Tozovac

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Predrag Živković nicknamed Tozovac (Serbian Cyrillic: Предраг Живковић Тозовац) is one of the most famous Serbian folk singers and composers. He is also an accomplished accordion player and entertainer who appeared in movies and hosted several music TV shows.

Tozovac was born in Kraljevo, central Serbia, Yugoslavia on January 22, 1941. His father Svetozar was also a musical and a restaurant owner, while mother Budimka was a housewife.

He went to Kraljevo high school and in 1976 graduated at the Higher School of Economics in Belgrade.

He began working as a musician in the 1960s, first as an accordion player who accompanied other, more prominent singers, while later in the decade, he teamed up with other composers like Duško Radetić, Bane Popov and Dušan Karaklajić, becoming a folk music star himself.

During his 40 year-long career, Tozovac recorded over 30 singles and 20 albums, played on over 300 concerts in all of the former Yugoslavia, France, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, etc. Most prominent concerts were in Belgrade, in the Dom Sindikata Hall and in Zagreb, in the Vatroslav Lisinski Hall.

In addition to songs either composed by him or his colleagues, he also recorded many Serbian folk songs. Most important hits during his career are:

Mirjana Ide Mile Lajkovačkom prugom Gde si da si moj golube (duet with Mira Vasiljević) Vodeničareva ćerka Prazna čaša na mom stolu Oči jedne žene Jesen u mom sokaku Ti si me čekala Violino ne sviraj Pričaj mi o njoj

Igrale se delije Jeremija Siromah sam, al' volim da živim Uzmi sve što ti život pruža Nosila je plavi šeširić na glavi Vlajna A ja sam negde rujno vino pio Potražiću ljubav novu Leno, Magdaleno

In the 1980s he became a co-host of the highly popular TV folk-music show Folk parada on Television Belgrade, with another major folk star, Predrag Cune Gojković and an actress and singer Zlata Petković.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s he didn't record much, but he scored few hits, like Danče, Ljubav je za sve godine and a duet with Lepa Lukić, and was again a co-host of the most popular music TV show in Serbia, Grand Show, on TV Pink. He also held a very popular three-singers concert, performing with Predrag Cune Gojković and Miroslav Ilić.

He appeared in several feature and TV movies, like I Bog stvori kafansku pevačicu (1972) and Balkan express 2 (1989).

Tozovac has a son, but he never married. He lives in Belgrade and is very outspoken about the author's rights and education of young musicians. He is one of the rare folk musicians who publicaly protested against Slobodan Milošević's regime.