Šemsa Suljaković

Šemsa Suljaković, born on 29 September 1951 in Maglaj, is a Bosnian folk singer, the eldest of six children in a Bosniak family. She is best known as one of the great voices of Južni Vetar in the 1980s, alongside Dragana Mirković, Mile Kitić, Sinan Sakić and Kemal Malovčić.

Her singing began after her mother moved the family into her grandparents' home in the Širokača neighbourhood of Sarajevo. A neighbour, Sena, a folk singer married to an accordionist, often performed in a local kafana, and one night she talked Šemsa into coming along. That night Šemsa found her voice, and the next day the owner asked her to sing there every night. Her career officially began in 1971.

In 1978 she recorded her first EP, "Otišla je ljubav s našeg kućnog praga" with "Ja zbog tebe sve", with words by Rade Vučković, music by Šaban Šaulić and the ensemble of Aca Stepić. The songs were played on the radio while she went on singing in the kafana, but they did little for her name, because listeners took her for Branka Stanarčić, whose voice sounded similar. Her next EPs came in 1980.

Fame came with Južni Vetar, whose first commercial hit, in 1981, had Šemsa Suljaković as its singer. Over about ten years with the group she made a run of albums, from Verna u ljubavi (1982) to Izdali me prijatelji (1990) and 7000 suza (1991), and gave countless concerts at halls, fairs and weddings. Her peak was the 1986 album Pristajem na sve, whose title song became her signature and which marked the height of Južni Vetar's popularity.

Her biggest hits also include "Zašto si se napio", "Sirotinja ljude svađa", "Zar za mene nema sreće", "Volele se oči crne i zelene", "Južni ritam", "Kako da ti pomognem", "Javi se, oteraj tugu", "Prođi sa mnom ispod duge", "Što me pitaš", "Ne, ne", "Razbio si čašu", "Sanjam", "Mi se volimo" with Mile Kitić and "Lažu te" with Sejo Kalač.

When the war began in 1992 she left Južni Vetar and joined the movement of Bosnian performers, giving concerts across Western Europe and America. She kept recording, with albums such as Moje vrijeme došlo je (1998), Ne vjerujem nikom više (2000), Južni ritam (2002), Tako to žene rade (2005) and Kada odem (2007), and she sang at the Bihać festival in 1998, 2005, 2009 and 2014. In 2019 she released "Akšam pade niz mahalu" with a music video. She lives in Strängnäs, Sweden.