Emina Zečaj

Emina Zečaj (née Ahmedhodžić; 17 March 1929 – 19 April 2020)^[1] was a Bosnian interpreter of the traditional folk music, sevdalinka.^[2]

Emina Zečaj
Born	Emina Ahmedhodžić (1929-03-17)17 March 1929 Sarajevo, Drina Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Died	19 April 2020(2020-04-19) (aged 91) Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Resting place	Bare Cemetery, Sarajevo
Occupation	singer
Years active	1962–2020
Children	2
Musical career
Genres	sevdalinka
Instrument	vocals
Labels	Jugoton

Zečaj was called an "icon of traditional Bosnian music" by American Billboard magazine in 2004.^[3]

Early life

Emina was born in Sarajevo's Old Town, in what is today Bosnia and Herzegovina on 17 March 1929. She was the daughter of Avdija Ahmedhodžić and his wife Melća.^[4]

Career

Professor Cvjetko Rihtman, an ethnomusicologist, discovered her in the early 1960s. Following persuasion from her friends, Emina auditioned before two well-known professors, Zvonimir Nevžela and Beluš Jungić, with the folk songs Kad se jangin iz sokaka pomoli and Poranila na vodicu Zlata. Ten days later she received a phone call from Ismet Alajbegović Šerbo informing her that she had been accepted into Radio Sarajevo, beating out 30 other contestants.^[5][6]

Zečaj recorded music for the 2003 drama-comedy film Fuse. She also collaborated with Adi Lukovac on the soundtrack for the 2003 war film Remake (Remake - soundtrack).^[7] It was Lukovac's final project before dying in a car accident three years later.

Death

Zečaj was in good health until shortly before her death at age 91. She died on the night of 19 April 2020 in her home.^[1] She had attended the funeral of Beba Selimović the previous month at Sarajevo's Bare Cemetery where she was also buried in a Muslim cemetery on 22 April 2020.^[8][9]

Discography

• Pijana sam i bez pića (1974)^[10]
• Narodne pjesme iz Bosne (1975)^[11]
• Traditional Bosnian Songs (2003)
• Zečaj Emina (2005)
• Emina Zečaj (2008)