Rale Fires Back at Boki 13 Over Ana Nikolic Dig

Boki 13 used Marina Tucakovic’s five year memorial to call out colleagues who did not show up at Novo Groblje, singling out Ana Nikolic above all. Her partner, musician and producer Goran Ratkovic Rale, hit back, saying the showman staged the whole thing for the cameras and that it was a shame he used a day of remembrance to attack other people.

Memorial at Novo Groblje

A memorial marking five years since the death of songwriter Marina Tucakovic was held on Saturday, September 19, at Novo Groblje cemetery in Belgrade. According to Kurir, among the first to arrive at the grave was her husband, Aleksandar Radulovic Futa, accompanied by Marina’s close friend and a small group of others. Besides Futa, the only well known faces spotted at the cemetery were Danijel Pavlovic and Bojan Jovanovski, better known as Boki 13. Boki 13 flew in from Skopje for the memorial and brought a large bouquet of white flowers.

Marina Tucakovic died on September 19, 2021. Unlike her funeral, when many singers she had written hits for came to pay their last respects, this year’s memorial drew only a handful of names from the pop folk scene, and that is what set off Boki’s reaction.

What Boki 13 said at the memorial

Boki 13 made no secret of his frustration over his colleagues’ absence. He told reporters on the scene:

I came from Skopje, and all these people live right here, a minute from the cemetery. When they give interviews in front of cameras, they all say how much they miss Marina, and today none of them showed up. That is enormous hypocrisy and a disgrace. Where is Ana Nikolic, who was her favorite? Where are the rest of them?

Boki also addressed his relationship with Futa, denying rumors of a falling out between the two men:

Me and Futa in a fight? Never in my life. We are family, there is no problem there at all.

He spoke warmly about Marina herself, describing her in these terms:

Marina was the most positive woman, who never divided people, an extremely intuitive woman who understood human nature.

Rale hits back: all for the camera

After Boki’s comments, reporters tried to reach Ana Nikolic, but it was her partner, Goran Ratkovic Rale, who answered instead. He said he did not understand what Boki was trying to accomplish:

I did not know that marking an anniversary means you have to be the first to arrive, call the press, and spit on everyone who is not there.

Rale added that, in his view, Marina would not have liked a gesture like that:

All for the camera. Marina would not have liked this gesture one bit, but that says more about him.

He closed with a blunt assessment of the whole episode:

It is a disgrace, what our business has come to on a day like this.

According to Rale, Ana Nikolic did not skip the memorial out of disrespect. She visited her late friend’s grave after the official ceremony, alone and without anyone else present, and marked the occasion on social media with a post set to the song “Miso moj,” which she recorded in 2010 to Marina’s lyrics.

Futa and Boki 13 reconcile at the cemetery

Although Boki 13 had previously been in a public feud with Futa, the two men shared a warm embrace at the memorial. According to media reports, the gesture put an end to the older dispute that had trailed the relationship between Boki and Marina’s husband.

That older story involves claims about Ceca Raznatovic and a so called hospital bed for Marina during her illness. Boki 13 had raised the issue earlier on his own podcast, separately from this year’s memorial, claiming that Ceca was not welcome at Marina’s memorial after the funeral. Futa had already responded to those claims in an earlier statement to Mondo, saying:

That is exactly right, and I donated that hospital bed to Dragisa Misovic Hospital after Marina’s death. That is the whole truth, and let’s stop going in circles over that nonsense.

Despite that old dispute, this year’s meeting between Futa and Boki 13 at Novo Groblje passed without a single word about the conflict, just an embrace and shared memories of a woman whose lyrics still echo across the Serbian pop folk scene.