Nazif Gljiva

Nazif Gljiva is a songwriter, composer, singer and producer from Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the most prolific authors of folk music in the former Yugoslavia. Since the end of the 1970s he has written more than 500 songs, sung by, among others, Halid Bešlić, Hanka Paldum, Šerif Konjević and Mile Kitić, and he also records his own songs.

He was born on 28 August 1949 in Sudići near Ilijaš, to Ibro and Nurija Gljiva, and grew up in modest circumstances that later coloured his lyrics, where poverty, everyday life and love are frequent themes. After secondary school of economics he devoted himself entirely to music. He has been married to Sadeta Gljiva since the early 1970s; she and Aida Ramović have also written lyrics for his songs, and their son Emir is a singer too.

His rise is tied to Halid Bešlić, whom he met on the Sarajevo restaurant scene. Their first releases were the 1979 Diskoton singles "Sijedi starac", with his lyrics, and "Sanjam majku, sanjam kuću staru". In 1983 he wrote most of the songs for, and produced, Bešlić's album Neću, neću dijamante, released early in 1984; the title song came after a stay in Macedonia, under the spell of its folk rhythms, and the album turned Bešlić's career. "I zanesen tom ljepotom", "Zlatne strune", "Vraćam se majci u Bosnu" (also known as "Beograđanka") and "Hej, zoro, ne svani" followed. For Mile Kitić he wrote "Ako te budu pitali" (1982), which he later recorded himself, and for Šerif Konjević "Sanjam kao nekad", "Dvije rane", "Nikad u proljeće" and "Da sam paša".

In 2000 he founded the association and music awards "Prvi BH muzički Oskar", which he has produced as general producer, with winners such as Toše Proeski, Safet Isović and Halid Bešlić. In 2018 he marked forty years in music with the album Antologija 1 - Pozdrav iz Sarajeva; in 2020 he released "Zlatni tron" and in 2024 a new version of "Plava rijeka, Stari most". He was also a contestant in the fourth season of the reality show Farma in 2013.