2020, Šaulić was posthumously awarded the Republic of Serbia's Golden Medal for Merits. Due to Šaulić's public profile and popularity, the circumstances of his death in Germany became a big story in his home country Serbia, as well as the rest of the countries formerly a part of
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
, with the driver that caused the deadly accident quickly identified in the Serbian media as a German national of Turkish origin and no fixed address, along with his identifying information published—including his name, age, and social media photos. The German authorities placed the perpetrator in an 11-week detention awaiting trial on four separate charges: two counts of involuntary negligent manslaughter, one count of negligently causing severe bodily harm, drunk driving with traces of cannabis in his system, and driving without a license. Assessed by a German judge not to be a flight risk, the accused was released from detention at the expiration of 11 weeks. The trial that kept getting postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
was finally held in January 2022, almost three years after the deadly incident. As part of the expert analysis during the trial, it was determined that the accused was driving at the speed in the 156-193 km/h range (on the road with an 80 km/h speed limit) when he made impact with the car Šaulić was in that had been moving at the speed of 72-92km/h. The accused received a 3 year and 3 month sentence. On appeal, in October 2022, his sentence was reduced by 3 months—to 3 years.


See also

* Music of Serbia * List of singers from Serbia *
Serbian folk music Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular ** Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language Serbian (, ) is the standard language, standardized Variety (linguistics)#Standard ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saulic, Saban 1951 births 2019 deaths Grand Production artists Serbian baritones Serbian folk singers 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