Mirko Cetinski dies, son Toni: this is not goodbye forever

Toni Cetinski said goodbye on Instagram on October 16 to his father, the singer Mirko Cetinski, who died after a long and serious illness. The exact date of death has not been published. Some media report that he was 79, while others say only that he was born in Pula in 1948.

The funeral will be held for the closest family only, away from the public. That, according to reports, is what his loved ones wanted.

What did Toni write to his father?

The singer opened his post with lines about how no one can prepare for such a moment. He wrote:

There are moments in life for which a person can never be ready. One of them is the moment when you have to say goodbye to your own father. How do you say goodbye to someone who is a part of you?

He then addressed his father directly: “Dad, there is so much more I would like to tell you.” He added: “Today I do not want to count what we did not get to do. I want to remember what we had. All the good, all the hard, all ours.”

He closed the message with the words “I love you, Dad” and a promise that a part of his father lives on in him, in every song he sings. “And that is why this is not goodbye forever,” Toni Cetinski wrote.

His daughter-in-law Dubravka Cetinski, Toni’s wife, also said farewell to her father-in-law. On social media she posted photos with him and a short message: “May angels lead you to heaven, thank you, Pajdo.”

Who was Mirko Cetinski?

He was born in Pula, and his musical career lasted six decades. He gave his first public performance back in 1952. In the 1970s he was among the five most popular singers in former Yugoslavia, and audiences affectionately called him the Yugoslav Julio Iglesias.

He is remembered above all for the song “Moje ludo srce” (“My Crazy Heart”). He also sang “Placi, placi, gitaro”, “Podji sa mnom do Rovinja”, “Na jidrenju” and “Kupil sam ti prstenac”, in Croatian and Italian, and he performed at the Melodije Istre i Kvarnera festivals and at the Zagreb Festival.

According to media reports, he gave 24 tours of America, four major tours of Australia and about 400 performances in the Soviet Union. He was also proud of a concert in Naples, the home of the Italian canzone.

Rovinj, radio and the Gold Medal

He considered Rovinj his own city. He was one of the founders of Radio Rovinj-Rovigno, which began broadcasting on February 14, 1997. The program opened with the song “Santa Eufemia”, performed by his son Toni.

Three years before his death he received the Gold Medal of the City of Rovinj. Even in his later years, despite failing health, he gladly sang for tourists in his hometown, Rovinj bitinade and klapa songs, in the company of longtime friends.

Family

His wife is Vinka, a former deputy minister of tourism. Their sons are Toni and Mateo Mirko, who turned to interior design. According to a story retold later, it was Mirko who fired Toni while he was working in tourist animation in Rovinj, and that event pushed him toward a more serious career in music.

He came from a well-known Rovinj family. His grandfather was the city’s first private baker, and his father was the director of the former Social Accounting Service. Mirko earned a good part of his wealth performing abroad, before Croatian emigrants and at concerts across the Soviet Union.

He liked to joke that Mateo, who now also paints, had always been the more serious one, devoted to his duties, while Toni was a carefree little butterfly from childhood.