Legendary Croatian writer Jakša Fiamengo passes away aged 72

SPLIT, 27 December 2018 – Famous Croatian writer and poet, Jakša Fiamengo, has passed away in Split on Thursday, daily Slobodna Dalmacija reports. 

Born in Komiža on the island of Vis in 1946, Fiamengo was the author of more than 500 klapa and choir songs. He was best known for writing hit songs for legendary Croatian singer Oliver Dragojević who passed away earlier this year. 

Fiamengo penned over 60 songs for Dragojević, including hits such as ‘Piva klapa ispo’ volta’, ‘Nadalina’, ‘U prolazu’, ‘Infiša san u te’, ‘Promenade’, ‘Lastavica, ’Ja sam pjesma’, ‘Karoca gre’, ‘Sutra će te ponit’ and ‘Sidro u čoviku’. 

As a writer, Fiamengo anonymously corrected and revised the lyrics of performances that took place at festivals in Croatia before he became a jury member for new songs at the Split Festival. The late Zdenko Runjić, who was a songwriter for top musicians at the time, then suggested to him to start writing lyrics for songs.

An esteemed poet and academic, Fiamengo was also the author of 16 poetry books and the winner of many state awards for literature.