Ceca, Serbian turbo folk queen and wife of war criminal Arkan, for Malta concert

Serbia’s ‘turbo folk’ queen Ceca, wife of the late Yugoslav warlord Arkan, will be playing in Malta at the Aria Complex for the first time, to Malta’s sizeable Serbian community. 

Tickets go on sale at €35 but VIP tables will be selling for €770. Recognised as one of Serbia’s most commercially successful artists with sales of around 7 million, between 1995 and 2000 she was married to Zeljko Ražnatović – known as Arkan – a Serbian mobster, politician, and head of the Serb paramilitary force called the Serb Volunteer Guard during the Yugoslav Wars. 

He was on Interpol’s most wanted list in the 1970s and 1980s for robberies and murders committed in several countries across Europe and was later indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for crimes against humanity. 

Up until his assassination in January 2000, Arkan was the most powerful organized crime figure in the Balkans. 

In 2011, Ceca was convicted of embezzlement and illegal firearm possession. She was fined €1.5 million and convicted to house arrest for one year. 

Ceca rose to prominence in the late 1980s and 90s as a folk singer who would become the undisputed queen of turbo folk, the Serbian genre of pop that blends folk music with electronica, rock and hip-hop. While performing for Serbian soldiers at a military camp in Erdut during the Yugoslav wars in 1993, Ceca was introduced to Arkan.  

Ceca was also involved in politics, serving as the honorary president of the Party of Serbian Unity before Arkan was assassinated in 2000. He was gunned down in a hotel lobby by a 23-year-old junior police officer with ties to the underworld. Arkan was facing prosecution on 24 charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 

Following the assassination of Serbian prime minister Zoran Dindic in 2003, Ceca was arrested under suspicion of harbouring the leaders of the Zemun Clan in her house. She was released without charge. In 2011, she was charged with the misappropriation of millions in dollars from footballer transfers from her husband’s team FK Obilić, and the illegal possession of 11 machine guns. 

Ceca is officially banned from entering Croatia, being proclaimed a persona non grata.