A Platform for Ethnically and Culturally Inspired Music
IN THE CHARTS
13 times in the Global Top 40
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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 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, and 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.
Bosnia's greatest musical export, the band that continues to evolve and change throughout a career spanning 25 years and 13 albums, now comes with something entirely different: a world music concept album, stronger - an unusual musical suite!
After their acclaimed 2013 concept album "Tales From a Forgotten City," entirely dedicated to beautiful and troubled Mostar and her poets and singers, they now come back with something different, in line with the tradition of discovering and presenting forgotten and new talent. "The Balkan Autumn" (2018) features one of the best-kept musical secrets of the region: Milutin Sretenovic “Sreta” is an incredible 70-year-old crooner from Serbia who mixes Sinatra-like jazzy vocals with Spanish flamenco and Oriental maqams. Another new voice at Sreta’s side is 27-year-old Antonija Batinić, the latest star of Sevdah music whose vocal abilities seem to be without limits.
After Sreta's death in summer 2021, young Antonija became the main vocal of the band.
The latest album “Lady Sings The Balkan Blues,” which was released at the end of 2022, in 2023 came on all the most important World Music Charts lists in the No.1 position, including the British Songlines who labeled this album as the TOP OF THE WORLD.
The power, the energy, and the improvisation skills of the band are just so impressive that nobody can stay cool during their performance.
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 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, and 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.
Bosnia's greatest musical export, the band that continues to evolve and change throughout a career spanning 25 years and 13 albums, now comes with something entirely different: a world music concept album, stronger - an unusual musical suite!
After their acclaimed 2013 concept album "Tales From a Forgotten City," entirely dedicated to beautiful and troubled Mostar and her poets and singers, they now come back with something different, in line with the tradition of discovering and presenting forgotten and new talent. "The Balkan Autumn" (2018) features one of the best-kept musical secrets of the region: Milutin Sretenovic “Sreta” is an incredible 70-year-old crooner from Serbia who mixes Sinatra-like jazzy vocals with Spanish flamenco and Oriental maqams. Another new voice at Sreta’s side is 27-year-old Antonija Batinić, the latest star of Sevdah music whose vocal abilities seem to be without limits.
After Sreta's death in summer 2021, young Antonija became the main vocal of the band.
The latest album “Lady Sings The Balkan Blues,” which was released at the end of 2022, in 2023 came on all the most important World Music Charts lists in the No.1 position, including the British Songlines who labeled this album as the TOP OF THE WORLD.
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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