Remembering Živa Petrović

Recently, Mrs. Biljana Petrović Marković donated to our museum a violin case that belonged to her father, the famous Jagodina musician and pedagogue Živa Petrović. The case is placed in the Collection of Memorial objects, which contains items related to numerous significant figures from the past of our city. Along with the violin case, the museum also received 27 photographs that immortalize Živa Petrović’s performances.

In the following text, written by Mrs. Petrović Marković, we will revive the memory of this musician and the former Svetozarevo, which only our elderly fellow citizens remember.

Živadin-Živa Petrović was born in Jagodina on February 22, 1935, into a family of musicians. His father Vasilije played the cello, so at the age of 7 he followed in his father’s footsteps, enrolling in the Primary Music School. He finished elementary school in Jagodina, the Secondary music school in Kragujevac, and enrolled in the Music Academy in Belgrade in 1958. However, due to modest financial resources, he abandoned his studies and began working first at the Elementary School “Milan Mijalković”, and later, at the invitation of Professor Veljko Komarek, he moved to the Music School “Vladimir Đorđević” and began teaching violin, piano, and accordion.

He became known in the world of entertainment very early, while still in high school. He took his first steps with the later famous group “Sedmorica mladih”, with whose members he attended high school. With them, he mostly played jazz, which he later brought to perfection with his improvisation. He also played other musical genres such as evergreens, classical and folk music. In 1969, Živa wrote his own arrangement of the famous “Silk Thread”, which has since become widely accepted again, and can still be heard in that version with “Živa’s Pizzicato”. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Živa was one of the most popular musicians in Pomoravlje and beyond. He played in many exclusive hotels throughout the then Yugoslavia, at the opening of exhibitions of famous artists in Slovenia, Croatia, Dubrovnik…He got a cameo role in 1979 in the famous television series “Citizens of the Village of Luga” by the famous director Dragoslav Lazić. He formed an orchestra at Radio Jagodina and recorded numerous music shows on Radio and Television Belgrade. He collaborated with many singers such as Predrag Cunet Gojković, Nada Mamula, Gordana Stojićević, Nada Pavlović and participated in music shows with “Sedmorica mladih.”

Živa Petrović also left a visible mark in his pedagogical work. Many of his students graduated from the School for Musical Talents in Ćuprija, the Music Academy and foreign conservatories. Today, a street in Jagodina, the city where he was born and loved with all his heart, bears his name.