Nikola Škrba (1922 – 1995) was one of the most outstanding humorists on Radio Sarajevo.
He created unusual humor based on Sarajevo’s street jargon, although he wasn’t actually from Sarajevo, wasn’t even Bosnian (he was born in Krasnoyarsk – southern Siberia / Russia).
In cooperation with the humorist Nedeljko Opančić he was the author of the program “Selo veselo” (“Happy Village”), which was a kind of travelogue enriched with folk festivals and customs. The introductory sentence attained cult status when the traveller asked the host what the name of the village was and the host answered “Fröhlich”. Many remembered this play on words.
The life of the journalist, bohemian, songwriter and traveller were ended in 1995 by a heart attack in his apartment in the surrounded Grbavica.
The people of Sarajevo remember the comedian by naming two skyscrapers on Marindvor after his two famous characters from humorous radio broadcasts – Momo and Uzeir, who even survived the turbulent times of war.
Nikola Škrba wrote numerous songs influenced by Sevdalinka. The best known is certainly “Tebi majko misli lete”, which has been reinterpreted many times by various artists.
He collaborated with many folk music singers, including the famous safet Isović, on whose albums from 1966, edited by Jugoton, the songs “Sve djevojke iz mahale” and “Oj,Zekija” were recorded, as well as the song “Stara staza” on the mini-album from 1974, the song “U baštici ruža vene” from the album from 1980, “Sve behara i sve cvjeta” and many other lesser-known works.