Šemsa Suljaković

Early life

Suljaković was born in Maglaj, Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Bosnia was a part of Yugoslavia. She was born as the eldest of six children into an ethnic Bosniak family. They lived in Misurići, a small village in Maglaj that consisted of five or six houses, in which lived mainly members of the Suljaković family. The yards of the village were connected with plum and cherry orchards. Suljaković's parents divorced when she was young. She has called her childhood "pleasant", regardless of the fact that her parents divorced and fought over custody of her.

She lived in Misurići until the second grade, when the family moved to the village of Jelah by the Usora river in Tešanj. They moved again, four years later, to her grandfathers home in Širokac, Sarajevo. At the age of 13, she started helping her mother at work.

Career

Šemsa's singing career began after her mother moved the family to their grandfathers home in the Širokac village of Sarajevo, where a singer by the name of Sena lived. Sena was married to an accordionist and performed at a local kafana frequently. One night, Sena persuaded Šemsa to come with her to the kafana. That night Šemsa discovered her talent for singing and the next day the owner of the kafana asked her to start singing there nightly. Her music career officially began in 1971 in that restaurant owned by a man named Josip Soft in the Nedžarići part of Sarajevo.

After seven years in that kafana, Suljaković recorded her first extended play (EP) Otišla je ljubav s našeg kućnog praga / Ja zbog tebe sve (The Love Is Gone From Our Doorstep / I Do Everything Because of You) in 1978, with lyrics written by Rade Vučković and music by Šaban Šaulić, along with the music ensemble of Aca Stepić. She continued singing in the kafana while her songs received airplay. The two songs did well, but the success did little for Suljaković's professional career as the public assumed the singer was Branka Stanarčić, another Yugoslav performer, due to similarities in their voices.

Her second EP, Gledam sretne ljude / Šta je s tobom u poslednje vrijeme (I Look at Happy People / What's Gotten Into You Recently), was released in 1980.

She sang in restaurants until 1981, when, after a concert in Šabac, Miodrag Ilić expressed interest in her joining a new band called Južni Vetar. With the band, she recorded her first full length studio album, Vjerna u ljubavi (Faithful in Love) and released it in 1982. Suljaković's first studio album was also her first of many collaborative albums with Južni Vetar. She went on to record a total of ten albums with them between the years 1982 and 1991, the year that the Yugoslav Wars broke out.

Throughout the 1980s, Šemsa and her band held countless concerts at venues, fairs, weddings and multiple other places. One that she has stated stood out for her was a performance at a prison in Foča, when a man with a tattoo of her on his chest gave her a flower that she still keeps.

Šemsa's biggest hits are "Što me pitaš", "Mi se volimo" (with Mile Kitić), "Ne ne ne", "Južni ritam", "Prodji samnom ispod duge", "Pristajem na sve", "Zašto si se napio", "Razbio si čašu", "Voljele se oci crne i zelene", "Sanjam", "Lažu te" (with Sejo Kalač) and "Zar za mene nema sreće".

Personal life

Suljaković had a son at the age of 16 with her then-husband, a musician.

When the Yugoslav Wars started in the early 1990s, Šemsa held concerts throughout Europe and the United States to raise money for the Bosnian people.

She has a love of animals and has multiple pets including two Pekingese dogs and two cats.

Discography

Otišla je ljubav s našeg kućnog praga / Ja zbog tebe sve (1978)

1. Otišla je ljubav s našeg kućnog praga
2. Ja zbog tebe sve ostavljam

Tri pupoljka / Priđi malo bliže (1980)

1. Tri pupoljka
2. Priđi malo bliže

Gledam sretne ljude / Šta je s tobom u posljednje vrijeme (1981)

1. Gledam sretne ljude
2. Šta je s tobom u posljednje vrijeme

Vjerna u ljubavi (1982) with Južni Vetar

1. Vjerna u ljubavi
2. Stani da se pozdravimo
3. Voli me, grli me, ljubi me
4. Krenuli smo sreći
5. Jedna suza na tvom licu
6. Što je bilo, nek je bilo
7. Ućini nešto
8. Šta znaći ljubav bez tebe

Uzmi me majko u krilo svoje (1983) with Južni Vetar

1. Uzmi me majko u krilo svoje
2. Ne slušaj tuđe priće
3. Sve je s tobom bilo promašeno
4. Zvaću se samo tvojom
5. I dođe naša posljednja noć
6. Gdje si moja radosti
7. Duni vjetre jaće
8. Odlazi tugo

Prevareni ne vjeruju više (1984) with Južni Vetar

1. Prevareni ne vjeruju više
2. Niko nema takve oći
3. Kakvi smo bili nas dvoje
4. Nema stida nema srama
5. Ako mi ne vjeruješ
6. Usamljena žena
7. Gdje si sada, voliš li me
8. Luda sam za tobom
9. Došao si

Srce ću ti dati (1985) with Južni Vetar

1. Ne laži
2. Srce ću ti dati
3. Dajem ti sve
4. Ugasi svjetlo
5. Da li me pamtiš
6. Tužno je sve bez tebe
7. Još samo jednom
8. Ljubav tajna
9. Voljeću te sve dok živim

Pristajem na sve (1986) with Južni Vetar

1. Pristajem na sve
2. Zar za mene nema sreće
3. Mi se volimo
4. Stegni me bar još jednom
5. Što me pitaš
6. Svako me proljeće na tebe sjeti
7. Dokle da se kradom sastajemo
8. Sve je manje od života
9. Kako da živim

Baš me briga (1987) with Južni Vetar

1. Baš me briga
2. Nemoj srećo
3. Pazi me
4. Vrijeme ljubav briše
5. Po cjenu života
6. Sve, samo s tobom ne
7. Poželi nešto
8. Snađi se sam
9. Baš si ludo srce moje

Razbio si čašu (1988) with Južni Vetar

1. Javi se oteraj tugu
2. Voljele se oci crne i zelene
3. Tugo moja, kome da te prićam
4. Srce nije mramor kamen
5. Razbio si čašu
6. Ove noći tugujem
7. Putuj, putuj ljubavi
8. O srce stani
9. Povedi me do sna

Prođi sa mnom ispod duge (1989) with Južni Vetar

1. Zašto li me majka rodi
2. Ni soli ni hljeba
3. Ne ne ne
4. Sirotinja ljude svađa
5. Svijetom putuju ljubav i tuga
6. Prođi sa mnom ispod duge
7. Hajdemo srećo
8. Al proljeće novo dođe
9. Tebi idem

Izdali me prijatelji (1990) with Južni Vetar

1. Izdali me prijatelji
2. Nisam suza
3. Mogla sam da biram
4. Nek sve ljubav bude
5. Ko će da me brani
6. Čaša ispred tebe
7. Nisam žena koju život mazi
8. Kad procveta bagrem bijeli
9. Kako da ti pomognem

7000 suza (1991) with Južni Vetar

1. Zašto si se napio
2. Ljubi me ljubi
3. Ima li za mene srece
4. Sretno ljubavi
5. Šta mi radiš prokleti živote
6. Gdje ste sada prijatelji
7. 7000 suza
8. Ruža i trn
9. Kada me pregazi vrijeme

Vjerovala sam (1993)

1. Tako je to
2. Vjerovala sam
3. Pamtiću te vjećno
4. Mahala
5. Ima boga pravde ima
6. Ljubav je od mržnje jaća
7. Suzo isplakana
8. Daleko je Bosna

Moje vrijeme došlo je (1998)

1. Luda glava
2. Moje vrijeme došlo je
3. Rođena da patim
4. Idi idi (featuring Ramiz Ređepović)
5. Hajde kaži
6. Ne trebaš mi više
7. Sanjam
8. Plavo nebo
9. Nikad više
10. Nikoga da me probudi
11. Život mora dalje

Ne vjerujem nikom više (2000)

1. Ne vjerujem nikom više
2. Lažu te (featuring Sejo Kalač; re-released on his 2003 album Voda, vazduh i sloboda)
3. Suze biseri
4. Ti i dalje živiš
5. Šta bi dao
6. Kad tad
7. Vrijeme kajanja
8. Čekaš
9. Nemaš sreće
10. Zbog ljubavi

Južni ritam (2002)

1. Srce sam mu svoje dala
2. Da mi je znati
3. A mene nema više
4. Ti si lijek
5. Južni ritam
6. Vrijeme lijeći rane
7. Budi jaka ženo
8. Dosta mi je tebe
9. Pola tuge

Tako to žene rade (2005) with Srki Boy

1. Boli me dok te gledam
2. Dvije lutalice
3. Kažu da je ista ja
4. Mene ljudi vole
5. Oproštajno veće
6. Pa nek ide život
7. Tako to žene rade
8. Teško meni bez mene

Kada odem (2007)

1. Kada odem
2. Borim se
3. Ostavljeni
4. Bijele zastave
5. Bivši
6. Pitaš li se
7. Nemoj o ljubavi
8. Nisi od zlata
9. Savršeno