Šaban Bajramović: From Hustling to Gandhi's Path | Old Belgrade Stories

Šaban Bajramović (1936-2008) was born in Niš, into a poor, large Roma family. His father worked as a shoeshine man, while his mother occasionally worked as a cleaner in the tobacco industry and practiced fortune-telling in surrounding villages. In such conditions, he only completed four grades of elementary school and was forced to work and fend for himself.

Hustling on street corners was his main "occupation" until he joined the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) at the age of 18. It might be considered a typical story. He soon fled from the JNA, driven by love. He was accused of desertion and treason against the state, and was sentenced to three years in prison on Goli Otok. By stating, "You can't sentence me as much as I can endure," he practically altered his sentence to 5 years of imprisonment on the notorious island.

However, during his imprisonment, Šaban discovered a talent within himself that would conquer the world in the following decades. Or at least the part of the world that appreciates blues, jazz, soul, and Roma tunes, which Šaban masterfully combined. His musical work has already been extensively documented - 20 albums and over 50 singles, collaborations with numerous international stars, "Đelem, đelem" as the adopted anthem of all Roma people worldwide, and ultimately, the title of King of Roma Music bestowed upon him by Nehru and Indira Gandhi themselves.

Throughout his fifty-year career, Šaban Bajramović was accompanied by numerous anecdotes, including some that are completely unverified and can be classified as urban legends.

One of them suggests that Šaban actually had difficulties with reading and writing, which is why he signed an extremely unfavorable contract with a record label, causing him to miss out on substantial earnings that could have resolved the livelihood of his large family.

The next anecdote doesn't support the first one, which is actually Šaban's claim that he read over two thousand books during his imprisonment, which inspired him to create such rich works throughout his career.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that his talent was undeniable. The money he earned in large quantities was spent on gambling and alcohol. However, he also knew how to "earn." It was said that in the 1990s, during the wars in Yugoslavia, Šaban Bajramović, along with his family, went to Germany by declaring himself a political asylum seeker. Germany was accepting refugees and ethnic minorities at that time, providing social assistance, which, by our standards at the time, meant a fabulous amount of money, roughly a thousand Deutsche Marks per person. When you add up his wife and four daughters and multiply it by several months, it's clear that he returned to Niš with a small fortune. However, it didn't last long for him.

Since he never worked for a salary, he never qualified for a pension, and he reached old age living off the help of a few remaining friends and small fees from his past fame. He felt deceived and exploited by many well-known musicians, directors, and record labels.

In poor health, a man who had traveled the world and, in a way, conquered it, died bitter, but, as befits the Roma, also happy. Just a few days after his death, the British Guardian published an article about him. His friends and colleagues honored him with a monument on the Niš quay, and the city of Niš named a street after him.