Susana Alimivna Jamaladinova, ; rus, Суса́на Али́мовна Джамалади́нова, Susána Alímovna Dzhamaladínova, sʊˈsanə ɐˈlʲiməvnə dʐəməlɐˈdʲinəvə, links=yes. (born 27 August 1983), known professionally as Jamala,, ; rus, Джама́ла, , dʐɐˈmalə, links=no. is a Ukrainian singer. She represented and won the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song " Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organised by the European Broadcastin ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

, Sweden, with her song "

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in ...

" about the Deportation of the Crimean Tatars. In 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 she served as a judge at ''

Vidbir ''Yevrobachennia. Natsionalnyi Vidbir'' ( uk, Євробачення. Національний відбір, ; meaning ''Eurovision: National Selection''), informally known as ''Vidbir'', is a Ukrainian musical competition originally organized b ...

'', the Ukrainian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Early life

Susana Dzhamaladinova was born in Osh, Kirghiz SSR, to a Muslim Crimean Tatar father and an Armenian mother. Her Crimean Tatar ancestors were forcibly resettled from Crimea to the central Asian republic under

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, although her own relatives fought on the Soviet side. In 1989 her family returned to

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

. Her maternal ancestors are Armenians from

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik, and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains. The region is m ...

region They were well-to-do peasants until her great-grandfather's land was confiscated and he was exiled to Osh where he changed his Armenian name to make it sound more Russian. Her parents divorced for about four years so that her mother could purchase a house in Crimea for the family under her maiden name. During this period, Soviet authorities did not allow ethnic

Crimean Tatars , flag = Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg , flag_caption = Flag of Crimean Tatars , image = Love, Peace, Traditions.jpg , caption = Crimean Tatars in traditional clothing in front of the Khan's Palace ...

, like her father, to purchase property in Crimea.

Career

2010–2015: Early work

Jamala has been fond of music since her early childhood. She made her first professional recording at the age of nine, singing 12 folk and children's Crimean Tatar songs. She entered the

Simferopol Simferopol () is the second-largest city in the Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, and is considered the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. However, it is ...

Music College and later graduated from Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine as an opera singer, but preferred a career in pop music."When strangers are coming into your home (Russian)
by Alexander Zaitsev, lenta.ru Jamala IFF2012

On 14 February 2010, she released her first single "You Are Made of Love" from her debut studio album '' For Every Heart''. She released "It's Me, Jamala" as the second single on 18 October 2010. On 23 November 2010, she released "Smile" as the third single from the album. Early in 2011, she participated on the national selection show in an attempt to represent at the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

with the song "Smile". The song was a crowd favorite and Jamala herself managed to land a spot in the finals of the competition. However, she later decided to withdraw from the competition. On 12 April 2011, she released her debut studio album ''For Every Heart'' through

Moon Records Ukraine Moon Records Ukraine is a Ukrainian record label formed in 1997 and based in Kyiv, Ukraine. The label specializes in producing the music of Ukrainian and Russian musical artists and is currently the largest music publisher in Ukraine. Catalogue ...

. On 8 November 2012, she released "Ya Lyublyu Tebya" (russian: «Я Люблю́ Тебя́», en, "I Love You") as the lead single from her second studio album ''All or Nothing''. She released "Hurt" as the second single, and "Kaktus" ( uk, «Ка́ктус», en, "Cactus") was released on 6 March 2013, as the third and final single from the album. She released ''

All or Nothing All or Nothing may refer to: Film and television * ''All or Nothing'' (film), a 2002 film by Mike Leigh * ''All or Nothing'' (game show), a 2004–2005 Russian game show based on ''Deal or No Deal'' * ''All or Nothing'' (sports docuseries), ...

'' on 19 March 2013, through

. On 25 September 2014, she released "Zaplutalas" ( uk, «Заплу́талась», en, "Confused") as the lead single from her debut EP ''

Thank You "''Thank you''" (often expanded to ''thank you very much'' or ''thanks a lot'', or informally abbreviated to ''thanks'' or alternately as ''many thanks''Geoffrey Leech, ''The Pragmatics of Politeness'' (2014), p. 200.) is a common expression of ...

''. The EP was released on 1 October 2014, through Enjoy Records. On 26 March 2015, "Ochyma" was released as the lead single from her third studio album. "Shlyakh dodomu" ( uk, «Шлях додо́му», en, "The way home") was released as the second single on 18 May 2015. On 15 June 2015, "Podykh" ( uk, «По́дих», en, "Breath") was released as the third single. She released her album '' Podykh'' on 12 October 2015, through Enjoy Records.

2016–present: Eurovision Song Contest and subsequent projects

Jamala successfully represented in the

with the song "1944". The song is about the deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944 and particularly about her great-grandmother, who lost her daughter while being deported to

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...

. Jamala wrote the song's lyrics in 2014. In the second semi-final of the contest, Jamala performed 14th and was one of ten participants who qualified for the grand final. It was announced later that she placed second, scoring 287 points, and won the televoting with 152 points On 14 May 2016, Jamala won the competition with 534 points. Jamala's song was considered by Russian media and lawmakers to be critical of the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the " ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine" in Donbas. After her Eurovision Song Contest victory, she was awarded the title People's Artist of Ukraine by then-Ukrainian president

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko ( uk, Петро́ Олексі́йович Пороше́нко, ; born 26 September 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko se ...

. She has then continued to release new music, including "I Believe in U", which she performed at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 as an interval act, along with "Zamanyly". On 17 May 2016, Poroshenko announced that the

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine ( uk, Міністерство закордонних справ України) is the ministry of the Ukrainian government that oversees the foreign relations of Ukraine. The head of the ministry is t ...

would be nominating Jamala as a

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to those goodwill ambassadors and advocates who are designated by the United Nations. The United Nations Inter ...

. On 12 October 2018, Jamala released her fifth studio album, '' Kryla''. The title track was released as the first single on 21 March 2018. She had previously performed the track as the interval act for the 2018 Ukrainian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, ''Vidbir''. In 2022, she joined polish TV show " Dancing with the Stars: Taniec z Gwiazdami (season 26)".

Personal life

On 26 April 2017, Jamala married Bekir Suleimanov. Their relationship became known in September 2016, when she appeared with him at the Manhattan Short Film Festival. The couple married in the Kyiv Islamic Cultural Center using the traditional wedding ceremony Nikah. Suleimanov had recently graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Department of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and is an activist of the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Crimean Tatar community.Jamala married Seit-Bekir Suleymanov
, QHA (26 April 2017) In November 2017, Jamala announced that she and Suleimanov were expecting their first child together. On 27 March 2018 their son Emir-Rahman Seit-Bekir ogly Suleimanov was born. Jamala's mother tongue is Russian, and she is also fluent in

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

which she learned as an adolescent. She has also written a few songs in Crimean Tatar. In February 2022, amidst the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...

, she and her two children left Ukraine and initially took refuge in Romania, before eventually landing in Turkey.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Remix albums

Extended plays

Singles

Filmography

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jamala Living people 1983 births English-language singers from Ukraine Russian-language singers People from Osh 21st-century Ukrainian women singers Kyrgyzstani women singers Ukrainian operatic sopranos Kyrgyzstani people of Crimean Tatar descent Ukrainian pop singers Ukrainian singer-songwriters Ukrainian sopranos Ukrainian people of Armenian descent Ukrainian people of Crimean Tatar descent Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Ukraine Ukrainian Muslims Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2016 Eurovision Song Contest winners Recipients of the title of People's Artists of Ukraine Crimean Tatar musicians Kyrgyzstani people of Armenian descent New Wave winners Ukrainian refugees