Silvana Armenulić

Silvana Armenulić
Silvana Armenulić
Birth name	Zilha Bajraktarević
Also known as	Silvana Armenulić
Born	May 18, 1939; Doboj, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Origin	Doboj, Bosnia
Died	October 10, 1976 (aged 37); Kolari, SFR Yugoslavia
Genre(s)	Sevdalinka
Occupation(s)	musician, actress
Label(s)	PGP-RTB

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Silvana Armenulić (Cyrillic: Силвана Арменулић; 18 May 1939, in Doboj, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina) – 10 October 1976, near Kolari, SFR Yugoslavia (now Serbia)) was one of the most prominent commercial folk music (neo-folk), as well as traditional sevdalinka, singers in former Yugoslavia.

Silvana was born Zilha Bajraktarević to and grew up in a Bosnian Muslim family in Doboj. She started singing very early. Her father, Mehmed Bajraktarević, a local businessman, was not supportive of her singing career. After she made a name for herself locally as prominent kafana singer, she moved to Belgrade in search of expanded career opportunities. Soon after arrival she took the stage name Silvana after Italian actress Silvana Mangano and married tennis player Radmilo Armenulić with whom she had a daughter named Gordana (born 1964).

Her career took off simultaneously and she went on to become one of the biggest commercial folk stars in SFR Yugoslavia. This led to numerous and well publicized country-wide singing engagements, and later still to appearances in popular TV sitcoms like Ljubav na seoski način and folksy movies such as Građani sela Luga.

Unfortunatelly, her life and career were cut short. On October 10, 1976, she died in a car accident along with her pregnant sister Mirjana (Merima) Barjaktarević and violinist and Radio Belgrade folk orchestra conductor Rade Jašarević.