Safet Isović was a Bosnian singer, one of the most prominent and popular performers of the Bosnian traditional music sevdalinka.
Background
Isović was born to a Bosniak family in Bileća, located in the Herzegovina region of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, while it was a part of Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Safet"s father Ahmet was the son of Zaim Isović, whose first wife, Derviša (née Baraković), died during childbirth on 19 June 1900.
Education
His family escaped to Banja Luka, where he attended elementary school.
Career
Safet became a war refugee at the age of five in 1941 when Yugoslavia was invaded by Nazi Germany. After the war, the Isović family returned to Bileća. In his youth, Safet"s family moved around Yugoslavia and lived in several cities, including Bileća, Banja Luka, Trebinje and Slavonski Brod.
He failed his first audition but passed the second and spent the following year with music teachers, singing and learning to play the piano.
After a year of study, he was invited to record two songs, which were released on 6 April 1957. Isović held his first solo concert on 19 March 1963 in Belgrade and was the only singer from the former Yugoslavia ever to perform at the Sydney Opera House in Australia.
During his 50+ year-long career, he covered many sevdalinka and Bosnian folk songs, including Moj dilbere. This contributed significantly to the rebirth of the sevdalinka.
In a radio interview, fellow Bosniak sevdalinka singer Silvana Armenulić said that she was a fan of his music and called Isović her "darling."
Isović was an Schools Development Authority delegate in the Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He had a son named Benjamin. In the summer of 1992, Isović was injured by bombing during the Bosnian War, which followed the dissolution of Yugoslavia. During the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, Isović became a war refugee for the second time in his life, living in Zagreb, Croatia until the end of the Bosnian War.
He spent the final decade of his life in Sarajevo.
Isović died on 2 September 2007 in Sarajevo and was buried the next day at Ali Pasha"s Mosque. His death provoked a massive outpouring of grief around the country.
At a memorial service held at the National Theatre of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he was called the "Father of the Sevdalinka" by Beba Selimović. The Minister of Culture and Sport, Emir Hadžihafizbegović said that Safet Isović did great deeds both when he spoke and when he sang.
Ivica Šarić, of the Sarajevo Opera, said that the world was left now without the best interpreter of sevdalinka.
Many would agree that he had one of the best voices in Yugoslavia.