It doesn't matter as long as your wings carry you wherever you want, my seagull!

Zdenko

Dino

In the collective memory of the Balkans, there would be no sea, no fish, no seagulls on the rocks, and no stalinada or mandolin without Zdenko Runjić. The well-known composer inspired the popular music scene with his Adriatic motifs. For those unfortunates who remained on the city concrete, his songs bring to mind memories of salt in the hair and summer romances.

This talented composer achieved his forty-year musical career without formal musical education. Namely, Runjić graduated in electronics in Split. Nevertheless, in his career he successfully composed for the biggest names in Croatian music, some of them being Tereza Kesovija, Mišo Kovač, Josipa Lisac, Ibrica Jusić, Goran Karan, Novi Fosili, Doris Dragović and many others. He wrote more than seven hundred songs, and he had a special collaboration with Oliver Dragojević, with whom he published as many as two hundred compositions.

He said that he did not come from a musical family, but that he was fascinated by the sea from his childhood, which he could not even see from his native Labin. During his elementary schooling, he started playing the mandolin at the KUD "Filip Dević". He said that composing was not his decision. The desire created itself.

One summer evening he was listening to the San Remo final on the radio. That year, Domenico Modugno appeared at the festival with the song "Volare", which delighted Zdenka. At that moment, he also wanted to compose. He decided that he too would compose such amazing songs. And that's how it all started.

He started composing relatively late, and everything he knew about music, he learned on his own by reading textbooks, researching and asking questions. He was an excellent mathematician and believed that mathematics helped him in composing. The first song he sent to the Split festival was called "Ćakule o siromaij".

He wrote the lyrics of his first songs himself, and all of them were about the realistic life of people in Dalmatia and, because of that, they were different from other popular music songs. This was followed by victories at various festivals. His songs were sung by Arsen Dedić and Tereza Kesovija, and the young engineer, for whom music was not in the foreground, rose to fame.

Self-taught master of handcuffs

Runjić was successful in everything he tried.

Zdenko Runjić, one of the greatest composers of popular Croatian music of the 20th century, had no musical education at all. He graduated in electronics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Split and worked as a manager of Jugoplastika for many years. In his career, he was also an assistant at the college where he studied, and he was better known to the public as the director of the publishing house MEI-INTERFEST and as the music editor of Radio Split. He founded the Melodies of the Croatian Adriatic music festival.

The general public did not know about his love for football. This versatile artist played as a goalkeeper for Hajduk as a boy. Later, he became more interested in handball and played for Handball Club Split, also in the position of goalkeeper, for five years. During his student days, the team was placed in the first league, but Runjić quickly left it because he was focused on his studies and unable to travel.

Engineer, composer and goalkeeper

How two music masters met - about the friendship of Oliver Dragojević and Zdenko Runjić.

After one of the greatest Croatian pop music composers, Zdenko Runjić, started conquering festivals with his songs, all the artists wanted to work with him. The biggest music stars, not having seen the composition, believed that he would write them a quality song.

Since Runjić lived outside the city, he heard from the singers over the phone. They would sing him a song "over the wire", after which Runjić would instruct how the performance should be adjusted.

Once, while listening to a concert in Diocletian's cellars, Runjić saw a thin young man singing "Yesterday" at the piano. He felt that there was some talent, some attraction in the young man. Runjić approached the long-haired singer and immediately offered him to sing his song "Picaferaj" at the festival. He enthusiastically agreed.

However, the still undiscovered star was too stiff on the stage due to the size of the festival where Shadows and many other famous authors performed. The song and performance of the young man who will soon become one of the most respected Croatian singers went unnoticed.

But Runjić gave the talented young man another chance. At a time when singers with strong voices ruled the scene, his gentle and romantic sound seemed to Runjić a good and different choice.

He asked him to sing the song "Sunčane fontane" for the rehearsal. His performance was perfect! Runjić immediately wrote another song for him - "Galeb i ja".

In 1975, Oliver Dragojević performed with her at the Popular Music Festival in Split. He swept the competition! This was the beginning of the long-term collaboration between the two greatest Split musicians, as well as their timeless friendship.

About Zdenko and Oliver

How the most famous Dalmatian letters were created that even Neil Diamond wanted to buy.

At the festival in "Split" Runjić had four songs, Only three were awarded: "I can't do anything else but to kiss her" with Miša, "Nježne strune mandolin" with Tereza and "Konte od kanjeta" with "Dubrovak troubadours" on Dalmatian chanson evenings. "The seagull and I" - nothing!

Out of twelve chansons according to the votes of the audience, "Galeb" was eighth and was left without a prize. But the real story with Oliver started from him. A few months later, the director of the festival, Tomislav Kuljiš, admitted to Zdenka: - You know that those letters are yours with those raspberry - lipa letters. It took time for them to understand and experience it. –

How was Runjić's eternal "Seagull" created? Zdenko Firulama was walking with his son Boris, who was then seven or eight years old. It was autumn, in the south, the seagulls gathered on the beach. And the little one said to him: - Dad, why don't you write a poem about a seagull? -.

Zdenko then began to think what kind of song it should be... Maybe a philosophical conversation between a man and a seagull? He flies freely above, he has no natural enemies, man is below, bound by his worries...

When he came home, he immediately called Šjor Slavko (Tomislav Zuppa) and told him how he imagined the song. He asked him what he could write on the subject. Zuppa liked the idea.

After three days, Zdenko came home from "Jugoplastika", and an envelope with a text was waiting for him on the table. It was called "My Seagull". Zdenko read the text, but he didn't like it in the least. He didn't find what he wanted in it and, somewhat angry, left it on the piano.

More than a month passed when Zdenko got a call from Omiš. They told him that the competition for the festival was closing soon and asked him if he wanted to send anything. Then Zdenko sat down at the piano...

He read Zuppa's text again two or three times and then, without being burdened by the original idea, he suddenly concluded that it was excellent. And he started writing according to the text, but as an homage to the clapper. This is how he recounted his creative process: – The first tenor: "I like it, I like it...", and then everyone chimes in: "A-a-a... my seagull!". Then I go to the B part and not even 20 minutes have passed - the song was finished! –

He then went to Oliver, he played the song and asked Zdenko: - Who is this for? –
- For Omiš! - he answered him.
- Fuck, what an Omiš! This is me singing! –

"Galeb" was performed at "Split" in the Dalmatian chanson evening, which was introduced in 1975. In fact, the festival was international for the last time in 1974, and now something new had to be thought of. Just as, when writing "The Seagull", Runjić was not thinking about any "chanson", so the division of the compositions into Dalmatian chansons and fun ones was an artificial division, he later claimed.

He said: – I have not changed a single note of the original score. I can only explain this by an attack of inspiration, a special state of mind. As if in a moment I saw some light... –

"Galeb" was heard in the club of one of Zdenko's schoolmates in Los Angeles by Neil Diamond, who had just written the music for the movie "Galeb Jonathan Livingston". He delighted him. Zdenko never wanted to reveal how much money Neil offered him to sign the song because he didn't want to mess with the copyright of someone from the other side of the world. - If it was a new song, I would have bought it right away. - later claimed Zdenko. But everyone here already knew that it was his song, and it was supposed to be the title song in the film, so he didn't want to do it.

And so the most famous Dalmatian letters of all time were born. From one walk, with my little son and because of one seagull...

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