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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sevdalinka (pronounced [seʋdǎliːŋka]), also known as Sevdah music, is a traditional genre of folk music originating in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sevdalinka is an integral part of the Bosniak culture,[1][2][3][4] but is also spread across the ex-Yugoslav region, including Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.[5] The actual composers of many Sevdalinka songs are unknown because these are traditional folk songs.[6]

Sevdalinka songs are characterised by their slow or moderate tempo, elaborate structure, and intense, emotionally potent melodies. The singer will often impose a rhythm and tempo into the song, both of which can vary throughout the piece. Traditionally, Sevdalinkas are considered "women's songs", often addressing issues of longing and love, often unfulfilled and unrequieted, some exploring women's physical desires for their loved ones, and some even having a range of comedic elements.[7] However, there are Sevdah songs written and sung by men as well. Traditionally, they were performed without any instruments, hence their elaborate melodies. As with most old folk styles, what the sounds of the original melodies would have been like rests on conjecture, as their interpretations are now closely aligned, in part due to the historically increasing role of accompanying instruments, with the Western chromatic system (which stands in contrast to Oriental modes, which often use intervals smaller than a semitone). Modern interpretations of Sevdalinka songs are usually accompanied by a small orchestra featuring the accordion (as the most prominent instrument), the violin, the nylon-string guitar and/or other string instruments, such as the upright bass, the saz or šargija and occasionally the flute or clarinet, and the snare drum. In modern interpretations, an accordion or violin solo can almost always be heard between the verses.[8]

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Transcription

There are some thoughts you can't escape from. They follow you like a shadow, they keep you awake at night, they hook into your brain cells like a tick, they never leave you. They don't choose the day, the time, where you are or how you feel. That's just how Bosnia follows me. Far away, but with Bosnia in my heart, now l understand how its power took me over. There, you live for the moment, for now, for today. There, you have a morning coffee in the old market and idle the morning away. There, you first find out the necessary reading list for your town. There, you listen to sevdalinka songs and blues at the same time. There, you meet people who cry when they hear the song. You sing it from your soul. You feel starving, you have the same need to sing. lt fascinates people, most of all that singing from the soul, the living soul of sevdah. Sevdah is about love and the sorrow of love. You can even die from sevdah. They say it's not a bad idea to first say why you're doing something. Say what compelled you to start an inward journey, push an idea forward, discover its secrets, and confront them. What makes you keep going till the end of the journey. Let's face it, there aren't many things we see through. Sometimes they even see through us. <i>lf l were a bird</i> <i>And if I had wings</i> <i>I'd fly all over Bosnia.</i> <i>I'd fly,</i> <i>I'd never stop</i> <i>Until I'd seen</i> <i>the whole of Bosnia.</i> OK, let's practice and it will come out. But what made me start? What brought me back to Bosnia? Farah and her stories that seemed to speak instead of me. Damir and his music that took me back to some long-lost places. This is one of his best recordings. Farah and l listened to it all the time. -Yes. There are always people in your life who give you a push in the right direction. As if you're a bullet, someone makes you ricochet and go where you should. l really feel Farah did that for me. Someone had put her there just when l needed someone who experienced sevdah, and music, the same way. The two of us had been planning to make a film since '92 or '93. We are going to make a movie, my friend, we said. And then l thought this would be the best way to do it. And somewhere, at the start, there was a book. Damir and Farah put this book together. l read her memoirs. Our experiences were completely different, but her words reflect the world of my childhood days. <i>My little blossom</i> <i>who will pick you now?</i> <i>My dear love is gone</i> <i>and can't bring you to me.</i> <i>Sorrow is all I know</i> <i>I speak but don't know</i> <i>what I am saying</i> <i>They all hurt me so.</i> Within the cool, thick walls of an old Austro-Hungarian building, my memories of myself still live. ln a room full of books and records lives the little me. The strong scent of almond oil ointment and Vick's, to help us breathe, the scent of freshly-pressed diapers, afternoon coffee, the books and their records. l can even get a clear picture of the album covers. Apart from Bob Dylan At Budokan, l remember two: A man in a red dress with gold trim standing against a forest, and a man in a suit and white shirt standing beside some water. l found out later: the man by the forest was Himzo Polovina. The man by the water was Zaim lmamović. Zaim was a legendary sevdah vocalist. lf you're Frank Sinatra's grandson and a jazz singer, how can you get taken seriously and not just be some kid who's only singing because it's a family tradition. lt was not until later, when l did the book with Farah, and we both went through all his songs, that l became a true fan of sevdah and realized what great music it was. Following the signs, we followed Zaim, to Počitelj. His favourite place. There, Damir started to unfold the story of his own family, And l found a world l always felt l belonged to but never knew it. How are you? l'm Marina. -You two have never met before? No. -What a shame! l knew that you were a musician and a singer, but you singing <i>sevdalinka</i>... l never expected that. l've always said <i>sevdalinka</i> is something that grows on you. But it only grows on you as you get older. People think you and Grandpa brought me up knowing how to sing, like some kind of craft. -Son, your Grandpa was extremely popular. When the first radio sets came over here a reporter told me that, in Zagreb, a man walked into a shop and asked for a radio with Zaim lmamović singing inside. <i>What makes the waters</i> <i>What makes the waters</i> <i>The waters of my</i> <i>Radobolja (river) muddy today?</i> l was terrified of working on a book on Zaim. lt felt as if l had to pour perfume into a tub, force a lilac tree into a pot, replace the softness of his voice with the hard strokes of my typewriter keys. But then, every story can be made to fit a book, and so Zaim's can and must. <i>lt is because</i> <i>lt is because</i> <i>My sweetheart ls cross with me.</i> l was angry when you gave me Grandpa's lyrics and sheet music for the book Farah and l were doing. When l saw how good they were, l felt angry and sad to think that every 50 years, as a nation, a state, a community we always have to start from scratch. When you hear people singing sevdah now, in bars and on TV, it's like that singing tradition didn't exist. l used to say real <i>sevdallnka</i> started with him and his generation. Atrue composition with fine music that a symphony orchestra could perform. lt was a rich tradition. They put a lot of effort into identifying all the real songs. But many were thought to be folk songs, although they had composers. You know your Grandpa himself also composed a lot of them. And they all had beautiful lyrics. -l remember Grandpa... He always gave me the impression of a Zen or kung fu master. l wonder if his gentle singing style could ever come back today when life is much more stressful. Or does the calm come with age? He once told me how people sang when he started to perform. He once told me how people sang when he started to perform. ln a coffee-bar, with an accordion and nothing else, People sitting at tables. He said, he'd pick up the accordion, he'd play something and they'd sing one verse along with him. <i>Take a gun and klll me</i> <i>Don't let anyone else kiss me.</i> Then he stops. People would have some food or drink and talk a bit. Eh, now another verse. And so on. There's also this verse: <i>Now you are leavlng me</i> lt expressed their lifestyle. Life was very slow back then. There was no rush, there was enough time for everything. <i>You're forgetting our love.</i> You stopped, so l stopped too. lf anyone remembers another verse, we can sing that too. lt used to be different in the old days. Now you need a special reason to sing. Back then, we didn't need one. There were plenty of festivities. At harvest time, corn picking time. These were our festivals. Young men and women from the village got together. They sang and danced and circle-danced. Back then, a man could not touch a girl's hand. No way! Everyone would say that he'd been fondling her. lf he touches your hand, they said, cut it off! You know what my courtship was like? lf l saw a boy l liked at a gathering, we'd dance, and if he liked me, he'd come to my window later. But the window was closed and you had to speak softly because your parents were in the other room. And you couldn't hear him talking through the window, you'd only hear him singing. Courtship was seduction. You know, <i>sevdallnka</i> was an indispensable art form in the act of courtship. -An act? Hello, do you fancy an act of courtship? lt was the only way to say certain things and keep them decent, because you couldn't talk about love itself back then. The poetry of <i>sevdallnka</i> was based on metaphor and allegory and other figures of speech used for that particular purpose. Courtship, embroidery, window, waistcoat... are all words which turn up in <i>sevdallnka</i> lyrics, and come from a time long gone. l grew up in Sarajevo, but wasn't raised in the spirit of Bosnian traditions. When l was a child, l found the imagery ridiculous. l had to be many years and kilometres away to start exploring the tradition and the song l feel are my own. <i>Sevdallnka</i> has been around for 400 years. ln those 400 years, governments have changed, so have society, politics and culture, our technology has moved on. But <i>sevdallnka</i> has still existed, and two of its elements have stayed unchanged. They're the core of the song: the melody and the lyrics. The melodic and textual character have been unchanged. Whether it is accompanied by saz, accordion, synthesizer, or performed by Damir lmamović's jazz trio, that just depends on the era. Tonight... lf l may. The blues. Shall we eat? -Come on. lt's only a pumpkin pie, son, not a borek. Why not a borek? -l don't mind, l love pumpkin pie. Have you ever sat down at a low table? -Never. You need to give everything a try. You used to take out the middle of the pie and put a bowl of milk in it for everyone to share. All from the same bowl. -No one got sick. l can't even drink twice from my own glass. You see what l have to put up with? Carry on like that, son. You never know who someone's kissed before you touch their glass. You can get AlDS from a kiss. What can you get? -AlDS. -There was no AlDS then. One singer said that it was not the same for him to sing a <i>sevdallnka</i>, a 50-year-old man, as it is for Vanja and his generation. Your own generation will pay more attention to you. <i>Nothing hurts</i> <i>Like the pain</i> <i>brought on by the night.</i> l feel that for you this is a way of reinterpreting Bosnia your imagined home, the place you come from. ls it? lt is, in a way. lt took 15 years for me to realize that. And l believe that in the process of making this film, this realization may finally set in. lt's better than paying for therapy. <i>My boat is on the vast sea</i> <i>Blow, wlnd, and give</i> <i>my boat wings</i> <i>If fate will take me</i> <i>To my lover's</i> <i>arms again.</i> As we move on, we get preoccupied with a secret. Something you know and you don't. Where do the names come from on the sheet music that we put into a bag called <i>sevdalinka</i>? Aren't they our common legacy? And yet, there's an author for each song. You show me one can still write sevdah today. I'd like to do that. Reading poetry, having an interest in poetry since school, l came across Persian poets such as Omer Khayyam or Hafiz-e Shirazi. At first, not knowing the poets, l thought those were our Bosnian poems. Especially when l found some verses one could easily set to some of our well-known <i>sevdalinka</i> music. When l heard you and dear departed Farah speak about these songs, l was astounded. lsn't it that sort of song? Many people say about a song that it's not a <i>sevdalinka</i> because we know the author. As if the others don't have one. lt's wrong for us listeners not to know who composed the songs. Those authors existed. Everything has to have an author. Every living person had a Mom and Dad. Hašim, l would like to learn to play the saz. Can you show me how it is used in sevdah? The saz is a wooden instrument that you find everywhere in the world. Officially it's of Persian origin, but people say they found a saz in the Pyramids. They say all string instruments evolved from the saz. Great sound. l can't believe something so beautiful can come from a piece of wood. How do you do it? How do you make a piece of wood into a saz? First, we check how wide the saz will be. 30 centimetres in this case. We mark it with a pencil and cut the wood with a chainsaw. Then we mark a pattern in the shape of the saz. We pencil the contours and cut a rough shape with a chainsaw. And we get its rough shape. Then you do the fine work the way you imagine. Now you have your first student. l'm so glad you found one. lf he proves to be good, l'll be happy. l want him to be better than me and to keep going. One good man is all it takes for this to continue. <i>Everything's in blossom,</i> <i>everything's in flower</i> <i>The flowers spread their scent</i> <i>But in my wretched heart</i> <i>a rose has withered.</i> Are they singing already? l sang duets with your Grandpa, long ago, when l was young. Thank you very much. -Thank you for coming. l've come to say hello and maybe to sing a song with you. You are Zaim's grandson? -Yes. -Mashallah. What else can you sing? -<i>You</i> <i>stabbed my heart and left me</i>. That's a tough one. Let's do something less emotional. OK, we'll sing something else. We'd have to call a doctor. -Let's not mention doctors! Wait, l can't remember the songs l used to sing with your Grandpa. l'd like to remember. Can we sing a Czech song? -OK, Czech sevdah. My parents were both Czech. But l'm a Bosnian, born and raised in Sarajevo. You were born in Sarajevo? -Yes. Don't do that one. Do <i>Under the Windows</i>. What happened to the <i>sevdalinka</i>? When the Austro-Hungarians came, they brought their own culture. They brought the accordion. That's aggressive and loud, not soft and tender. When they started to play <i>sevdalinka</i> on the accordion, the song could leave the intimate world of homes. -To go to a coffee-bar. <i>Everything's in blossom,</i> <i>everything's in flower</i> <i>The flowers spread their scent</i> <i>But in my wretched heart</i> <i>a rose has withered.</i> We all played the coffee-bars. Some started in coffee-bars, some started here first. This was built 35 years ago. The folk orchestra moved here from the Home of Pioneers. To this building, which housed all the orchestras: the symphony, tambura folk and dance orchestras. Can you believe it was just like this 35 years ago? Nothing has changed. One journalist called this the Yugoslav Nashville. People were kept on the payroll to play music here. Jovica Petković talked me into making my first recording. They wanted to hear what Zaim lmamović's son sounded like. My first recording was <i>What</i> <i>made my Radobolja muddy</i>. l was surprised to see it was such a fine song. <i>What made the waters</i> <i>What made the waters</i> <i>The waters of my Radobolja</i> <i>so muddy today?</i> Something like that. Great masters listened to Slobo here playing his violin and could not believe the sounds he could make. Sevdalinka is something special. To play it, you need to know how to love. To play everything you know in life and say it through <i>sevdalinka</i>. -Yes. -That's how l feel about it. <i>Sevdalinka</i> is the ultimate song. Where do you find the music? All sorts of places. On records, old tapes, some of it is on the lnternet. What's this? -Wait for the last verse. <i>My Agan</i> <i>My Agan</i> <i>Agan my dear love</i> You can put some brushes in here. <i>He wears an embroidered</i> <i>scarf at his waist</i> <i>An embroidered scarf</i> <i>at his waist.</i> <i>An embroidered scarf</i> <i>at his waist.</i> The recordings from the 50s and 60s, by Zaim, Nada and others, those are eternal. A hundred years from now, when someone else transforms <i>sevda</i>h, their recordings will serve as a model. Your grandfather's name was a burden on your shoulders. No-one but you knows how you dealt with that. People say, <i>Of course you're a</i> <i>musician, It's natural</i>. It isn't. The natural thing was to run away from it, like l tried to do. l majored in philosophy because Zaim was such a burden. But it was a gift from God, that you did philosophy first. That you were capable of introspection. <i>Woe is me</i> <i>All alone in Sarajevo</i> <i>Oh, the heartache, the pain</i> <i>Oh, the heartache, the pain</i> <i>To be in Sarajevo</i> <i>All alone.</i> l believe that, if you love what you do, the love you bring into it stays woven into your work and when someone else looks at it, they feel that love. The emotion woven into it. The emotion is a final product of a process of many things coming together and being transformed. When an old bluesman picks up their instrument and strikes a note, in that single note, a simple note that any beginner could play, you just feel it all, for that single note would not be possible without 30 years of making music. l always liked writers who can say everything in three words rather than four big books. -lt's the same with <i>sevda</i>h. The best lyrics ever are <i>Woe</i> <i>Is me all alone in Sarajevo</i>. <i>Alone when I go to bed at night,</i> <i>alone in the morning.</i> <i>I'll sit up all night and</i> <i>wait for my dear love to come.</i> lf that is not yearning... The thought makes me We played with the song a bit, we made it a blues song. You know, a bearded old bluesman sits down and sings <i>Woe is me all alone in Sarajevo.</i> It's blues, pure blues. <i>Alone when I go to bed at night</i> <i>Alone in the morning</i> <i>Alone when I go to bed at night</i> <i>Alone in the morning</i> <i>Poor me, woe is me</i> <i>Poor me, woe is me</i> <i>To be in Sarajevo</i> <i>All alone.</i> You and l are fascinated by the same thing, The old <i>sevda</i>h with the saz. Not popular, and not pop. But so good it hurts. -Do you think we can make songs like that again? Why not? You are a good example. Or me, what l wanted to do was simple. Show the poetry and beauty, without too many effects or instruments. Why not? l think we can. <i>l am a rich woman,</i> <i>l have everything</i> <i>Except that I can't kiss him</i> <i>I'd put my pale arms around</i> <i>his neck every hour</i> <i>Oh, how I have longed</i> <i>To kiss his lips.</i> This was <i>karasevdah</i>. The black sevdah. lt's in our cultural code, l guess. We like to wound ourselves. lncredibly happy people drinking with their friends and singing terribly sad songs. -Everybody cries. Then they're merry again and want more songs. <i>Please tell him</i> <i>Tell him that I love him</i> <i>That I can kiss him sweeter</i> <i>Than any younger woman can</i> <i>Oh, how I have longed</i> <i>To kiss his sweet lips.</i> What is sevdah? ln a company that used to be a titan of industry, which is now falling apart, where workers have not been paid for over six months. l go there just before New Year's and find an empty factory hall resounding with loud <i>sevdallnka</i>. There is nothing there, all the equipment has been sold. lt's freezing in there because they can't pay the heating bills. And they're all in a tiny room with a small heater, one of those sixties models. The table is lined with paper. And on the paper: cheese, sour cream, gherkins, kebabs, pies, brandy, Coke, juice and a <i>sevdalinka</i>. They're all there, killing themselves with sad songs. So l ask them when they are going back to work. And they laugh and say, we've no idea, there's no work. lt doesn't matter as long as they're together. And then the sadness grabs me. On this journey, l realize that behind every song and story there is a sense of loss. Farah was our common loss. And so we hear her voice in every song. Do you have any of the recordings Farah made with <i>Dertum</i>? l was just trying to find one of her songs. l think this was one of hers. No. -lt's not here. Do you think we could say that they started this new style of sevdah? Sure we can. l think they were the first to start performing sevdah during the war in other countries and for young audiences. That is the important part. The young audiences. <i>A crier cries</i> <i>from morning to night</i> <i>Who spent the night</i> <i>at whose house</i> lt's only now that l see how much impact she had on so many people. As if it was her mission in life: to change lives and inspire other people. At parties we all used to sing <i>sevdalinka</i> with Farah. Or we would sing her <i>Dertum</i> material. And she'd say, <i>Llsten to this</i>. And it would be a line that summed up the whole song. lt's like when you study for a test underscoring the lines that you understand are vital. lt's this one line, one phrase. You can't put it into one sentence. You understand when you listen, but you can't say it like the song does. lt's the same with Farah. Nothing l can say, write or film compares to how l really feel about her. l don't want it to appear less than it is in my head. And it's huge. You are used to a person being around, you know her voice. And you feel a gap there. lt's missing from the song. She gave a very special feeling to each and every song she sang. What is she to me? To me, she's simply Farah to me. lt's the four years we spent together as refugees. And a million moments we shared in Sarajevo. lt was that day back in 1993 when we started singing at the top of our voices, when Sarajevo was a distant planet. lt is all those moments when l find her in myself and other people. Many young people who left during the war for Western Europe started to view <i>sevdalinka</i> as an urban musical style. l did, too. -You did some research into it. l read some. l did. Before the war, l had nothing to do with it. lt wasn't part of our family traditions. But during the war, when l was trying to prove that in B-H we had a just cause, that it was not a civil war, that rural culture was fighting against urban culture, l realized <i>sevdalinka</i> was ideal proof of what l and others were fighting for. lt was the paradigm of a refined urban Bosnia facing destruction by war. l think that the song survived thanks to people in the diaspora fighting their own inner battles far away. Sevdalinka became another argument, this is who we are, this is our refined Bosnia that they want to destroy. Sevdah in itself, that melancholic side, has a lot to do with the concept of loss and grief for something you can't get over and haven't resolved. That is when l met Farah. She made me love <i>sevdallnka</i>. She opened the door for me. <i>lf you don't know him</i> <i>Why did you give him</i> <i>A drink of water</i> <i>Rada</i> <i>Rada, my daughter,</i> <i>Why did you give him</i> <i>a drink of water?</i> <i>Oh, nanny</i> <i>My beloved nanny</i> <i>He is my sweetheart</i> <i>Oh, nanny</i> <i>My beloved nanny</i> <i>He is my sweetheart.</i> When l started playing music, l had this small group of friends: Farah, Dado, and the others. When Farah died... They all scattered. -Like marbles, across the world. When l decided to make my second album a live album, l very selfishly went looking for another intimate group of people whom l could instantly share ideas with, people who cared about the tradition like l did. How are you? -l'm Marina. -l'm Maja. Our last stop was Mostar. Atown divided since the war. There, at the spot where the two separate worlds never meet, a new generation is trying to find the city's lost soul, at the Abrašević Youth Cultural Centre. How come you have created this oasis... -ln the middle of nowhere. lt is in the middle of nowhere. At the confrontation line. We thought it could be a kind of dry bridge. Between the two different places that have their separate lives. lt is such a bridge. lt used to be an amateur performing arts centre and your grandfather performed here. They asked, <i>What has sevdah</i> <i>got to do with it?</i> Everything! The sevdah I perform, the way l see it. This old-time music perfectly fits into a place which used to be a place to play sevdah in the old days and has been successfully transformed. lt's beautiful. So, you'll have a concert, my friend? <i>My thoughts fly to you,</i> <i>my mother</i> <i>Over fields and mountains</i> <i>From afar, receive a greeting</i> <i>From your one and only son.</i> You have to examine a tradition to preserve it. <i>You must be able to speak</i> <i>about it, to be able to sing.</i> When walking, we need to know who walked here and what happened. Only then can you walk safely and with integrity. Then you know why you're here and why you want to stay and form it. Only then will there always be people to listen to and feel <i>sevda</i>h and bring it forth in their songs, verse or films, for their own sakes and for others. Like Damir and l did. Both for our personal, intimate magic, and for those who will watch it, listen to it and sing it. And now for some serious emotion. Recently l found, in an old collection of <i>sevdalinka</i> songs collected and published by Osman Đikić, l found a beautiful poem and added my own music to it. l'm going to play it for you now. <i>There were two lovers who</i> <i>loved each other dearly</i> <i>Washed both their faces</i> <i>in a single stream</i> <i>Dried themselves both</i> <i>with a single towel</i> <i>The first summer,</i> <i>nobody knew</i> <i>The next summer,</i> <i>everyone found out</i> <i>Mother and Father found out too.</i> <i>Mother would not</i> <i>let them love each other</i> She made the two lovers part</i> She made the two lovers part</i> <i>The boyfriend sent a message</i> <i>through a star</i> <i>You will die, my love,</i> <i>late on Saturday</i> <i>I will die, a hero,</i> <i>early on Sunday.</i> <i>As it was said,</i> <i>so it was done</i> <i>She died late</i> <i>on Saturday night</i> <i>He died early</i> <i>on Sunday morning</i> <i>They were buried</i> <i>beside each other</i> <i>Their hands were joined</i> <i>together through the earth</i> <i>And in their hands,</i> <i>green apples.</i> There are some thoughts you can't escape from. They stay with you like a shadow, they keep you awake at night, they hook into your brain cells, they never leave you. They don't choose the day, the time, where you are or how you feel. That's just how Bosnia follows me. Because it's not just a country, part of a continent or a location. lt's something in your head, your memories, habits, language, the way you live, the songs you sing and the love you share with others. <i>Many years later</i> <i>A green pine tree</i> <i>grows where he lies</i> <i>A red rose where she lies</i> <i>And the rose winds</i> <i>around the pine</i> <i>Like a silken ribbon</i> <i>Embraces a bunch</i> <i>of fragrant flowers</i> <i>Llke a silken ribbon</i> <i>Embraces a bunch</i> <i>of fragrant flowers.</i> ln lovely memory of our friend Farah Tahirbegović

Etymology

The word "Sevdalinka" comes from the Turkish "sevda" which, in turn, derives from the Ottoman Turkish "sevda" and refers to the state of being in love, and more specifically to the intense and forlorn longing associated with love-sickness and unfulfilled and unrequited love. This is related also to the Persian word (سودازده), meaning both "melancholic" and "enamoured". It was these associations that arrived with the word when it was brought to Bosnia through the activities of the Ottoman Empire. Today, it is a richly evocative Bosnian word, denoting "to pine" or "to long", whether for a loved one, a place or a time, with a sense of joy and pain, both being at the emotional core of Sevdalinka lyrics.[4][8]

The people of Bosnia employ the words "sevdalinka" and "sevdah" interchangeably as a name for this sort of music, although the shared Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian loanword "sevdah" can also be used in other contexts. Saudade, a central term in Portuguese Fado, is of the same origin, emerging from Arabic medical discourses and used for centuries in both Al-Andalus and the Ottoman empire.[4][8] In turn, the term "melancholy" or "melancholia" is of similar medical origin, arising from the ancient Greek term for black bile" or "melan kholé".

Origins and history

The origins of Sevdalinka are not known for certain, although it is known to date at least as far back as to the arrival of the Ottomans in the medieval Balkans. Their melodies and the venerable lyrical figure of "Aman, aman" hint at a Sephardic and Andalusian influence, which can be explained by the arrivals of Sephardic refugees into Ottoman Bosnia, or more likely attributed to an Ottoman Turkish signification which translates into "have mercy".[4]

The first historic appearance of Sevdalinka is considered to be "Bolest Muje Carevića" ("The Illness of Mujo Carević"), which is believed to have been written around the year 1475. Another early written document that refers to the Sevdalinka is the work of an Italian man passing through the Bosnian city of Visoko in the year 1574, who has heard what he described as "sad songs sung by the locals" that made him feel melancholic.[9] In the early 16th century, a duke from Split also mentioned what was probably a Sevdalinka song about the forbidden love of a Christian girl named Mara Vornić and a Muslim boy named Fadil or Adel/Adil (accounts vary).[10]

The earliest known female Sevdalinka poet was Umihana Čuvidina, who wrote mainly about her deceased husband.

Performers

A couple of significant singers of the Sevdalinka in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s were Rešad Bešlagić and Vuka Šeherović. Towards the end of World War II, Radio Sarajevo was founded and signed some of the most prominent "Sevdalije" (or Sevdalinka performers), among them Zaim Imamović in 1945, Himzo Polovina in 1953, Beba Selimović in 1954, Safet Isović in 1955, and Zehra Deović in 1960. Nada Mamula was signed to Radio Beograd in 1946. Others, such as Silvana Armenulić, Emina Zečaj, Nedžad Salković, Hanka Paldum and Meho Puzić, were signed to record for such production companies as Jugoton, Diskoton or other Yugoslav labels.

Although sung predominantly by traditional Bosniak singers, the Sevdalinka made its way to many "mainstream" musicians. Sevdalinkas have as such been covered by Josipa Lisac, Željko Bebek, Ibrica Jusić, Jadranka Stojaković, Toše Proeski and Zdravko Čolić, among others.

In the 1990s, the band Mostar Sevdah Reunion was assembled in Mostar, and in the early 2000s rose to prominence on the world music scene, receiving prominent awards for their lively interpretations of Sevdalinkas (which fused Sevdalinka with contemporary musical styles such as jazz, funk and rock) and introducing many people outside of Bosnia to the genre of the Sevdalinka.[7][11][12] Equally popular today are songwriters/performers Damir Imamović and Amira Medunjanin, dubbed by the music journalist and author Garth Wainwright as "Bosnia's Billie Holiday".[7]

Notable songs

Some famous Sevdalinka songs
  • Il' je vedro, il' oblačno (It's either clear (no clouds in the sky), or clouded)
  • Ah što ćemo ljubav kriti (Why Should We Hide Our Love)
  • Da Sam Ptica (If I Were a Bird)
  • Moj golube (My dove)
  • Emina
  • Grana od bora, pala kraj mora (A Branch of Pine, Fell by the Sea)
  • Karanfile Cvijeće Moje (Carnation, My Flower)
  • Kraj potoka bistre vode (By a Stream of Crystal Clear Water)
  • Omer-beže na kuli sjeđaše (Bey Omer Sits on the Tower)
  • Razbolje se lijepa Hajrija (Beautiful Hajrija Became Ill)
  • Razbolje se Sultan Sulejman (The Sultan Suleiman Became Ill)
  • Sejdefu majka buđaše (Sejdefa's Mother Wakes Her)[13]
  • Snijeg pade na behar na voće (Snow Fell on the Blossom, on the Fruit)
  • Što te nema (Why Aren't You Here)
  • Sve behara i sve cvjeta (Everything Blossoms and Everything Blooms)
  • Tekla rijeka potokom i jazom (The River Flowed Through the Stream and Divide)
  • Teško meni jadnoj u Saraj'vu samoj (It's Difficult for Me, a Poor Girl Alone in Sarajevo)
  • U Stambolu Na Bosforu (In Istanbul on the Bosphorous)
  • Zapjevala sojka ptica (The Blue Jay Bird Sang)
  • Zaplakala šećer Đula (The Sweet Rose Wept)
  • Zaplakala stara majka (The Elderly Mother Wept)
  • Zmaj od Bosne (Dragon of Bosnia)
  • Zvijezda tjera mjeseca (The Star Chases the Moon)
Other Bosnian folk songs often mentioned as Sevdalinka-s
  • Crven Fesić (Little Red Fez)
  • Čudna jada od Mostara grada (Strange Wretch from the Town of Mostar)
  • Djevojka sokolu zulum učinila (The Girl Perpetrated Cruelty on the Falcon)
  • Došla voda od brijega do brijega (The Water Came from Hill to Hill)
  • Karanfil se na put sprema (Karanfil Prepares for a Journey)
  • Ko se ono brijegom šeće? (Who Is Walking on the Hill?)
  • Lijepi li su Mostarski dućani (Mostar's Shops Are Beautiful)
  • Mila majko, šalji me na vodu (Dear Mother, Send Me to the Water)[14]
  • Moj dilbere (My Darling)[15]
  • Mujo kuje konja po mjesecu (Mujo Shoes the Horse in the Moonlight)
  • Sinoć ja i moja kona (Last Night, My Neighbor and I)
  • Tamburalo momče uz tamburu (The Boy Played the Tamburica)
  • U lijepom starom gradu Višegradu (In the Beautiful Old Town of Višegrad)
  • Vino piju Age Sarajlije (The Aghas of Sarajevo Drink Wine)

Examples

  • Anadolka
  • Kad ja pođoh (Guitar) (Flute)
  • Ne Klepeći Nanulama
  • Što te nema (Hasanagin Sevdah)
  • U Stambolu na Bosforu
  • Žute Dunje

References

  1. ^ Buturovic, Amila; Schick, Irvin Cemil (26 September 2007). Women in the Ottoman Balkans: Gender, Culture and History, 2007, p 80. ISBN 9781845115050.
  2. ^ Slobin, Mark (1996). Retuning Culture: Musical Changes in Central and Eastern Europe, 1996, p 123. ISBN 0822318474.
  3. ^ Manifold Identities: Studies on Music and Minorities, 2004, p 197. 2004. ISBN 9781904303374.
  4. ^ a b c d Alfred KUEPPERS (8 November 2014). "The Story of Sevdalinke, Part I: The Saz". Balkanist. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  5. ^ Dragiša Živković (1971). Živan Milisavac (ed.). Jugoslovenski književni leksikon [Yugoslav Literary Lexicon]. Novi Sad (SAP Vojvodina, SR Serbia: Matica srpska. pp. 479–480.
  6. ^ "Sevdah u Narodnom (19.12.2018.)". YouTube.
  7. ^ a b c Alfred KUEPPERS (8 November 2014). "The Story of Sevdalinke, Part III: The Music Today". Balkanist. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  8. ^ a b c Alfred KUEPPERS (20 September 2014). "The Story of Sevdalinke, Part II: The Musical Evolution". Balkanist. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Geologija pesme". Vreme. 7 December 2006. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  10. ^ "Bolje da ne pevaš". dw.de. 12 July 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  11. ^ "Mostar Sevdah Reuninion - Zapjevala Sojka Ptica". YouTube.
  12. ^ "Mostar Sevdah Reuninion - Vranjanka". YouTube.
  13. ^ "Stručnjaci tvrde: "Sejdefa" ne može biti dio srpskog muzičkog nasljeđa". 2 November 2012. Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  14. ^ "Josipa peva sevdalinke u Beogradu". Blic. 2 November 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  15. ^ "Smithsonian Folkways - Moj Dilbere". Retrieved 13 May 2013.

External links

This page was last edited on 25 February 2024, at 20:12
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