Asim Brkan

Asim Brkan
Born	14 October 1954 (1954-10-14) (age 57)
Origin	Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Genres	Neo-folk, sevdah
Occupations	Singer, musician
Years active	1975–1996, 2009–present
Labels	JUGOTON, PGP-RTB

Asim Brkan (born 14 October 1954) is a Bosnian singer, musician,^[1] and artist. Today, he is considered by many music experts to be finest and most complete Bosnian folk singer.

Biography

Brkan's career began in 1975, and at his peak (1979–1984) he was one of the biggest stars in Yugoslavia – selling millions of copies and receiving recognition from public and critics as well. However, his potential and vocal skills never matched commercial success. His great hits are: "Jednom sam i ja volio" (widely considered^{[by whom?]} as one of the finest folk songs ever composed in Yugoslavia), "Najljepsu haljinu veceras obuci", "Ko je majko onaj covjek", "Vladaju ljubavi svijetom", "Ne rusi mi srecu nepoznata zeno", "Ema" and so on.

At the start of his career he signed a contract with the record label "Jugoton", seeded in Zagreb and including musicians like: Dalibor Brun, Zlatko Pejakovic, Tereza Kesovija, Frano Lasic. A few years later, Brkan moved to Belgrade and continued recording for "PGP-RTB", another major and high-rated music production in Yugoslavia. He worked with many important singers and composers: Zoran Kalezic, Miroslav Ilic, Marinko Rokvic, Aco Stepic, Boki Milosevic, Ljubo Keselj, Sanja Ilic, Rade Vuckovic, Milutin Popovic - Zahar etc. Brkan achieved greatest success in Serbia, but he was almost equally popular in entire region. Beside his commercial songs, he will also be remembered as outstanding performer of Bosnian traditional song - Sevdalinka. His interpretations of "Sjetuje me majka" and "Iz kamena voda tekla" are inducted in Bosnian National Music Register. He recorded songs for Bosnian and Serbian radio and TV archive, written and composed by Sevdah legends: Jozo Penava, Jovica Petkovic, Mijat Bozovic and Ismet Alajbegovic - Serbo. Brkan has also performed at many prominent music festivals (Sarajevo, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Split, Skopje), traditionally receiving major awards. Most of his career he spent in Belgrade, capital of Yugoslavia.

At the early stage of war, he realised that situation in Serbia could be very dangerous for Bosniaks; so he left Belgrade and went with his family to Holland, later Germany. As a result of Yugoslav war, state collapsed and new music genre, called "Turbo-Folk" started domination in social and cultural life. As an honest and very emotional man Brkan could not accept "life in jungle" and low-profile music. Although the war was not finished, because of his patriotism, he returned to Bosnia. After few efforts to come back he eventually retired from his professional career in 1996, at the age of 42. However, he will always be remembered as great singer with unique, subtle and lyrical voice.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, three decades after his first and biggest hit song "Jednom sam i ja volio", Brkan made a comeback. His original record label, PGP Belgrade, published CD with songs from 1976 to 1990. In the same year, he recorded series of sevdah songs for MP BHRT (Bih radio and television music production). Version of "Mujo kuje" is inducted in National Music Register just five days after recording. A few weeks after CD was published, in RTS TV show, Brkan made his first live performance after 13 years.

Discography

Singles

• "Tvoje oči garave" - Jugoton, 1976
• "Ne ruši mi sreću, nepoznata ženo!" - Jugoton, 1978
• "Jednom sam i ja volio" - Jugoton, 1979
• "Vladaju ljubavi svijetom" - Jugoton, 1980

Albums

• Voli me, grli me - Jugoton, 1981
• Najljepšu haljinu večeras obuci - PGP, 1982
• Majko, prijatelju moj - PGP, 1984
• Ema - PGP, 1985
• Još me ima! - PGP, 1989
• I tako idu dani - PGP, 1990
• Zlata - In Takt Records, 1996
• Best of - PGP, 2009

Sevdalinka

• Sjetuje me majka
• Iz kamena voda tekla
• Evo ovu rumen ružu
• Cudna jada od Mostara grada
• Mujo kuje
• Jednog divnog dana u Mostaru gradu
• Puknute strune
• Za tebe sam vezan grade
• Basča od jasmina

References

1. ^ "Na sjeveru skromno, na jugu megalomno" (in Montenegrin). Dan Online. 29 December 2009. http://www.dan.co.me/index.php?nivo=3&rubrika=Sarena%20strana&clanak=214001&datum=2009-12-29. Retrieved 3 January 2011. 

Persondata
Name	Brkan, Asim
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 14, 1954
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death