Kemal Monteno
| Kemal Monteno | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Kemal Monteno 17 September 1948 Sarajevo, PR Bosnia and Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia |
| Died | 21 January 2015 (aged 66) Zagreb, Croatia |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia and Sepsis |
| Resting place | Cemetery "Bare" in Sarajevo |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter |
| Spouse(s) | Branka (m. 1971–2015) |
| Children | 2 |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | Folk, pop, sevdalinka |
| Instruments | vocals, guitar |
| Labels | Nimfa Sound, Croatia Records |
Kemal Monteno (17 September 1948 – 21 January 2015) was a Bosnian singer-songwriter whose career stretched from the 1960s to the 2010s.
Monteno's father Osvaldo was an Italian from Monfalcone. During World War II, he was drafted and deployed to Yugoslavia in 1945 where he met a Bosniak woman named Bahrija in 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, Kemal's half-sister. Kemal was born to Osvaldo and Bahrija two years later in Sarajevo. Although his father was Catholic and his mother was a Muslim, Kemal was given a Muslim name.
Osvaldo only spoke Italian and sang canzones to Kemal when he was a child, while his mother sang him Bosnian sevdalinkas. Both Osvaldo and Bahrija were employed at Sarajevo's Koševo stadium.
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, Crvena Jabuka and Indexi (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."
Monteno met his future wife Branka in 1967 in Sarajevo. They married 26 June 1971 when he returned from his mandatory stint in the Yugoslav People's Army. Together they had a daughter Adrijana and a son Đani. He spent the entirety of the 1990s war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in besieged Sarajevo.
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