Šaban Bajramović

Šaban Bajramović was a Serbian Romani singer and songwriter, born on 16 April 1936 in Niš, in the town's Romani quarter, into a Muslim Arlije family. He described himself as "a Serb, a Serbian Gypsy", and his influence on music in Eastern Europe earned him the name "King of Romani music".

He grew up in great poverty, left school after four years and learned music in the street, busking to support his family. At nineteen he left the army for love and, as a deserter, was sentenced to three years on Goli Otok. There he kept goal for the prison football team, earning the nickname "Black Panther", and joined the prison orchestra, which played jazz along with Spanish and Mexican pieces.

After prison his career took off. He made his first record in 1964 with the group Crna mamba and worked with them for twenty years; the high point was a performance for Indira Gandhi in India, where he was given the title King of Romani music. He also sang for Josip Broz Tito. In the early 1990s he recorded "Đelem, Đelem", considered the Romani people's anthem, and began performing in his trademark sunglasses.

From 2000 he worked with Mostar Sevdah Reunion, and the album A Gipsy Legend (2001) brought him international attention. In 2002 he recorded with the Croatian band Cubismo, and "Geljan dade" became one of his best-known songs, covered by many, among them Muharem Serbezovski and Boban Zdravković. The 2005 documentary Šaban came with an album that Songlines marked "Top of the World", and in 2008 he made "Lova" with Wikluh Sky for the series Vratiće se rode.

In his last years Šaban Bajramović lived in poverty in Niš, seriously ill and no longer able to walk. He died of a heart attack in Niš on 8 June 2008. A statue in his honour was unveiled in the town in 2010. He loved reading and claimed to have read more than 20,000 books.