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Singer turns grief over her father’s death into a song for people living with an incurable disease
🇭🇷 Croatia /Health & Science

Singer turns grief over her father’s death into a song for people living with an incurable disease

From Večernji List · () Croatian

Translated from Croatian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources New plan
  • Romana Lalić Pejković will perform “Još dobro je” at the 29th Dalmatian Chanson Festival in Šibenik.
  • She wrote the emotional song after her father died from progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare incurable movement disorder.
  • The song and video draw on family memories, including the old house where her father spent part of his life.

Romana Lalić Pejković has turned the loss of her father into a song for people living with progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP, and their families.

She will present “Još dobro je” at the 29th Dalmatian Chanson Festival in Šibenik. The song grew from her father’s illness, whose early signs included slower speech, frequent falls and increasing difficulty walking. He was later diagnosed with PSP, a rare and incurable movement disorder associated with atypical parkinsonism.

It took a long time before we received the correct diagnosis, which unfortunately was not at all good. My father was diagnosed with PSP, progressive supranuclear palsy, an incurable disease.

— Romana Lalić PejkovićShe described her father’s diagnosis and the difficulty of identifying the disease.

Pejković said watching her father gradually lose his abilities was deeply difficult. By the end, he could no longer speak. She wrote the song years earlier, while he was still alive, after seeing him enter the family kitchen as she was writing.

It is not easy to watch a loved one slowly disappear. In the end, my father could no longer speak, and that is the last thing that remains when the arms and legs give out.

— Romana Lalić PejkovićShe explained the emotional experience behind the song.

The words and melody came quickly, she said, and remained unchanged. After his death, she needed time before deciding whether she could perform the song, not because of the vocal demands but because of its emotional weight. When this year’s festival call opened, she waited until the last moment before choosing to submit it.

Pejković wrote the music and lyrics herself. Hrvoje Domazet handled the arrangement and production, while the vocals were recorded at Split’s Deva studio under Dado Marušić. Her relatives Ivan and Luka Srzić played bass guitar and drums.

I was sitting in the kitchen writing something when he came in. I looked at him, and the words and melody simply began to flow.

— Romana Lalić PejkovićShe recalled how the song originated while her father was still alive.

The video, directed and edited by Matko Petrić with Jovica Kozlica, was filmed at the family’s old house in the hamlet of Postup, where her father had spent time.

Now or never!

— Romana Lalić PejkovićShe described her decision to submit the song to the festival after waiting until the deadline approached.
About this summary

Originally published by Večernji List in Croatian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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