Rizo Hamidović

Rizo Hamidović is a folk singer and an interpreter of sevdalinka, active since 1980. He was born in Kruševo near Novi Pazar, in today's Serbia, and has lived in Sarajevo since the 1970s; Wikipedia in Bosnian calls him a Yugoslav, Serbian and Bosnian-Herzegovinian singer.

Before music he trained as a machine locksmith and enrolled at a higher administrative school, which he left to sing. His first singles came out in 1980, among them "Dugo te, dugo očekujem", and in the 1980s he recorded for Jugoton, later also for Sarajevo disk and Diskoton. His first studio album, Čudna nasta ova godina, followed in 1984, then Zašto te dugo nema (1985) and Sad mi trebaš / Otvori karte Ciganko (1987).

Alongside new folk songs he kept returning to the old songs of Sandžak and Bosnia. Sandžački biseri (1988) began a series that continued with a second part in 1994 and parts 3 and 4 in 2004 and 2007. Other albums include Samo sam jednom volio (1990, with Saga), Eh da je meni (1996, with the orchestra of Zlaja Sjerić), Ne znam ja (2000), Bolujem ti (2002), Gdje si (2004), Sevdalinke 1 (2007) and Loše karte (2009). He has performed at festivals and worked with Safet Isović, and his channel also holds a duet with Hanka Paldum, "Oj Safete, Sajo, Sarajlijo".

His best-known songs include "A šta će ti, lolo, ahmedija", "Otvori karte, Ciganko", "Čudna žena", "Oči moje", "Samo sam jednom ljubio" and "Prebrojana ljeta". This playlist, from his own channel, holds his Sandžački biseri recordings: traditional songs such as "Zaplakala šećer Đula", "Sjela Hajra kraj bunara", "Mejra šeta" and "Kladnice, vodo studena".