Arsen Dedić, one of the greatest Croatian contemporary artists – a writer, poet, composer and songwriter – who introduced the chanson genre to Croatia, passed away on August 17 in Zagreb, at the age of 77.
In addition to creating music, he published several poetry book collections. He translated and interpreted the works of famous chansonniers and authors, including Gino Paoli, Sergio Endrigo and Jacques Brel, who strongly influenced Arsen’s career. His primary orientation was music which he then combined with poetry, thus organically creating his own individual expression which permeated throughout his work. He was also a composer, interpreter, poet, producer, conductor and a musician. He set to music the verses of Krleža, Cesarić and Golob. His songs were interpreted by numerous performers, and he also wrote and composed songs for many famous Croatian singers, such as Gabi Novak, Dalmatian a cappella groups and Ibrica Jusić. A large part of his oeuvre consists of music written for television, film and theatre. He was a member of the Croatian Composers' Society and the Croatian Writers' Society.
He won the annual Kiklop award for his books of poetry Zidne novine (2009) and Kapi za oči (2013). He also won the Goran's Wreath award for his overall poetic opus.
He was one of the most important composer and songwriters in modern Croatian history. His distinctive chanson style – derived from a unique blend of poetry and music – was idiosyncratic to his work. He is thus considered the founder of this music genre in Croatia.
His father, a multi-instrumentalist in a folk music band in Šibenik who taught Arsen how to play the flute, introduced him to the world of music when he was 13 years old. Arsen became a member of the theatre orchestra in his hometown of Šibenik and founded an a cappella group during his high-school days.
He published more than 25 studio albums, 12 books, composed music for hundreds of plays and for 34 feature films. His work left an indelible mark on modern Croatian culture.
