Everything is ready for the “grande finale” of the Eurovision Song Contest, when it will be Baby Lasagnaor Marko Purišić, to do his best to present Croatia in the best light. Many predict his victory. He is first or near the top in Eurovision betting. And his closest ones are waiting with great impatience for the day when he will stand on the big stage in Malmö Arena in Sweden, where the beats of the universally popular song “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” will be played. His future son-in-law Josip Pino Ružić, which in Istria moreć For about thirty years, he has owned a company for editing, recording and promotional films, and with his wife and daughter, he supports Baby Lasagna.
– My wife, I and our youngest daughter Petra are going to the Eurovision Song Contest. We are all incredibly excited and proud about everything, and I can think that Marko is just excited. I have known Marko for almost three years and he is truly, without false modesty, a wonderful, honest and humble young man. My daughter Elizabeta, as everyone knows, made that video for him, but I also helped, I had a camera – said Josip Pino Ružić then continued:
– She was the brain behind everything, and we chose the location for that video together. I had the camera in my hand, and Elizabeta edited the video. Of the 27 people in the video, all are either relatives or friends or acquaintances. The song and the message it carries are the most important, because sometimes success will come through a video, clothes or makeup. The message is that these people of ours, unfortunately, go out into the world for various reasons. It was they who recognized themselves in the song.
‘He always remained the same’
They say that Marko is always the same. Both before and after the victory on Dora, which “overnight” launched him “to the stars”.
– He is very down-to-earth and a good young man. But really. He is so humble, normal and incredibly modest. Lasagna is not what Marko likes to eat the most. He loves it when his girlfriend, my daughter Elizabeta, cooks for him. They love Asian cuisine and those glass, transparent pastes, which we, the family, also love when Elizabeta prepares them. At home, we often eat this kind of food together. They both love that combination, sweet and sour. And Elizabeta cooks excellently – said Pino proudly.
He talks to her every day since she left with her fiance. And she is by Marko’s side and gives him full support at the competition. We learn that she told her father that she can’t wait for them to finally be together in Sweden and to cheer with equal enthusiasm for the young man from Uma, who is loved by both the old and the young. And everyone dances to the familiar rhythm of his song. Children, adults, politicians are dancing on social networks… It is close to everyone’s heart. Pino and his wife were also on Dora in the auditorium. And when Marko won convincingly, he said that they immediately jumped for joy.
– We jumped into the air like rockets. We were carried away by excitement. That’s how we’ll jump when he wins the Eurovision Song Contest. Elizabeta said that she wanted us all to be as one up there, in a positive atmosphere for Marko. He deserves it. When he is not singing, Marko likes to help both his family at home and us. We have some olives and grapes and it is always there when you need to pick grapes and olives. We have about 20 liters of oil from our olives. That is enough for the family. Home is home – says Pino.
‘He sometimes creates music in our studio’
Many years ago, Pino continued, they realized that Marko had an incredible talent for songwriting and composing. He writes, plays and works on songs almost every day. It’s his passion.
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Eurosong, Baby Lasagna
– He has that strong artistic streak. This is his ž life. He signed up for Dora just to have a little fun for him. In the end he won. He’s not really a performer and he doesn’t like showing off and ‘stage life’. It just came to him now because it had to. He prefers to write a good poem. He has a guitar and a microphone and composes on that. He has a laptop and brings everything to our home. They retreated to one room. Sometimes I give him my microphone when he forgets to bring his own. In our studio, he knows how to create. We never interfered in his choice of lyrics or music. He does everything himself, as he feels – the future father-in-law revealed.
They take care of his cat Gertruda
Marko loves animals, and his cat Gertruda just ended up at Pina’s house. And it was sung in the part of the song “Bye mum, bye dad, meow cat please meow back”.
– Gertruda is with us because he and his brother travel a lot. Now she is both ours and his. Svačija – he joked at the end.
A member of his former band sent him luck
Baby Lasagna, as he is known, was a member of the popular Croatian rock band from Umag, Manntra. Frontman Marko Matijević Sekul wished Lasagna all the best at the Eurovision Song Contest.
– We wish him good luck and success, of course. He has his way, and we have ours. Of course we will watch and support him. He played in Manntra as a guitarist for six, seven years. He was with us on Dora and Manntra was a springboard for him in every way. The song with which he is introduced is actually ‘Manntra đir’. We are currently preparing for festivals in Germany from June until the end of August. We have been to Dora and would not register again. In 2019, we signed up just as a joke. We know that ‘metal and rock’ will not survive properly in our country. In brutal language, it was a mockery and mockery of the entire system. It turned out to be successful in the end. But as they say, a joke is good if it is told once. The second time it didn’t. Marko was a solid guitarist in our band. We are boys from the village and we taught each other. In fact, our musical growth was such that we never saw a drum live until we bought it. Because nobody had it in Umag at that time. Maybe some wedding band, but we weren’t part of that circle – revealed the frontman of the band that “makes and burns” abroad.
He added that Marko started playing guitar with them when he was only 16-17 years old.
– If he was with us for six, seven years and learned from us, was involved in writing, he must have had a part of our music in him – he said.
Umag will also help him
TZ Umag also took care of Baby Lasagna’s trip to the Eurovision Song Contest. They helped our representative financially, but they did not want to say the amount.
– The support from our side is financial, to cover the accompanying costs that are not covered by HRT as the national house that sends it to the Eurovision Song Contest. These costs are not small. We financially helped part of the stay of part of the team that was not foreseen in the original lineup. For additional make-up artists, hairdressers… and costs related to the performance at the Eurovision Song Contest itself. He is our fellow citizen and a great promotion of our destination. We hope to win, of course. The part that TZ agreed is a counter service. He uses our ‘hashtags’ for that amount and promotes the destination he comes from – they are from TZ Umag.
Umag: Arrival of Marko Puriša known as Baby Lasagna
They signed a contract until the end of the year. Director Milovan Popović from Umaš TZ knew Mark even before his performance at Dora and he likes to say that he is a real “boy from the neighborhood”. Dear, honest and at everyone’s service.
– We decided to support him even before he came in as a reserve. We helped him to be hired at the ‘Sea Star Festival’ and to get a gig at the ‘Exit Festival’ in Novi Sad – said the TZ director at the end.
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