Selma Bajrami

Selma Bajrami (born 4 July 1980) is a popular Bosnian pop-folk and turbo folk singer of Bosniak and Albanian ethnicity.

Some of her hit songs are "Kakvo tijelo Selma ima" (What a Body Selma Has), "Žena sirena" (Siren), and "Tijelo uz tijelo" (Body Against Body.)

Biography

Early life and family

Bajrami was born in the summer of 1980 in Tuzla, then a part of Yugoslavia and presently in Bosnia. She grew up in the Mramor village.

Her father Fadil (born 1957) is a Kosovo Albanian who moved to Bosnia in 1965 from the town of Đakovica in southwestern Kosovo, while her mother Enisa (born 1960) is a Bosniak from the town of Tuzla. Selma has a sister Fahira (born 1977) and brother Enis (born 1984).^[1]

Bajrami and her family are Muslims, and spent the entirety of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995 in the United Nations "safe area" city of Tuzla, during which Bajrami first began singing in kafanas.

First marriage

Bajrami met her first husband Zoran Vučković, a Bosnian Serb from Sarajevo, in March 2003 in the Croatian city of Makarska, where they married six months later.^[2][3] They divorced in February 2004.^[4]

Second marriage and motherhood

Selma met her second husband, a Bosnian man named Mujo Musić in July 2011, during a performance of hers on a boat on the Modrac Lake in her birth city of Tuzla.^[5] They were wed on 22 December 2011 in front of 100 guests at the hotel Tuzla in the same city, having been engaged a month.^[6]

She moved with her second husband to his home in Vienna, Austria with a pregnancy due date of 4 July 2012, her 32nd birthday.^[7][8] She gave birth via caesarean section^[9] to a baby boy named Daris seven days later than expected on 11 July 2012 in Vienna.^[10][11]

Bajrami did not celebrate her son's first birthday in 2013 and has stated that she will never celebrate his birthday as he was born on the anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide.^[12] The genocide occurred on 11 July 1995 during the Bosnian War and 8,373 Bosniak men and boys were killed by Serbs. It was called "the worst crime on European soil since the Second World War" by the United Nations.

Career

Selma began her career at the age of fourteen in 1994, singing with a band in kafanas and bars during the Bosnian War. Not long after, she joined a music group called If, which she later left.

Her first album, Kad suza ne bude^[13] (When There Are No More Tears), was released in 1998 through the record label Nimfa Sound and contained multiple hit songs including "Nije moja majka kriva" (It's Not my Mother's Fault), "Hoće dragi da me ženi" (My Dear Wants to Marry Me), "Sta će žena ta" (Why Do You Need That Woman), "Kad suza jednom ne bude" (When There Are No More Tears), "Ne ljubi me" (Don't Kiss Me), "Da li da se kajem" (Do I Need to Repent), "Želje moje, pusti snovi" (My Desires, Empty Dreams), "Moj si samo kad ti trebam" (You're Only Mine When I Need You), "Njemu osmijeh, meni suze" (For Him a Smile, For Me Tears), "Zašto boli kad se voli" (Why Does It Hurt When You Love), "I ja lutam i ja patim" (And I Wander and I Suffer) and "Sviće dan" (The Day Will Dawn, which was later covered by Serbian singer Ceca). The album was, for the most part, written and composed by Milić Vukašinović.

Bajrami's second album was produced by Mića Nikolić. This album, titled Ljubav si ubio gade^[14] (You've Killed Love, You Scum, 1999), included a few hit songs: "Daleko od oćiju, daleko od srca" (Far from my Eyes, Far from my Heart), "I Bog je sa nama" (And God is With Us), "Pijanico" (Drunkard), "Život lijeći rane" (Life Heals Wounds), "Mrva hljeba" (Crumb of Bread), "Lutkica" (Dolly), "Ko je kome ostao dužan" (Who is in Debt to Whom?), "Moj golube" (My Dove) and the title track.

Her third album Revolucija (Revolution) was released in 2001 and featured the songs "Idi od mene" (Get Away from Me), "Oći zelene" (Green Eyes), "Živa zdrava" (Alive and Well), "Ne mogu te voljeti" (I Cannot Love You), "Hajde živio" (Go and Live), "Nije više 18 meni" (I'm Not 18 Anymore), "Otvori se zemljo" (Open, Earth) and "Svi ste vi isti" (You're All the Same.) It was produced by Dejan Abadić and took on a different sound from her previous albums.

Žena sa Balkana^[15] (Woman from the Balkans, 2002) was her fourth album. With hit songs such as "Nano" (Granny), "Škorpija" (Skorpion), "Grijeh i molitva" (Sin and Prayer), "Svi mi kažu" (Everyone Tells Me), "Šta da ti dam" (What Can I Give), "Ne mogu da te volim" (I Cannot Love You), "Žena sirena" (Siren), "Ne mogu bez tebe" (I Cannot Go On Without You), "Bićeš moj" (You'll Be Mine) and the title track, Selma gained even greater popularity than before. The song "Žena sirena" (English translation: Siren) became Selma's nickname.

The songwriters of her fifth album, Kakvo tijelo Selma ima (What a Body Selma Has, 2004), included Dragan Brajović Braja, Dragiša Baša and Nanin from Tuzla. The song "Ljubavi jedina" (Only Love) was written by Selma herself. This album was the second one produced under Dejan Abadić.^[16] Kakvo tijelo Selma ima included five hit songs including the title track, "Tijelo uz tijelo" (Body Against Body), "Kada iza sebe pogledam" (When I Look Behind Myself), "Žalim" (I Regret), "Divlji zov" (Call of the Wild) and "Muška suza" (A Man's Tears.)

Her sixth album, Ostrvo tuge (The Island of Sorrow) was released in 2007 through the record label Grand Production (owned by Lepa Brena) and included the hit songs: "Lijepe žene" (Beautiful Women), "Boli me noć, boli me dan" (The Night Hurts Me, the Day Hurts Me), "Malo se poigraj" (Play a Little), "Promjeni se" (Change Yourself), "Korak do nervnog sloma" (One Step from a Nervous Breakdown), "Davno si ubio ponos u meni" (You Killed the Pride in Me a Long Time Ago), and the title track.

Bajrami's seventh album was called Selma 2010, released in spring 2010, included the hit songs "Farmerice" (Jeans), "Nemoj da se šališ" (Don't Kid with Me), "Bakšiš" (Tips), "Sarajevo", "Pamtim" (I Remember), "Đavolica" (She-Devil), "Zakon sudbine" (The Law of Fate), "Nije zlato sve što sija" (Gold Isn't the Only Thing That Shines) and "Voli me do bola" (Love Me Until it Hurts.)

She is currently recording her eighth studio album to be released near the end of 2013.^[17] The first single off the album is called "James Dean" (named after the American actor). A 20-second preview of the song was released on SoundCloud on 30 November 2012,^[18] while the full song was released on YouTube on 14 December 2012.^[19] The song was originally titled "Djevojke" (Girls).

Discography

Studio albums

• Kad suza ne bude (When There Are No More Tears, 1998)
• Ljubav si ubio gade (You've Killed Love, You Scum, 1999)
• Revolucija (Revolution, 2001)
• Žena sa Balkana (Woman from the Balkans, 2002)
• Kakvo tijelo Selma ima (What a Body Selma Has, 2004)
• Ostrvo tuge (The Island of Sorrow, 2007)
• Selma 2010 (2010)
• Eighth studio album (2014)

Compilation albums

• Najveći Hitovi 1 (Biggest Hits, 2007)^[20]
• The Best Of (2011)^[21]

As featured artist

• Pokaži put do neba (Show Me the Way to Heaven, 1997) with Zijad Redžić

Non-album singles

• Ti ne primjećuješ (2000)
• Zaljubljena (2003)
• James Dean (14 December 2012)
• Nisam ti oprostila (19 December 2013)
• Moje milo (3 January 2014)

Videography

• Ljubav si ubio gade (1999)
• Pijanico (1999)
• Život lijeći rane (1999)
• Tako sam mlada (2001)
• Svi ste vi isti (2001)
• Nano (2002)
• Žena sirena (2002)
• Kakvo tijelo Selma ima (2004)
• Tijelo uz tijelo (2004)
• Promjeni se (2007)
• Ostrvo tuge (2007)
• Farmerice (2009)
• Što je od Boga dobro je (2010)
• Voli me do bola (2011)
• Bakšiš (2011)

References and notes