ESAD ARNAUTALIĆ

Born: February 28th, 1939, Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina (Yugoslavia)

Died: December 4th, 2016, Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
Nationality: Bosnian

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

 
In the 1960s, Esad Arnautalić worked as a producer and arranger for RTV Sarajevo, the Bosnian branch of the Yugoslav national broadcaster. As such, he invented the formula of the popular annual Vaš Šlager Sezone music contest, which was first staged in 1967. He worked as a composer and arranger with many of Yugoslavia’s most well-known artists, including Pro Arte, Krunoslav Slabinac, Radojka Šverko and Kemal Monteno. Several of his compositions participated in music competitions, including the Split Festival and, of course, Vaš Šlager Sezone. Later onwards, Arnautalić substituted Radivoje Spasić as the conductor of the RTV Sarajevo Orchestra.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

In the 1970s, on two occasions, the Yugoslavian Eurovision pre-selections were won by artists from Bosnia-Herzegovina: Zdravko Čolić with ‘Gori vatra’ (1973) and Ambasadori with ‘Ne mogu skriti svoju bol’ (1976). On both occasions, Esad Arnautalić accompanied the representatives to the international festival, staged in Luxembourg and The Hague respectively, as their conductor. 

In 1993, Arnautalić made a surprise return to the contest, conducting the first ever Bosnian Eurovision entry, ‘Sva bol svijeta’, in the Eastern European pre-selection (organized for the new EBU member states in Central and Eastern Europe), staged in Ljubljana. The aforementioned song, performed by the group Fazla, succeeded in qualifying for the international Eurovision finals in Millstreet (Ireland). There, however, the Bosnian entry was conducted by host MD Noel Kelehan.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1973 Luxembourg

Country – Yugoslavia

Song title – "Gori vatra"

Rendition – Zdravko Čolić

Lyrics – Kemal Monteno

Composition – Kemal Monteno

Studio arrangement – Ranko Rihtman 

(Revijski Orkestar RTV Sarajevo conducted by Esad Arnautalić)

Live orchestration – Ranko Rihtman

Conductor – Esad Arnautalić

Score – 15th place (65 votes)

1976 The Hague

Country – Yugoslavia

Song title – "Ne mogu skriti svoju bol"

Rendition – Ambasadori 

(= Ismeta Krvavac / Slobodan Vujović / Andrej Stefanović / Krešimir Vlašić / Miroslav Šaranović / Enes Bajramović)

Lyrics – Slobodan Đurašović

Composition – Slobodan Vujović

Studio arrangement – Slobodan Vujović

(Revijski Orkestar RTV Sarajevo conducted by Esad Arnautalić)

Live orchestration – Slobodan Vujović

Conductor – Esad Arnautalić

Score – 17th place (10 votes)

1993 Millstreet

Country – Bosnia & Herzegovina

Song title – "Sva bol svijeta"

Rendition – Fazla (= Amir Bjelanović / Muhamed Fazlagić / Erliha Hadzović / Izudin Kolečić / Enver Milisić / Edina Salkanović)

Lyrics – Fahrudin Pecikoza

Composition – Dino Dervišhalidović (Dino Merlin)

Studio arrangement – Sinan Alimanović / Dino Dervišhalidović

Live orchestration – Sinan Alimanović / Dino Dervišhalidović

Conductor semi-final – Esad Arnautalić

Conductor final – Noel Kelehan (MD)

Score semi-final – 2nd place (52 votes) & qualified

Score final – 16th place (27 votes)