Petar Graso at Sava Centar: Nine Days Without His Daughter

Petar Graso played the Blue Hall of Sava Centar in Belgrade on Thursday evening, October 15, and told reporters he had not seen his daughter in nine days. His wife, Hana Huljic, and their children did not come to the Belgrade concert.

Novosti reports that the hall was full, and Nova.rs says it was packed. Onstage, the singer told the audience how he had prepared for the show.

“I had one Jack Daniel’s, one Red Bull, just to shake me up, like I came to a party at a friend’s place”

That was Graso’s joke from the stage before he told the crowd to give themselves over to the music. Accounts differ on when he spoke to reporters: Nova.rs says it was before he walked out in front of the Belgrade audience, while Kurir says the conversation took place after the show.

Why hasn’t Graso seen his daughter in nine days?

Hana and the children stayed home, and Graso says coming along is not always possible for them. According to Nova.rs, he said it is awkward for them but that they stay constantly in touch. When a reporter mentioned that he hadn’t seen his daughter for seven days, the singer corrected him.

“I haven’t seen my daughter for nine days.”

They talk every day over video calls, but as he put it, that doesn’t make up for being close. Kurir also carries his description of parenthood:

“I miss those moments when she just lies down next to me and we fall asleep. You realize with age, kids change the rules of the game. Before that, you’re the lead character in your own life, and then, the minute they’re born, you’re a supporting role. They’re the lead, and that’s how it should be.”

At the end of the conversation he asked reporters to stop asking him about his family, because otherwise, as he put it, he would turn into a “syrupy guy who talks about his wife and kids.”

Do Graso and Tonci Huljic fight?

Not according to Graso. He has worked with his father-in-law, the composer Tonci Huljic, for years, and he describes their public jabs at each other as a joke.

“Tonci and I have never had a fight, everything is a joke to us.”

Asked about Huljic’s claim that he married his daughter off well to Graso and married his son to Jelena Rozga, Graso said: “Because he’s convinced he’s the master of the universe! He connected everything, so we’re dwarfs. Unbelievable guy.” He added for Kurir that their humor lies in pulling pranks on each other and humiliating each other publicly in a friendly way, which he called a “life mission.”

When reporters told him Huljic was angry with him, he answered briefly:

“When you tell me Tonci Huljic is angry with me, I’m the happiest man in the world.”

He is saving new jokes about his father-in-law for 2027. “I’m saving them, it’s a humiliation strategy. We won’t do it all tonight,” he said.

When will Graso’s new songs come out?

Graso and Huljic have written four new songs, lyrics included, but have not yet gone into the studio. The singer says he is on the road and at gigs so much that they can’t get to one. The songs are expected next year, and he announced bigger projects for 2027 to 2028. The sound, as he put it, will be “a little different, but still Graso.”

Belgrade, his band and songs by friends who are gone

Nova.rs writes that Graso gave his first Belgrade concert almost twenty years ago and that he feels at home in the capital. He has worked with some members of his band for nearly three decades.

“My band and I are like one big traveling family.”

He lives in Zagreb and says that almost every day Arsen Dedic, Oliver Dragojevic and Kemal Monteno come to mind. He performs their songs at concerts because, as he explained, it is the least he can do for them and for himself.

He also talked about the song “Srce za vodica” (Heart for a Guide), which he recorded with his wife Hana before they became a couple. By his account, they didn’t even see each other on the video shoot, because she filmed in the morning and he in the afternoon.