A Platform for Ethnically and Culturally Inspired Music
Mostar Sevdah Reunion
Artist
Bosnia-Herzegovina
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IN THE CHARTS
 
13 times in the Global Top 40
November 2023 #40 - Global Top 40 Da Sam Ptica (track)
November 2023 #35 - Global Top 40 Tesko Meni U Saraj'vu Samoj (track)
August 2023 #34 - Global Top 40 Da Sam Ptica (track)
TRACKS
 
3 times in the Global Top 40
4 times in the Global Top 40
4 times in the Global Top 40
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About: Mostar Sevdah Reunion
About: Mostar Sevdah Reunion - Tales From A Forgotten City
About: Mostar Sevdah Reunion 2013
About: Mostar Sevdah Reunion band
About: Mostar Sevdah Reunion - poster
About: Mostar Sevdah Reunion and Antonija
ABOUT
Mostar Sevdah Reunion" - The Pioneers of the 21st Century Sevdah

Biography

Mostar Sevdah Reunion has already put itself on the map of World Music at the end of the '90s. Their primary task was to promote the Bosnian traditional music - Sevdah.

The band was formed by Dragi Šestić in Mostar in 1998. The band started out as a group of local, talented, and experienced musicians - old friends, who made a reunion in the summer of 1999 for the recording of their first album. Their first CD was released in 1999. Since then, they have become a real world music attraction, performing at various world music festivals and receiving a number of music awards.

"Sevdah is a traditional style of Bosnian music that goes back some 300 years or more. The name, from Arabic, means love, desire, or ecstasy. 'Mostar is Sevdah – the greatest poets of Sevdah were born in Mostar,' says Dragi Šestić (the founder and producer of the band), 'it is deep within our town.'" Soon, after the big success of their first album, they started to perform on the big scene: in 2000, Mostar Sevdah Reunion performed at the Amsterdam Roots Festival and Belgium's Sfinks Festival, and in 2001 at Stimmen-Lörrach, Germany, and the famous Nice Jazz Festival. On that special evening entitled "Blues around the World - B.B. King and Friends," Mostar Sevdah Reunion brought the Balkan Blues to the roots of American Blues in front of 50,000 people - they performed alongside some of the greatest Blues artists: B.B. King, Van Morrison, Dr. John, Bill Wyman, Keb Mo, and Marva Wright. A few years later, they started the famous collaboration with the greatest Gypsy stars: Ljiljana Buttler (The Mother of Gypsy Soul), Šaban Bajramović, and Esma Redžepova - as well as with Boban Marković, Naat Veliov, ... They are releasing anthological albums with those artists and slowly becoming the mainstay of the Balkans' musical expression. In the following years, they performed at the most prestigious festivals, concert halls, theaters, clubs like the Barbican Centre - London; Concertgebouw - Amsterdam, North Sea Jazz Festival/Netherlands; The Sage Gateshead - Newcastle; International Gypsy Festival - Tilburg/The Netherlands; International Jazz Festival Moers, Düsseldorf; World Music Festival Almería/Spain; Södra Teatern - Stockholm; World Music Festival Oslo; Film Festival Cannes, Film Festival Berlin, ... - standing ovations followed each performance. One of the greatest TV stations in the world, BBC, made a 1-hour documentary for the series about the greatest World Music bands. MSR is one to represent the Balkans and their music. CD "Café Sevdah," released in 2007 by Snail Records, brought to the spotlight a big discovery of Bosnian music - singer Nermin Alukić Čerkez. His deep, emotional way of singing brought an extra dimension to Sevdah. His unique guitar style became the trademark, as well as that of Mišo Petrović - lead guitarist, whose virtuosity conquered the World Music scene in all those years.

Mostar Sevdah Reunion presents "Tales from a Forgotten City," their great and innovative new album.

Bosnia's greatest musical export, the band that continues to evolve and change throughout a career spanning 14 years and eight albums, now comes with something entirely different: a world music concept album, stronger - an unusual musical suite!

The power, the energy, and the improvisation skills of the band are just so impressive that nobody can stay cool during their performance.
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