Mostar Sevdah Reunion

Before the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, gypsy traditions and the café culture of Bosnia shaped a distinctive musical current. In Mostar at that time, the sevdalinka style flourished under strong Turkish influences. Once the conflict ended, founder Dragi Sesti brought the musicians back together in 1998, and they began shaping material that draws on centuries-old sources while acknowledging the region’s recent upheavals. The lineup features vocalist Illijaz Delic, accordionist and clarinetist Mustafa Santic, violinist Nedjo Kovacevic and guitarist Miso Petrovic. The group has also collaborated onstage and on record with Saban Bajramovic, Ljiljana Buttler and Esma Redzepova. Mostar Sevdah Reunion revives traditional repertoire that stretches back several hundred years. Anchored in the difficult history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, sevdah’s essential character remains deeply melancholic and mirrors the turbulent experiences of local communities. The ensemble appears in the documentaries Mostar Sevdah Reunion (2000) and Sevdah, The Bridge That Survived (2005). Festival appearances have included Amsterdam Roots Festival, Belgium’s Sfinks Festival and Nice Jazz Festival. During the first years of the decade they toured Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, performing at London’s Barbican Centre.