New Vela Luka-Split ship to be named after Croatian music legend?

Jadrolinija

On the initiative of the president of the Croatian Musicians Union, Tomislav Mrduljaš, a proposal has been sent for the new ship in the Jadrolinija fleet to be named after music legend Oliver Dragojević, Dalmatinski portal writes.  

The new Jadroliinija will sail on the Split-Vela luka-Split route, two places of meaning to the late great.

Oliver Dragojević, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 70, was born in Vela Luka on the island of Korčula but spent a lot of his life living in Split. 

“He was an ordinary great man who entered our homes with a song and became a member of our families, became an acquaintance of ours. The greatest musician among singers and the greatest singer among musicians, a healer with song for all moods and everyone’s soul, a man whose song was accepted as therapy. During his lifetime, Oliver left an indelible ‘trace in infinity’. We think that there is no person who would not sign under these sentences of Igor Brešan and that there is no one who has not been touched by some sung line of the song carried by the voice of Oliver Dragojević,’ said Tomislav Mrduljaš.

He also emphasised that there is nothing more sublime that an artist can give to the world and his people than the creation of his cultural identity.

‘Is it even possible to describe all the greatness that Oliver was? As a man, he loved the world around him, the sea, the people he cheered up with his songs, comforted, and gave hope. He loved his Vela Luka and his Split… Oliver was an incomparable musical greatness, an impeccable musician, at the same time a relaxed, ordinary man and a ‘sea wolf’. The sea and the song defined him and he always said: ‘I won’t let anyone touch our sea’. Our Oliver just ‘sailed’ on Jadrolinija’s catamaran on his last voyage from Split to Vela Luka,’ says Mrduljaš.

Oliver Dragojević (Photo credit: Frka/CC BY-SA 3.0)

He explains that this is why they propose that in honour of Oliver Dragojević, a new ship in the Jadrolinija fleet be named after him.

“Thus, the boat in memory of the famous singer and musician would connect Oliver’s two favourite places. The ship ‘Oliver’ as a memorial to the eternal mark that Oliver left as a legacy to generations of his fans around the world. Let’s proudly preserve the memory of a great artist whose songs united the world and erased borders, and host numerous friends, local and foreign tourists on the ship that will bear Oliver’s name. Let’s show everyone that we appreciate our greatest artists who created our musical and cultural heritage and how great was their love for the sea and homeland.

What would be more natural than to name a ship after a ‘man of the sea’, we think that no monument or street could bear Oliver’s name better.

Let’s be proud of what he left for us to keep, that we were lucky enough to know him and live in ‘his time’. Let’s sail together on the ship ‘Oliver’ to the Oliver museum, and the days of ‘Oliver’ in his Vela Luka’, concluded Mrduljaš.