Hamdija Čustović

Hamdija Čustović was a singer of pop and later folk music from Sarajevo. He was born on 29 June 1946 in Novi Sad but grew up in Sarajevo, and it was there that his career began. He later lived in Belgrade, Zagreb and Split as well.

He was nicknamed "Tigar sa Miljacke", the tiger from the Miljacka, because he sang much like his idol Tom Jones, "the tiger from Wales", and he sang "Delilah" and other hits of his. He performed with the groups Special Factor, Pro Arte, Indexi, Coco and Splitski batali before starting his solo career, which took him to Vaš šlager sezone in Sarajevo and the festivals of Opatija, Split, Subotica and Beogradsko proleće.

His songs of 1969 to 1974 were written by Đorđe Novković, Nikola Borota, Kemal Monteno and Goran Bregović, among others: "Sve što želim to si ti" and "Izabel" (1969), "Zadnji put gledam tvoje oči" (1970), "Kameni cvijet" from Vaš šlager sezone 1971, "Hoću da se ženim" and "Djevojka" (1972), "Jedna mala garava" and "Nestala je ljubav ta" (1973), and "Samo Katu volim", "Noćas tvoje oči zovu" and Bregović's "Hop-cup" (1974).

The composer Omer Pobrić persuaded him that he was "a born narodnjak", and a run of newly composed folk songs followed, among them "Idi, idi tugo iz života mog" from the Ilidža festival of 1978 and "Dođi mi, dođi, ljubavi" from Ilidža 1979. He also sang Monteno's "Slao sam joj cvijeće" (1978).

Hamdija Čustović performed across Yugoslavia and abroad and gave many charity concerts. In 1991 he moved with his wife and daughter to Germany, where he kept making music, and in 1997 the family settled in the United States. In 2009 Hayat Production released his album Slao sam joj cvijeće. He died in Split on 6 November 2021.