Sevdah music has been of interest to fans of good sound all over the world for years, but the work of Bosnian artist Maja Milinković brought a completely different view of this genre.
As someone who fell in love with Portuguese fado, Milinković decided to combine these two seemingly incompatible musical directions and therefore popularizes fado in the Balkans through her song, and especially in Portugal, where she has been living for the past few years.
The audience in Herceg Novi will have the opportunity to hear what the symbiosis of these two genres sounds like on Tuesday, February 14, at Dvorana Park. It will be, as announced, "an evening dedicated to love", but also to good music, for which Milinković will be in charge.
Milinković talks about her career, music, and how much Sarajevo means to her for Magazin...
You have been on stage for many years, but only now are the doors opening for you to perform in Montenegro. Your concert is scheduled for February 14 in Herceg Novi, and your musical career is very rich because during it you showed that you are very good at many genres, from pop and rock to sevdah and fado. Will the concert be a cross-section of your career, or will you still focus on what you are doing now?
Yes, this will be my first time performing in Herceg Novi, and I already had a performance in Budva back in 2004, on January 1, as part of the New Year's celebration. I've been singing fado and sevdah for 10 years, so that's mostly the repertoire we perform at concerts.
I mentioned that the concert is for Valentine's Day, considering the romance that your music carries, was the date chosen by chance?
Love should always be celebrated. Valentine's Day is always a good occasion to celebrate love with a concert. My music raises emotions and in that sense we can say that it is romantic. I hope to sing for an audience that is in love not only with their "better half", but with life and music.
You started your career as a pop and rock singer, and then after two albums you switched to sevdah, then fado. As a native of Saraj, it is not unusual for me that you became attached to sevdah, but where did your interest in fado music come from?
Sevdah has always been a part of my life, and Sarajevo is the cradle of ex-yu rock and roll. Professionally, it's true that I started with pop/rock until the day fado found me. I usually say that fado happened to me, because I wasn't looking for it. In fact, I was even working on my new pop/rock album when I discovered fado in my voice Amalia Rodriguez on a social network.
Anyone who hears Amalia, one of the best voices ever, is not left indifferent. It is impossible. Her voice drew me in, bound me and awakened my curiosity about fada. As I got to know him, as I immersed myself in the melodies, poets and Portuguese language, I felt more and more comfortable, more and more in his lap that warmed me.
When the phase of fado training ended, I felt able to bridge the gap between my roots and that musical genre that my heart accepted, and thus the Fadolinka project was born. Today I feel that I am that hybrid product of fada and sevdah, styles that don't mix but share the same roots. Like fraternal twins.
You managed to create a symbiosis of two genres that are connected to two completely different climates - sevdah and fado. When you sing they seem very similar, but are they really compatible and how difficult is it to fit them? Can Maja Milinković sing another genre without feeling sevdah in her voice?
As I already mentioned, these are two genres that do not mix, but share the same root. At this moment in my life, I am a Fadolinka! Of course, fado and sevdah come out of my voice. There are those who hear fado in my voice, and there are those who recognize sevdah in my voice. It depends on the perception of the one listening to me. Honestly, I feel both.
Nowadays, you mostly make new songs in which you combine these two genres, but when you want to cover an old sevdalinka, how does that process go?
The process is natural. It comes out of me in all its authenticity. I don't think about the musical genre, but only about the emotion that I feel and that I want to bring into the interpretation and the melody, the text. Whether colorful fado sevdalinka or fado decorated with sevdalinka comes out, I don't know. When I conclude that I have managed to be true to my emotions, then the job is done and I am satisfied.
Many countries have made a brand out of their musical heritage and today it all belongs to World Music. In recent years, doors have been opened for sevdah thanks to an increasing number of artists from Bosnia and Herzegovina who are trying to promote, but also create new music based on traditional music. Are we aware of the potential we have?
The collective is rarely aware of its potential. Fado is an intangible heritage of humanity, classified by UNESCO on the initiative of half a dozen individuals who were aware of its potential. They were relatives of artists and music scholars who gathered to present their candidacy to UNESCO. The "collective" saw them as idealists. Only when UNESCO gave a positive decision did the collective become aware of this potential.
I would like sevdalinka to be recognized all over the world. I am sure that more and more individuals are aware of that potential. We will get there.
When covering sevdalinka, the performers usually stick to those well known to the audience. As someone who has not only musical experience, but also musical education, how do you approach the preparations, do you try to find out some history of those songs or the story thanks to which they were created? How important is it that that circle of sevdalinks expands, that we don't listen to the same ones?
It is inevitable to listen to Sevdalinka, which are the most successful and which have remained in the people's memory. I choose them purely based on my taste. I go to the ones I like the most, the ones I like to sing the most.
However, I recognize the importance of innovation. It is important to create new compositions that, respecting the basic characteristics of the musical genre, bring modernity and evolution. It is essential that we continue to make history. Let it be added.
Art is one of the few things in life that does not suffer from the passage of time, but is appreciated. There are sevdalinka that are timeless and will go down in musical history long after us. But this cultural heritage of ours needs to be enriched with new compositions.
You still decided to move from your native Sarajevo to Lisbon and continue your career there. Are the Portuguese prejudiced against foreigners who sing fado? How did they accept you?
Prejudices flourish in ignorance and lack of education, so they must be relativized and put in place of things that are not important.
Living in Portugal allowed me to deepen my knowledge of fado, Portuguese culture and language. The Portuguese received me with the warmth that characterizes this people. I have received many demonstrations of affection, respect and I often hear people tell me that I have a Portuguese soul. The Portuguese are honored that a foreign woman creates, interprets and interprets their music so well, if you'll allow me to be immodest.
In the first days of my life in Lisbon, I met a fado singer who is one of the great references in the history of fado, who answered the question in a very clear way: "What do you think about the foreigner Maya who sings our fado?". This gentleman, João Ferreira Rosa, he got straight to the point: "Maja does not sing fado, she is a fadoist, a fado singer and has Amalia in her voice." This answer reveals how I was received by the fado-loving Portuguese.
How does the local audience like it when you sing fado in the Balkan countries in an understandable language?
Music, I must say this cliché, speaks a universal language. However, the texts of the compositions open up another dimension, which I gained access to only when I started to understand the Portuguese language. For this reason, and I believe that I am a pioneer, I considered and still consider it important to bring this dimension closer to my Balkan audience, which only strengthened the Fadolinka "bridge".
In the last single you say "take me to where my heart is crying - to the beloved city of Sarajevo". Do you miss Sarajevo?
Every day! That's why I've been staying in Sarajevo more lately.
It's been a long time since the last album, considering that last year you released the track "Sarajevo u duši mi spavaš", does that mean that something new is brewing?
My album "Kaftan d'Alma" was released in June 2021, not even two years have passed. But, yes, "Sarajevo is sleeping in my heart" is the starting point for a new project that, if everything goes well, will be released this spring.
It's not always easy to uncomplicate
In addition to being a performer, you are also a songwriter, composer, and arranger of your songs. As someone who knows their vocal abilities best, how difficult is it sometimes to make a song that even those with limited vocal abilities can sing? Is, as they often say, beauty in the simplicity of the melody?
My compositions obviously come from a moment of inspiration, but they are worked on according to my interpretive characteristics, the color of my voice and my emotions. If the result is a simple tune that anyone can sing, even better. And yes, less is more, but it's not always easy to uncomplicate.
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