In a big interview for Večernji list, ahead of three concerts at Sarajevo's Koševo, the singer-songwriter talks about his mother who set them on the right path, working in a factory, and his love for music.
Dino Merlin, one of the most popular singer-songwriters in the region, returns to Sarajevo's Koševo Stadium after a full 11 years, where he will hold three consecutive stadium concerts on July 31 and August 1 and 2, 2026. Ahead of this return, in an extensive interview for Večernji list, the musician spoke about topics he rarely brings up in public: a difficult childhood without a father, poverty, his mother's strictness and love, and how these very circumstances shaped him as a person and an author.
Merlin did not hide his origins.
"I am a working-class child of divorced parents, and I can say I grew up on the social margins. My father left us when I was seven. My mother did everything to make us into decent people, to set us on the right path, so I tasted poverty", the musician said. He grew up in Sarajevo's Old Town, and according to his own words, he spent summers barefoot by the Miljacka River.
"My summers were barefoot. With a slice of bread spread with butter and one tomato, I would spend summers on the Miljacka", Merlin recalled, emphasizing that he was no exception because most of his generation grew up in modest conditions.
His mother played a key role in his upbringing, whom he describes as strict but also as his greatest comfort.
"My mother was strict, but she was my comfort. She knew well how to hide her love for me and my sister, but sometimes she would reveal it when I got half an apple before bed. That was a sign that I had been a good boy that day", Merlin recounted. From his mother, he says, he learned self-reflection, work ethic, and the realization that nothing comes from heaven, values he carries to this day. It is precisely these experiences of poverty and struggle that also shaped his inclination toward humanitarian work, which, as he points out, he prefers to do quietly and without a stage.
Before music became his only job, Merlin worked in a factory. He describes that period as a necessary step on the path to achieving his dream, not as an obstacle.
"All the activities I did to survive, including that factory work, were a 'bypass' to my dream", he explained. He saw the turning point in the work on his second album "Teško meni sa tobom, a još teže bez tebe" in 1985 and 1986, when the subsequent tour brought enough audience that he could make a living from music. At that time, he says, he thought for the first time that he had succeeded.
Koševo Stadium is not just a concert venue for Merlin.
"Koševo is more than a stadium for me. It is my Piedmont, a place of encounter with myself and with everything that shaped me", said the musician, who first performed on that stage in 2000. Ahead of these concerts, he gifts the audience a new song "Zbog tebe" as a sign of gratitude.
"I was thinking about how to mark such special moments in life, like these three nights at Koševo, and I realized that the most beautiful gift I can give my audience is a song", Merlin explained.
In the conversation, he also touched on topics that go beyond music, such as wars and social divisions.
"War changes you and, I would say, humiliates you. These are extreme life situations that provoke extreme emotions and reactions. But, unfortunately, people are cursed. It seems that peace is just a pause between wars", Merlin said. Despite pessimism about global events, he sees music as a space where divisions lose their power. He tells his audience not to come to concerts just for the songs, but to set aside everything that divides them, at least for a moment.
Merlin is known for keeping his private life far from the public, which he describes as a conscious decision.
"If I already had to lose my anonymity, and now I know well what that means, my family does not have to", he emphasized. He fell in love with his wife at 17, before he became a famous star, and he calls his family his fortress and the best recovery after exhausting tours. After more than four decades of career, Merlin says he still has unrealized plans and ambitions, hidden in drawers and in his imagination.
