Petar Perunović

Petar Perunović (Serbian Cyrillic: Петар Перуновић), nicknamed Perun¹, was a famous Montenegrin and Serbian Gusle player.

Petar Perunovic was born in 1880 in the village of Drenovštica in Plješivci, Princedom of Montenegro. He was a natural talent and started to sing from his very earliest ages, inspired by the old gusle player Ilija Kontić whose playing he used attend often, getting late to the elementary school in Pljesivci. The specific style was already established by priest Milo Jović.

Foreseeing a brighter future for himself, young Petar like many Montenegrins of his age decided to move to the Kingdom of Serbia. He befriended Stanislav Vinaver in Šabac, who opened his home for him.

"The gamut of his singing was very broad: heroic high tones, some melancholic, soul-stirring grief, and ghastly tragicalness, lyrical ardour and ecstasy. Pero could masterly conjure up all that for his listeners", said Stanislav Vinaver.

Stanislav's mother Ruža Vinaver was a very talented pianist and under her influence, Petar came to appreciate music in general deeply. He initially took her advice to attend the Mokranjac Music School and moved to Belgrade, but he was not in a financial position to support such education. So, he attended a teacher-training school and forever bound himself to the instrument of gusle.

Having no income at all, he moved to Valjevo and found a job as a clerk. There, he closely befriended two Chetnik Dukes, Voja Tankosić and Vuk Popović. During an open gusle concert in the City of Valjevo in 1908, Dobrivoje Nenadović gifted his gusle to Perun. Perun kept the gusle until the end of his life, it is still kept today in his nephew's house in Cetinje. That day he quit his job and resorted to professional gusle playing. He went on a tour across the central cities, singing at gatherings and in schools. On Saint Vitus' Day of 1908, he sand his famous "The Battle of Kosovo" song in Kruševac.

At the Panslavic Sokol gathering held in Prague in 1912 Perun performed before 60.000 participants, and then he placed his gusle on František Palacký's monument as a symbol of Slavic glory and greatness.

At the outbreak of the Balkan Wars Perun joined the Montenegrin voluntary troops. During the First World War, 1914-1918, he fought with the Serbian army and he was wounded several times, first on Gucevo. His commander noted: "That the VI Regiment could endure all the strain and suffering on Gucevo, was largely made possible by the gusle player and hero, volunteer sergeant Petar Perunovic". For his accomplishment at Gucevo he was promoted to the rank of officer and decorated with the Takovo Cross order.

Just at the beginning of World War I he came to USA. His aim was to visit emigrants' clubs and to initiate patriotic feelings among Montenegrins and Serbs by playing gusle. Perunovic often saw Mihailo Pupin and he also visited Nikola Tesla.

When he returned to the country, he was not pleased at all with the state it was in, very different from what he hoped for and aspired. He was overwhelmed with disappointment and bitterness. He sang rarely.

He had gentle and meek personality, feeling no envy, or a desire to impose or distinguish himself. He soon gave away all of his fortune earned in America.

He quietly passed away in the Zeta River on June 10th 1952 where he drowned himself.

¹he gained his nickname due to the fact that his surname is very reminiscent of the old coins minted during Petar II Petrovic-Njegos, the peruns, which are themselves named after Slavic god Perun.