Muharem Serbezovski
| Muharem Serbezovski Мухарем Сербезовски |
|
|---|---|
| Also known as | Mumo |
| Born |
May 2, 1950 Skopje, PR Macedonia, FPR Yugoslavia |
| Genres | Romani music, Pop-folk, Turbo-folk, Disco |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter and writer |
| Instruments | vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1962–present |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts | |
Muharem Serbezovski (Macedonian: Мухарем Сербезовски, born May 2, 1950), nicknamed Mumo, is a Yugoslav singer of Macedonian Roma origin, popular in former Yugoslavia. He is also a writer and translator and was briefly in Bosnian politics in the 2000s.
Muharem Serbezovski emerged as a singer in the 1960s, having released his first album at only 12. He became one of the most popular Romani singers in Yugoslavia and reached a wide popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. He has released 12 albums and 22 singles and extended plays. His main inspiration is Romani music but he has widely explored and blended other styles, especially Turkish music. Although born in Macedonia, he has been living in Sarajevo since the 1970s.
Since the 1980s, Serbezovski has established himself as a writer and translator, having written several books and translated the Quran into Romani language. Known for his Romani activism, he served a term as a member of the Bosnian parliament in the 2000s.
Muharem Serbezovski was born on May 2, 1950 in Topaana, the oldest Romani settlement of Skopje, at that time capital of the People's Republic of Macedonia. His family belonged to the local Romani minority and included 11 members. His father was an imam and gave him a great interest for Islam and its culture. Because his parents were poor, he had to start singing at a young age to earn money.
Muharem Serbezovski released his first single at 12 in 1962, Kalajđiljar Kalaj Japar. It contained songs in Turkish. He rose to fame in the late 1960s, thanks to the help of Stevo Teodosievski, a folk composer and director of a Romani ensemble, and his wife Esma Redžepova, herself a Roma singer. He was not their only protégé as they also encouraged other local Roma artists. Serbezovski started to experience a wide success in 1968, at the age of 18, following the release of his second single. It included two songs, Džemile and Gili e halisake, the first being in Serbo-Croatian, the other in Romani. These two tracks feature another friend of the Teodosievski couple, the clarinettist Medo Čun. They also show the ornamented style of singing and the Turkish influence which have characterised the singer through his career.
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