Biography:

Kornelije ” Bata ” Kovač ( Serbian Cyrillic : Корнелије “Бата” Ковач , pronounced  [kɔrne̞ːlije̞ bǎːtakɔ̂v̞atʃ] ; Hungarian : Kovács Kornél ; 1 January 1942 – 13 September 2022) was a a Serbian composer.

Early life

Born in Niš during World War II in the Nazi-occupied Serbia to a Hungarian father and a Serbian mother, Kovač grew up in a prominent artistic family – his grandfather was a conductor, his father a music professor and a violinist, his mother a singer in the opera choir.

Kovač received his early music education at the College of Music in Subotica, after which he attempted to enroll in the Belgrade Music Academy. He did not pass the entrance exam so he entered the Sarajevo Music Academy of University of Sarajevo where he graduated from the Theory And Piano Department.

Career

A composer, pianist, keyboard player, producer and arranger, Kovač’s career as a professional musician started in 1961, when he formed his first band, BKB, which became a prominent jazz trio at the time. In 1963 they entered The Yu Jazz Festival, that took place in Bled (Slovenia).

After conducting the various orchestras in Bosnia, he finally joined Sarajevo’s most popular pop band Indeksi. With them he had a two-month-long tour in Russia. In 1968, he moved to the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade, where he founded Korni Grupa. As a composer and a musician, he won many music contests that took place in former Yugoslavia. With Korni Grupa he entered following music festivals in Europe:

• 1969 – Singing Europe (Netherlands), voted the most original entry
• 1970 – Rock Festival Katowice (Poland)
• 1972 – Montreux (Switzerland)
• 1974 – Eurovision Song Festival(Brighton, United Kingdom)

Credits: