Jozo Kristić

Jozo Kristić was a Bosnian singer of sevdalinka and folk songs. He was born in Sarajevo in 1919 and died in 1982. He is on Muzika-Balkan because he was born in Sarajevo and spent his singing life there, as one of the first voices of Radio Sarajevo; the sources do not say where he died.

He loved folk songs from an early age and sang on the Sarajevo radio station from the age of 23, although singing was never his trade: he worked as a clerk, and he also managed a restaurant. He became so popular that, as Croatian Wikipedia puts it, people bought what were then expensive radio sets just to hear him. He sang for love of the songs and never set out to build a career.

When Radio Sarajevo opened on 10 April 1945, he was one of the first two singers heard on it, together with Zaim Imamović. He often sang with the accordionist Ismet Alajbegović Šerbo, another of the station's first soloists. He was the first radio soloist to record "Šta bi bila Đuzel-Đula" and "Sinoć kasno pođoh", the song better known today as "Emina", as well as "Kad sam bio mlađan lovac ja", "Evo ovu rumen ružu" and "Kulu gradim, a kamena nemam". He is counted among the finest interpreters of sevdalinka.

In 1952 Jugoton released his shellac records with Šerbo on accordion: "Šta bi bila Đuzel-Đula" with "Sinoć kasno pođoh", and "Mislio sam svaki dan" with "Kroz baštu mi potok teče". His "Kulu gradim, a kamena nemam", with the tamburica orchestra of RTV Sarajevo, was included in the 2006 Antologija BH sevdalinke. Safet Isović later regretted that such a fine singer left no recordings in the television archive.

The playlist gathers those four 1952 Jugoton sides, with "Sinoć kasno pođoh" first.