Usnija Redžepova Уснија Реџепова |
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Also known as | Usnija Jašarova |
Born |
Skopje, Macedonia |
4 February 1946
Died | October 1, 2015 Belgrade, Serbia |
(aged 69)
Genres | Romani music |
Occupation(s) | Singer |
Instruments | vocals |
Years active | 1966–2007 |
Labels | |
Associated acts |
Usnija Redžepova (Serbian Cyrillic: Уснија Реџепова Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [ˈusnija rɛˈdʒɛpɔva]; 4 February 1946 – 1 October 2015) was a Serbian and former Yugoslav singer of Romani and Turkish origin. She was born in Skopje but spent much of her life in Belgrade where she died.
At the beginning of her career, she used Usnija Jašarova (Serbian Cyrillic: Уснија Јашарова) as a stage name in order not to be confused with Esma Redžepova, another Romani singer from Macedonia. The two did not have any family connection.
Usnija Redžepova started her singing career in the 1960s and released 15 singles and EPs and 9 albums. Her prolific repertoire mainly includes folk songs from Southern Serbia and Macedonia, sung in Serbian and in Romani, but also in Turkish.
Redžepova enjoyed through her career a large popularity in the whole Yugoslavia and its successor states. Apart from her songs, she is also known for her rendition of the leading role in Koštana, a Serbian play by Borisav Stanković. She performed it 150 times on stage at the National Theatre in Belgrade where she worked for 25 years.