#OBITUARY: Mojmir Sepe of Slovenia has died aged 90

Renowned conductor and songwriter Mojmor Sepe has died at the age of 90. Whilst you may not know him, he was involved in the Eurovision Song Contest as a writer, conductor and juror over a span of 32 years.

His first foray into Eurovision was as the co-writer – with Elza Budau – at the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg. The song Brez besed was performed by Berta Ambrož and finished 7th in a field of 18. Mojmir also conducted the orchestra. In subsequent years, The song Eres tú was likened to it, although Mojmir never took any action.

He tried again as a songwriter and conductor in 1970 in Amsterdam with the song Pridi, dala ti bom cvet, performed by Eva Sršen also for Yugoslavia. He co-wrote this song with Dušan Velkaverh. The song, sung in Slovene, finished 11th out of 12 songs.

We next saw Mojmir in 1993 in Ljubljana. Due the rapid expansion of countries wishing to participate, the EBU organised a pre-selection, picking three songs out of seven competing to go forward to the contest in Millstreet. Mojmir was the juror for Slovenia. His favourite in that pre-selection was Sva bol svijeta from Bosnia and Herzegovina

In 1997 and 1998, Mojmir was back again, this time as conductor for the two Slovene entries Zbudi se and Naj bogovi slišijo, finishing 10th and 18th respectively. Here’s his appearance in 1997.

Eurovision Ireland’s thoughts are with Mojmir Sepe’s family at this time.

Author: John Stanton

Source: Eurovision Ireland