Mostar Sevdh Reunion - SEJDEFU MAJKA BUDJASE

Mostar Sevdah Reunion - LADY SINGS THE BALKAN BLUES
Catalogue number : SR66030

Produced by Dragi Šestić

Executive producer – Robert Sep
Recorded at Pavarotti Music Center, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period between December 2021- April 2022.
Sound technicians: Saša Karabatak and Adin Sarić
Mixed and mastered by Dragi Šestić at the Snail Records Studio, Amsterdam, The Netherlands – summer 2022.

Antonija Batinić- vocal
Mišo Petrović – lead, solo and rhythm guitar (all tracks except 1)
Senad Trnovac – drums (all tracks except 1)
Marko Jakovljević – double bass and el.bass (all tracks)
Ivan Radoja – violin (all tracks except 8. )
Gabrijel Prusina – piano (all tracks) and accordion on track 10
Sandi Duraković – rhythm guitar (tracks 2, 3, 4, 7, 9 and 11)


Special guests:

Boris Vuga – accordion (tracks 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 11)
Orhan Maslo – percussion (tracks 2, 7 and 11)
Ivan Sušac – trumpet (track 11)


English translation by Emir Tutić

All songs published by Snail Publishing 2022
All copyrights reserved by Snail Records 2022
LC 12490

© &  ℗ – Snail Records 2022




Mostar Sevdah Reunion’s twelfth album! One could think “What else is there of sevdah and sevdalinka to be heard, that we haven’t already heard?!”. After albums like Secret Gate, Café Sevdah, Tales from Forgotten City and so on, a passionate sevdah and MSR afficionado could be led to think that it has all been said, sung and played already. That the best of sevdah has been heard. That would be a misconception, and misconceptions mostly do harm.

This misconception is easily broken. It is enough to listen to just a half of the first song, the one that opens the album, “Woe Is Me, in Sarajevo Lonely, Me”. Just a half!

Sevdah is, like blues and flamenco (primarily its “cante jondo”, “deep song”, it being the closest to kara-sevdah*), characteristically sad. However, the sources of sadness, in the origin of the articulation, differ. This space, of course, does not allow further elaboration, but in accordance with what we generally know about the origin of the above mentioned musical articulations, superficially it could be defined that blues is the voice of an enslaved human, flamenco is the voice of a refugee, and sevdah, the voice of a serf to love. Naturally, with the development of the musical genres, they thematically developed further, but the primary themes remained dominant.

Almost all songs on the “Lady Sings the Balkan Blues” album corroborate that. They speak about loneliness, a girl that “lonely lies down and lonely gets up”, about growing old while waiting for the loved one, about “the first one that caught her eye”, unwanted arranged marriage, wishes and dreams… about deep love desire and longing.

And who would be the “Lady” that brought this album to life with her voice? Antonija Batinić is a young lady from Kupres, a girl who became popular by singing rock, jazz and blues, and who has been performing with Mostar Sevdah Reunion in concerts throughout the region and the world. And she has left no one indifferent. Rock, jazz – and sevdah? As I said, misconceptions can only do harm. Antonija’s voice is such that she can deliver the most demanding kara-sevdah songs confidently, genuinely, and authentically.

Mostar Sevdah Reunion is a project that, despite all the struggles, continues its mission which started in the now distant 1998, and the mission is to present sevdah, an autochthonous musical expression of this area and an important element of our culture, as well as our exquisite artists, to the whole world. Dragi Šestić, the founder of MSR, when he looks back, can be proud of his mission’s achievements, that he managed to put together a magnificent mosaic from shatters of a segment of this country’s culture whose allure got a global recognition.

These fellows have been digging out jewels from a devastated land and putting them onto the international map of musical treasures, extending a hand to both unfairly and unfortunately underrepresented talented people, and they have been bringing them out to the spotlights of the worldwide stages, showing and proving to the world that we are special by beauty as well, earning ovations and sighs for the gift of this country and this land from those who do not know us. It has been my great honor to be a tiny part of this project.

After many MSR’s albums, this one has moved further on and raised the bar. It has brought the ampleness, better quality, new value. And it has brought awe, that in a small country such as Bosnia and Herzegovina and its geographically small, but truly great, town of Mostar, something like this can be made. The mystery of Bosnia and Herzegovina! Something that will find its place in the vaults for the world’s cultural heritage.



Rusmir Pobrić