Bosnia's 'Balkan Blues' Music Honored by UNESCO
2025-01-04
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1Every Friday, musician Enes Salman performs the Sevdalinka, an ancient form of love song from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2Sevdalinka was recently included in UNESCO's National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
3UNESCO is The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
4Sevdalinka is often called the Balkan Blues.
5It is a somewhat sad form of urban love song that dates to the 1500s.
6It is a mix of South Slavic spoken poetry and music of the Ottoman Empire.
7Salman is among only a few musicians keeping the tradition alive.
8"I have been playing and singing Sevdalinka since I was 14," he said before a recent performance.
9Sevdalinka is often performed a cappella.
10That means it is sung without musical instruments.
11Sometimes the performer sings with traditional instruments like a lute.
12This form, or genre, of music has been carried from generation to generation through performances at family gatherings.
13In recent years, younger musicians have brought modern versions of Sevdalinka to audiences around the world.
14One of them is Damir Imamovic.
15His father and grandfather were famous Sevdalinka performers.
16In 2020 and 2021, Imamovic won awards from two world music publications, Songlines and Transglobal, for best European album.
17Imamovic supports Sevdalinka internationally through his SevdahLab project.
18The project helped build support for the music's inclusion on UNESCO's World Heritage list.
19"I realized how little the public knows about the Sevdalinka genre and wanted to reveal the story behind that music," he said.
20Zanin Berbic is a 28-year-old ethno-musicologist.
21He works as a curator in the music department of Bosnia's Regional Museum in Sarajevo, organizing, protecting, and bringing attention to music.
22He also plays saz, a long-necked lute used in Ottoman classical music.
23He said that Sevdalinka tells the story of Bosnia's history.
24Berbic said, "Most of my days I spend either singing or playing Sevdalinka songs or reading or talking about them. Sevdalinka is my life," he said.
25I'm Anna Matteo.
1Every Friday, musician Enes Salman performs the Sevdalinka, an ancient form of love song from Bosnia and Herzegovina. 2Sevdalinka was recently included in UNESCO's National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage. UNESCO is The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 3Sevdalinka is often called the Balkan Blues. It is a somewhat sad form of urban love song that dates to the 1500s. It is a mix of South Slavic spoken poetry and music of the Ottoman Empire. 4Salman is among only a few musicians keeping the tradition alive. 5"I have been playing and singing Sevdalinka since I was 14," he said before a recent performance. 6Sevdalinka is often performed a cappella. That means it is sung without musical instruments. Sometimes the performer sings with traditional instruments like a lute. This form, or genre, of music has been carried from generation to generation through performances at family gatherings. 7In recent years, younger musicians have brought modern versions of Sevdalinka to audiences around the world. 8One of them is Damir Imamovic. His father and grandfather were famous Sevdalinka performers. In 2020 and 2021, Imamovic won awards from two world music publications, Songlines and Transglobal, for best European album. 9Imamovic supports Sevdalinka internationally through his SevdahLab project. The project helped build support for the music's inclusion on UNESCO's World Heritage list. 10"I realized how little the public knows about the Sevdalinka genre and wanted to reveal the story behind that music," he said. 11Zanin Berbic is a 28-year-old ethno-musicologist. He works as a curator in the music department of Bosnia's Regional Museum in Sarajevo, organizing, protecting, and bringing attention to music. He also plays saz, a long-necked lute used in Ottoman classical music. He said that Sevdalinka tells the story of Bosnia's history. 12Berbic said, "Most of my days I spend either singing or playing Sevdalinka songs or reading or talking about them. Sevdalinka is my life," he said. 13I'm Anna Matteo. 14Daria Sito-Sucic reported this story for Reuters from Sarajevo. Anna Matteo adapted it for VOA Learning English. 15___________________________________________ 16Words in This Story 17a cappella -foreign term (music) singing without musical instruments 18genre -n. a form of art that is distinct from others 19audience -n. people who listen to a performance in a theater, on television or a public place 20ethno-musicology -n. the study of music in a sociocultural context; the study of ethnic music 21curator -n. a person who oversees a collection of certain kinds of objects