Ljubomir Đurović

Ljubomir Đurović was a Montenegrin singer and composer of folk music, born in Danilovgrad on 1 April 1949. He grew up beside the river Zeta among relatives who loved traditional song, and from early on he liked to bring something new to the way an old song was sung.

His very first single, "Leti, leti bijeli golube", was recorded for a local radio station in Kruševac and was later lost. A year afterwards he became a singer for the Zagreb label Jugoton, and from 1973 he released two or three records a year. Hits and festival appearances followed, from the Ilidža festival to Titograd Spring. Songwriters such as Aca Stepić, Dragan Aleksandrić, Zoran Kalezić, Jovica Petković, Radmila Babić and Spasa Berak wrote for him, and their names stand under songs like "Ranila si srce moje", "Još me peku suze tvoje", "Ti si moja sreća", "Oj Bojo, oj Bojana" and "Tuđe slađe".

He sang "Oj Bojo, oj Bojana" at Ilidža in 1976, and at Titograd Spring in 1977 "Svat do svata, kum do kuma" won the first prize of the expert jury. His album Otišla si, e pa neka came out in 1978.

After he married and had a son, Igor, Ljubomir began to compose and write lyrics himself, many of them full of love for Montenegro: "Pjesma Durmitoru", "Crnogorko, željo moja", "Tamo đe se gusle čuju", "Đevere, čuvaj mladu" and "Dug prema zemlji vraćat se mora". He toured widely across Yugoslavia and abroad with his colleagues. Three months before his death he wrote "Život se igrao sa mnom sine" for Savo Radusinović.

His career lasted only six years. Ljubomir Đurović died in Belgrade on 7 July 1979, at the age of 30. His recordings were later included in Croatia Records' anthology series, and the Antologija collection of 2001 gathers more than twenty of his songs.

In Montenegro he is remembered as a legend with almost cult status. His songs are still played on the radio and sung by other singers at celebrations, and his son Igor has followed in his footsteps.