Rođa Raičević

Rodoljub "Rođa" Raičević was a Montenegrin and Serbian singer and a composer of folk and pop music, born in Nikšić on 11 July 1957. In his home town he finished primary school and the lower music school, then attended the Vasa Pavić secondary music school in Podgorica and graduated from the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade.

He moved to Belgrade in 1976. He played the cello and the piano, was for a time a member of the group Rokeri s Moravu and then played in the orchestra of Miša Mijatović. His first big success as a songwriter was "Godine idu", recorded by Nada Topčagić, and he went on to work with many well-known singers, among them Lepa Brena, Mira Škorić, Slavko Banjac, Cakana, Buba Miranović, Ana Bekuta, Nataša Vladetić, Goran Džeberan and Biljana Jevtić.

Rođa Raičević released his first album, Tako je suđeno, in 1993, and it went down very well with the public. The title song became a hit of the year, alongside the pop ballad "A ja imam tebe" and "Rastanak", which Cakana later recorded again. Običan muškarac followed in 1994, and Sudnji dan in 1997 brought songs that are still widely heard and sung, such as "Draga", "U zemlju pao bih od stida" and "U tebe sam zaljubljen". Shortly before his death he released the album Da Bog da on City Records.

He was a regular at festivals. At Poselo 202 in 1993 he sang "A ja imam tebe", and at MESAM he won a bronze award in 1993 with "A moja si bila" and returned in 1996 with "I ne slutiš koliko sam tvoj". He sang "U tebe sam zaljubljen" at Pjesma Mediterana in Budva in 1995, and at Sunčane skale in Herceg Novi he performed "Ja sam ljubio slobodu" in 1997 and "Budi srećna s drugim" in 1998. He also took part in many charity events.

Rođa Raičević died in his flat in Belgrade on 7 October 2001, aged 44. His songs won him fans throughout the Balkans.