Semir Cerić Koke

Semir Cerić, better known as Koke, is a folk singer from Sarajevo, born on 23 May 1963. His style runs from traditional folk to modern turbo-folk.

His career began in 1988 with the debut album Sanja on the Diskos label. Its title song took on a second life when Toma Zdravković recorded it in ekavian form as "Sećaš li se Sanja" in 1990. Koke then published Život me je prevario (1994) and Jednom se živi (2001) for In Takt Records, with Blago tebi (1999) on Sarajevo Disk in between. His fifth studio album, Koke (2003), came out on Grand Production, and the sixth, Idemo dalje (2009), on Hayat Production.

Among his evergreen hits are "Nek' ti bude kao meni", "Aida", "Sanja", "Glumica", "Zavodnica", "Nevjernica", "Treba vremena", "Robinja ili kraljica", "Vjerovala, bolovala", "Kad te neko spomene", "Kraj priče" and "Moja dobra vilo", along with his versions of "Emina" and "Otkako je Banjaluka postala".

Festivals have marked his career: at Bihać he sang "Aida" in 1998 and "Vjerovala, bolovala" in 2000, at Ilidža "Nevjernica" in 2008, and at the Grand Diet Plus Festival "Njen grad" in 2012. He returned to Ilidža in 2017 with "Kraj Bentbaše" and in 2019 with "Oj, Safete, Sajo, Sarajlijo", "Treba vremena" and "Kafanica laganica", and in 2024 he sang "Stvarno moje" at the festival's Zlatni mikrofon revue evening.

Newer singles include "Častit ću pola grada" (2013), "Kafanica laganica" for BN Music and "Carski karavan" (2017), "Ne, ne diraj" (2018) and "Sve i sad" for Hayat Production (2019). In 2011 he shared the compilation Najveći hitovi with Enes Begović, and Kad kažu ljubav followed in 2016. Koke gives concerts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as the Western Balkans, and has toured the United States and Australia for the Bosnian diaspora. He often sings in Hayat TV's Bajram programme, and he has been a jury member on the talent shows Zvijezda možeš biti ti (Hayat TV) and Valentino zvijezde (OTV).