Watch: “Beautiful Waste”: Doctor Releases Heartfelt Tribute To Best Friend Lost To Cancer
What happens when two best friends, one a doctor and the other a guitarist, face cancer together? For Dylan De Bono and Kristijan Volchev, the answer was music.
Dylan, a Maltese indie-pop artist and doctor at Mater Dei, spent the final months of his best friend Kristijan’s battle with Stage IV stomach cancer not only as a caregiver but also as a bandmate.
Hospital visits often transformed into impromptu jam sessions, with laughter, guitars, and creativity filling the otherwise heavy silence of oncology wards.
It was in those fragile but deeply human moments that their final collaboration, Beautiful Waste, was born.
Originally an instrumental track Kristijan had been shaping over the years, Beautiful Waste was completed during his illness, with Dylan writing the lyrics that capture friendship, fragility, and the beauty that can be found even in life’s hardest chapters.
“Kristijan poured his soul into this song,” Dylan recalls. “He told me this was the one he wanted to be remembered by.”
Kristijan, 36, was known for his versatility across flamenco, classical, rock, and pop, and even as his health declined, he remained committed to his music. For him, Beautiful Waste was more than just a track, it was his legacy.
For Dylan, finishing the song became an act of love and remembrance. “This isn’t a song about cancer,” he explains. “It’s about friendship, resilience, and creating something meaningful even when the odds are against you.”
Beautiful Waste was released today across all major streaming platforms, accompanied by an official music video.
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