Mirsada Bajraktarević (1951 – 10 October 1976), known professionally as Mirjana Bajraktarević, was a Bosnian sevdalinka singer and songwriter. She was the sister of Silvana Armenulić and Dina Bajraktarević. Mirjana and Silvana died in a car crash.
Her career reached its peak in 1974 with the songs "Doletjeće bijeli golub" and "Ne zovi me, ja ti neću doći". The year after her death, she had a posthumous hit single when "Rukama sam mahala za tobom" was released.
Early life and family
Mirsada Bajraktarević was born in the Bosnian city of Doboj, the seventh of thirteen children, to a Muslim and ethnically Bosniak family. Her father was Mehmed Bajraktarević (1909–1966), owner of a local cake shop called Jagoda (Strawberry), and her mother was Hajrija (1916–2008).
The family surname has its origins in the Ottoman Empire; bajrak is the Turkish word for flag. Mirsada's sister Zilha began singing at an early age, but their father, Mehmed, a local cake shop operator, was not supportive of her singing career.
Mirsada had a brother named Hajrudin who died about two weeks after being mauled by a dog in the 1940s. After her brother's death, her father found solace in alcohol and solitude, neglecting the family and his business. After her father's cake shop closed, the family suffered greatly. The family of thirteen children included sisters Mirsada, Hajrudina (Dina), Zilha (Silvana), Abida, and Ševka, and brothers Hajrudin, Muhamed, Izudin, Abudin, and Ismet. Her nephew Sabahudin Bilalović became a professional basketball player who died at age 43 of a heart attack on the beach while swimming with his son. Ten years later, Ševka and her husband Lutvo both died of natural causes in September 2013, just days apart.
Career
In 1955, Silvana moved to Sarajevo at the age of sixteen where she lived with their aunt and sang in local kafanas for money. She eventually landed a professional singing career which led way to Mirsada getting a record deal and recording her first album at the age of eighteen in 1969 and releasing it on 18 February 1970.
In 1975, after five years of releasing extended plays and singles, Bajraktarević released her first full-length studio album, Imala sam drugaricu (I Had a Friend). The album contained a dozen songs, two of which were written by Bajraktarević herself. Four of the songs were written by Radoslav Graić, including the title song which became a hit. She also covered four Bosnian folk songs; "Kraj potoka bistre vode" (By a Stream of Crystal Clear Water), "Ah, moj Aljo, crne oči" (Oh, My Aljo, with Your Black Eyes), "Moj zumbule" (My Hyacinth), "Mujo kuje konja" (Mujo Shoes the Horse.)
Personal life
According to an interview with one of Mirsada's friends, she was married for about a year to Yugoslav singer Zoran Milivojević (died 13 March 2011).
Death and aftermath
On 10 October 1976, at around 9:15 pm CEST, Mirsada died in a car crash near the Serbian village of Kolari in Smederevo along with her sister Silvana Armenulić and violinist/Radio Belgrade folk orchestra conductor Miodrag "Rade" Jašarević. They were driving in a Ford Granada car from Aleksandrovac to Belgrade after a concert.
Originally, Silvana was to drive with Mirsada sitting in the passenger's seat; then Montenegrin singer Ljubomir Đurović asked if he could drive to Belgrade with them. As he was putting his bags into the car, Rade Jašarević asked the sisters if he could drive with them to Belgrade because all the other singers who had performed in the concert that day were watching a soccer game of Spain versus Yugoslavia. Đurović had forgotten about the game; he asked the sisters if they wanted to stay to watch the game, then all drive back to Belgrade when the game ended. The sisters refused as they were both tired and Silvana had a severe headache after hitting her head in the restaurant the day before. Đurović decided to stay and drive back to Belgrade in Boki Milošević's Volvo after the game.
Silvana was behind the wheel when they left, but sometime between their departure and the crash, 60-year-old Jašarević had taken the wheel.