Bosnia and Herzegovina's sevdah attraction, the band "Divanhana" are happy to see guests in Montenegro. However, wherever they play, they are always accompanied by standing ovations, and the audience gets to spend two and a half hours with them.
They hope that it will be the same at their concert in Herceg Novi, which is scheduled for August 16 at the Forte Mare fortress, because it is the first time they are coming to the city under Orjeno.
The band "Divanhana" was founded in early 2009 by a group of young students at the Academy of Music in Sarajevo, and their goal was to nurture and present not only the traditional music of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also the traditional music of other Balkan countries, with a special and a careful review of sevdalinka, all with a touch of jazz, pop and classical music of the 20th century. After numerous covers that they recorded on several albums during the first decade of their career, the current project "Zavrzlama" brought a turning point in the career of "Divanhana", because they finally dared to leave their author's stamp through the songs that were created for this project based on traditional . They continue in that spirit, which they confirm with the new single "Bajami", the music for which was written by the band's current vocalist. Selma Droce, and the text by the keyboardist and founder Neven Tunjic.
About the concert in Herceg Novi, the songs, but also the preservation of the musical heritage from these areas, Selma Droce talks for "Vijesti"...
Selma, the band "Divanhana" performed in almost all parts of Montenegro and in the period before you were in the band. This month you are performing in Herceg Novi at the Forte Mare fortress. How do you prepare for those concerts where you are performing for the first time, and is there more responsibility if the band you performed in earlier is already there, because they are always sent off the stage with a standing ovation, which is still the case today?
First of all, I am very happy that, after the concerts in Podgorica and Bar, I can also include Herceg Novi in my travel diary. All the more so as we perform in the wonderful setting of the famous Forte Mare fortress. The repertoire for the concert is largely ready, we will sing about love and life with all its colors and states. I speak for myself, but also for the whole band, we really approach every concert as if it were the first and as if it were the last. The love we have for sevdah, for our audience, for what we do has been our main driving force for years. We are currently on a break from traveling and we are using that time to prepare for August 16 and to meet in dear Herceg Novi.
You participated in some competitions and showed that you are very good at many musical genres. However, you chose sevdah, a genre that carries special emotions. How hard is it sometimes to bring those songs that have been sung for decades and passed down "from generation to generation" again and convey that emotion to the audience?
I can't say that sevdah is a definitive and final choice, primarily because I'm still young and I want to leave room for some spontaneity and burst of creativity that can happen at any moment, not only to me, but to any colleague in the band. We are formally, academically educated artists and there are many opportunities ahead of us. However, what I can say with certainty is that sevdah is a different kind of love and artistic calling. Sevdalinka is traditional music and it carries with it a lot of historical, hidden, emotional and subconscious things. We grew up with those songs. I don't think there is a person in the Balkans who doesn't know at least a part of some Sevdalinka. These are solid roots, deep and strong. Therefore, the interpretation of sevdalinka implies that you, as an interpreter, align your identity somewhere with what sevdalinka and folk oral poetry carry in their content. Our role, as we often emphasize on our social networks, is to live sevdah and to spread sevdah.
Divanhana finished the European part of the tour, during which you performed at numerous festivals in Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland... We often say that music is a "universal language", what is your impression of the way sevdah is accepted by foreign audiences, they know do they recognize emotions even though they don't understand the language you're singing in?
This tour has shown for the umpteenth time that music, just as you said, knows no languages, but is a universal language. We are glad that the world music scene is increasingly interested in Sevdalinka. It really has its own unique charm and exotic melody. Perhaps our advantage lies in the fact that our covers and arrangements in general are rich in elements of Western musical practice. Thus, the influences of soul, jazz, pop, and classical music are exactly what is close and familiar to the foreign audience. On the other hand, we do not shy away from telling an appropriate story at our concerts about the origin of a sevdalinka or customs about which sevdalinka sing. Also, we strive to include the audience in our performance, because we believe that it is important to establish contact and build bridges of understanding and exchange of energy, i.e. exchange of love. In the final, people always feel the energy with which you address them and your music, if it is beautiful, surpasses everything else, and sevdah is truly beautiful music.
Thanks not only to the band "Divanhana", but also to numerous other performers, including Damir Imamović, Amira Medunjanin, Božo Vrećo, Maja Milinković, Sevdah has long been accepted as World Music. Even some foreign bands are happy to cover tracks from the Balkan climate. How much does all this help in promoting music from these areas and preserving our cultural heritage from oblivion?
It is a well-established opinion that sevdalinka reached its peak in the framework of RTV Sarajevo, approximately in the 70s of the last century. We are talking about names and creativity Safet Isović, Zaim Imamović, Himze Polovina, Zehre Deović, Bebe Selimović and many others. It is an unparalleled golden generation that laid the foundations and left an indelible mark, and we are not discussing that at all. However, the problem arose the moment those people were no longer there, because no one was clear which path, which course Sevdalinka should take in her further development. And that's where the problems arose. One group of performers and lovers of sevdah believed that sevdalinka should be preserved in its old guise and that nothing should be changed at any cost, because any change is actually a desecration of tradition. That is the right way. It is important to have people who guard the tradition because they filter the penetration of the cheap and tasteless. Also, they have their own audience, many young performers, and that is to be commended. However, although it is correct, it is not the only way. On the contrary, about 15 years ago, as pioneers of a new movement, the members of the group "Mostar Sevdah Reunion" appeared, and then all the names mentioned above, who tried to find a balance between tradition and current affairs. I start from what our band's thinking is at the end, so I say that sevdalinka is alive, and everything that is alive must grow and must change. It is an impartial law of nature. Sevdalinka is still current with its subject matter because it was created on the basis of timeless motifs. I want to believe that in the years to come, they will continue to be listened to and constantly develop. The fact that sevdah is part of the cultural heritage, of course, also places a lot of responsibility on you, but through joint collaborations and individual work, we really achieved a lot and managed to take sevdah beyond the borders of our speaking area, giving it some new clothes and placing it in to the World Music family where she truly belongs.
In the beginning, "Divanhana" exclusively covered old sevdah numbers, but after a few years of career, the members of this group dared to write songs based on sevdalinka. For the last single from the opus "Divanhane" - the track "Bajami" you wrote the music, and your bandmate Neven Tunjić wrote the lyrics. Is it difficult to make a song modeled after those that were made centuries ago, and yet through an arrangement that has a Latin rhythm in it, adapt it to the masses?
The last studio album - "Zavrzlama", was a kind of turning point for the band. On the trail of the story of the development of sevdalinka, the band dared to, after years of processing and stylization, start writing their own original music, more precisely original sevdah. One such project is the single "Bajami". He is deeply inspired by our trip to Spain. There we participated in a great music festival in Manresa and met a colleague and friend, a flamenco guitarist Luis Robisco who was delighted with Sevdalinka and wanted us to achieve some kind of cooperation. At that moment, I already had a melody in my head, mate Calendula wrote the text based on that melody, and dear Luis took us to the regions of his country and his folklore with his guitar. That single is a combination of different traditions and identities, although this is not unknown to Sevdalina either, since throughout history she has crossed paths with Hungarian folklore and the influences of tambura and klezmer ensembles, as well as Roma and pub music. A lot of things in this process were also spontaneous, and the reactions of the audience are a strong motivation for everything to come, since we are working on a new album that we plan to release during the next year.
The melodic line in this song is quite demanding, as sevdalines usually are. However, emotions can often be conveyed and a story can be told with three or four tones. I assume that when you wrote it, you adapted it to yourself and your vocal abilities, but did you think about the fact that the simpler it is, the easier it is to sing and pass it on "from generation to generation"?
There is much that is correct in your assumption and your question. Our brain has been proven to function according to what is called the mere exposure effect. This means, among other things, that we intuitively choose and best understand what we are most exposed to. Everything that is different, that is not everyday and routine, requires special attention to be understood and processed. Far from the fact that for me personally, this principle was the guiding principle when creating music, but on the one hand, I am glad if there is something different in our "Bajams", something that attracts attention and captivates with its diversity. Our mission is certainly to build a community of people who love sevdah, who love our sound. In the hearts of these people, our music will certainly resonate for a long time, and will be passed down from generation to generation.
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