Mostar Sevdah Reunion, Bosnia and Herzegovina
World music program includes musicians and vocalists from various countries - true representatives and promoters of their native cultures.
Mostar Sevdah Reunion’s primary task was to promote the Bosnian traditional music ‘sevdah’. It is a world-fusion musical ensemble playing almost exclusively ‘sevdalinka’-songs fused with contemporary musical styles. The band often collaborates with renowned artists in the field of Balkan and Roma music. One of the greatest TV stations of the World, BBC made 1 hour documentary about Mostar Sevdah Reunion for the series about the greatest World Music bands.
It is a multicultural band, it consists of musicians of different origins and religious backgrounds. Music of this Balkan region is a fusion of Turkish, Hungarian, Gypsy and Slavic influences. The style of MSR based on authentic roots develops its own melancholic bluesy sound with jazzy flavor of skilled improvisations.
Sevdah is a traditional style of Bosnian music that goes back some 300 years or more. The name takes it origins from Arabic. It means love, desire or ecstasy. “Mostar is sevdah – the greatest poets of sevdah were born in Mostar,” says Dragi Šestic (the founder and producer of the band) “it is deep within our town”.
2013 the Bosnian director Amir Grabus filmed a movie ‘Tales From a Forgotten City’ about ‘sevdalinka’ style, Mostar town and its glorious band Mostar Sevdah Reunion. Guests and visitors of the festival will have an opportunity to watch it at the day of the concert in Voronezh Concert Hall.
The band gigs through Europe and America since 15 years. They are participants at the most prestigious festivals, concert halls, theaters, clubs like the Barbican Centre- London; Concertgebouw-Amsterdam, North Sea Jazz Festival/Netherlands ; The Newsgate- Newcastle; International Gypsy Festival- Tilburg/The Netherlands; International Jazz Festival Moers, Dusseldorf; World Music Festival Almeria/Spain; Sodra Teatern-Stockholm; World Music Festival Oslo ; Film Festival Cannes, Film Festival Berlin, etc.
The band has never performed in Russia before the festival. The concert on 2014 in Voronezh as a Russian premiere is a great present for Russian fans of Mostar Sevdah Reunion’s music.
