Usnija Redžepova facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Usnija Redžepova Уснија Реџепова
Background information
Also known as	Usnija Jašarova
Born	(1946-02-04)4 February 1946 Skopje, PR Macedonia, FPR Yugoslavia (present-day North Macedonia)
Died	1 October 2015(2015-10-01) (aged 69) Belgrade, Serbia
Genres	Romani music
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	vocals
Years active	1966–2007
Labels	PGP-RTB Jugoton
Associated acts	Esma Redžepova Žarko Jovanović Muharem Serbezovski

Usnija Redžepova (Serbian Cyrillic: Уснија Реџепова; born February 4, 1946 – died October 1, 2015) was a famous singer from North Macedonia. She was known for her beautiful voice and for singing traditional folk songs. Usnija had both Romani and Turkish family roots.

She was born in Skopje, which is now the capital of North Macedonia. Later, she moved to Belgrade, Serbia, where she lived for most of her life and passed away. Early in her career, she used the stage name Usnija Jašarova to avoid being confused with another famous Romani singer, Esma Redžepova. They were not related but became good friends.

Usnija Redžepova began singing in the 1960s. She released many songs and albums, mostly folk music from Southern Serbia and North Macedonia. She sang in Serbian, Romani, and even Turkish. Usnija was very popular across Yugoslavia and in the countries that used to be part of it. Besides her music, she was also famous for playing the main character in Koštana, a well-known Serbian play. She performed this role over 150 times at the National Theatre in Belgrade, where she worked for 25 years.

Usnija's Early Life

Usnija Redžepova was born on February 4, 1946, in Skopje. At that time, Skopje was part of a country called Yugoslavia. Her parents came from different ethnic groups: her father, Jašar, was Romani, and her mother, Sabrina, was Turkish. Both her parents followed the Muslim faith.

Usnija's family was not rich and lived in a poor area. However, Usnija remembered her childhood as a happy time. Her father was a cheerful and caring person, even though he worked as a plumber. Usnija was a very shy child, a trait she kept throughout her life. But she soon found out she loved being on stage when performing folk dances.

Around 1963, when she was a teenager, Usnija joined a singing contest at Radio Skopje. She sang and danced to a pop song called Ajde da igramo tvist ("Let's Dance Twist"). Everyone loved her performance! People from the radio station tried to convince her father to let her become a professional singer. At that time, singing was not seen as a good job for women in the Romani community. Her father wanted her to finish school and become a good wife. Even after she became famous, he would still worry about her stage outfits.

Her Music Career

Starting Her Journey

After finishing school, Usnija Redžepova began performing. She wanted to study Arabic at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philology, but she had to sing in cafés to earn money for her living expenses. In Belgrade, she met Nasko Džorlev, a musician from Macedonia who had his own band. Usnija joined his group and they toured all over Yugoslavia for five years.

In 1966, she released her first songs. These were two short albums called EPs from Jugoton, a big music company in Yugoslavia. Another singer named Esma Redžepova was already with Jugoton, so they decided to call Usnija "Usnija Jašarova" to avoid confusion. "Jašarova" came from her father's name, Jašar. Her song Džulo, Džulo quickly became a hit! She recorded songs in Serbian and later released an EP with only Romani songs. Usnija also traveled to Australia in 1969 to perform for people from Yugoslavia living there.

Starring in Koštana

By 1973, Usnija Redžepova was a successful singer. However, she was also studying at university and felt very tired. She didn't realize how special her success was. That year, Žarko Jovanović, a famous Serbian-Romani artist, wanted her to act in his new version of Koštana. This was a popular play in Serbia about a Romani girl. Usnija had almost stopped singing, so it was hard to find her. Finally, another singer, Muharem Serbezovski, introduced them.

Usnija was a bit nervous about performing and singing in a formal theater. But she joined the National Theatre in Belgrade to perform Koštana. She stayed there for 26 years, until 1999! The play was a huge success, and Usnija loved her time there. Even though she had to stop her university studies, she got to travel to countries like Sudan. She even performed for important leaders like President Josip Broz Tito and Fidel Castro. Throughout the 1970s, she released many more songs and her first full album came out in 1977.

Later Years and Legacy

After Yugoslavia broke apart, Usnija Redžepova felt very sad and thought about stopping her singing career. But she kept releasing albums until 2007. After her husband passed away in 2005, she faced some financial difficulties. The Serbian government gave her a special national pension in 2011 to help her.

Usnija Redžepova died on October 1, 2015, in Belgrade. She was 69 years old and had been battling lung cancer for three years. Her funeral was held at the Bajrakli Mosque in Belgrade, and she was buried in Skopje at the Butel cemetery.

Personal Life

Usnija Redžepova met her husband, Svetomir Šešić, also known as Sele, in 1978 while on tour in Germany. They did not have any children together. Sele was an accordion player and also worked for a big Serbian music company called PGP-RTB. He helped Usnija with her career. Sele passed away in 2005 from pancreatic cancer.

Even though they shared the same last name, Usnija Redžepova was not related to Esma Redžepova, another very famous Macedonian-Romani singer. However, they were very close friends. In 1994, they even released an album together called Songs of a Macedonian Gypsy, which featured their most popular songs.

Discography

Albums

Extended Plays

• Usnija Jašarova i Jovanka Ivanovska, Jugoton, 1966.
• Džulo, Džulo, Jugoton, 1966.
• Ciganske pjesme pjeva Usnija, Jugoton, 1968.

Singles

Compilations

• Zbog tebe, Jugoton, 1982.
• Songs of a Macedonian Gypsy, Monitor Records, 1994.
• Romske pesme, PGP-RTS, 2002.
• O pesmo moja, Tioli, 2003.
• The Best Of, PGP-RTS, 2003.
• 30 godina sa trubom, PGP-RTS, 2007.

Filmography

• Death and the Dervish (Zdravko Velimirović, 1974), where she played a singer.

See also

In Spanish: Usnija Redzepova para niños

• Music of Serbia
• Romani music
• Esma Redžepova