Jamala

Susana Alimivna Jamaladinova (born 27 August 1983), known professionally as Jamala, is a Ukrainian singer. She represented Ukraine and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with her song "1944". From 2017 to 2025, she has served as a judge at Vidbir, the Ukrainian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. In November 2023, Russia added Jamala to its wanted list.

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 during World War II, although her own relatives fought on the Soviet side. In 1989 her family returned to Crimea. Her maternal ancestors are Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh 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.

She grew up in a family of musicians — her mother worked as a teacher at a music school, and her father was a conductor by education.

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, 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 Music College and later graduated from Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine as an opera singer, but preferred a career in pop music.