Composer Zoran Tutunovic Tutun dies in Belgrade
The composer and arranger died in Belgrade after a short illness. Mitar Miric and Milos Bojanic paid tribute to the man who arranged all 16 songs on Baja's album.
Composer, arranger and music producer Zoran Tutunovic Tutun has died in Belgrade after a short illness. The news was published today, October 24, shortly after 5:30 p.m. His age and the exact date of death have not been made public, and there is no information about the funeral.
Colleagues credit him with more than 300 hits and thousands of arrangements. He worked with Mile Kitic and Nedeljko Bajic Baja, whose best man he was. Singers Mitar Miric and Milos Bojanic paid tribute to him today in statements to Kurir.
Who was Zoran Tutunovic Tutun?
His deepest mark was left in his work with Baja. Tutun arranged all 16 songs on Baja’s album “Longing, Passion and Hatred.” He continued working with younger performers on the song “100 Musicians,” sung by Nemanja Nikolic: he wrote the music and the arrangement, and the lyrics were written by his wife, Eleonora Barudzija.
Eleonora Barudzija was a member of the Barudzija sisters duo. At Eurovision in 1983 she sang backing vocals for Danijel Popovic on the song “Djuli,” together with her sister Izolda, and Yugoslavia finished fourth that year. Zoran and Eleonora had two children.
What did Miric and Bojanic say?
Mitar Miric told Kurir that he had only just read the news: “Terrible… I just read it, I have no words. Tutun was an exceptional artist. He was far too good a man.”
Miric then went back to the time they worked together, when Tutun had a studio in his basement and later in Zvezdara:
“He made such hits for me, ‘Gypsy Boy,’ ‘Spies Are Among Us’ and others. He was modern. For a while he had a studio in his basement and I used to go there, and later to Zvezdara too.”
The singer added that they had not seen each other for a long time, but that his opinion of Tutun had not changed:
“We haven’t seen each other for about a year, but I have only the best things to say about him. We were on very good terms, and he was an exceptional collaborator.”
Milos Bojanic reacted to the news of the death with a question: “When did he die? Oh, no… Everything I achieved most in my career, I did with him.”
Bojanic also said he had been trying to reach Tutun for days. What he heard was not a confirmed report but something passed on by a colleague:
“I called him for days. I heard he was in a coma. A colleague of mine told me Tutun was in a coma, that was seven, eight days ago.”
Seven to eight days, then, is the time that has passed since that information reached him, not the time before the death, the date of which is unknown.
Bojanic also named the people he counts among the best he has met in public life:
“In our world I have always said, and I repeat it now: of all the people in our world, there are three men who are the best people in the world to me. They are Zoran Tutunovic, Kemis and Boba Zivojinovic. Three best men I have met in public life.”
At the end of the conversation he said: “He was a good man and a great artist. I have no words, I have said everything. The best of men, an artist… My soul aches, I cannot believe he is dead.”
He then added: “You have killed me with this news. I am not the only one, he has many collaborators he worked with. A good man, a good musician… All the best.”
