(headline image: Dragi Sestic and Antonija Batinic – Courtesy of Snail Records)
Mostar (Bosnia), 1993. In the midst of the Balkans War, at the age of 27, Dragi Šestić, who some years later would become the producer and founder of the band Mostar Sevdah Reunion, recorded an audio tape with a couple of sevdah-style songs. He later distributed it as a limited edition among his friends. By April 1992, Mostar had been bombed, and an 18-month-long siege had started.
Along with most of the city’s historic center, the Old Bridge, Stari Most, would be destroyed in November 1993, thus ending the last standing river that connected both sides of the city.
What did Dragi aim to achieve? That recording was simply a way to escape and forget, for just a moment, all the atrocities and suffering imposed on his people. So, a handful of musicians made a promise that “everyone would know sevdah music” – someday when the war came to an end.
The war ended in 1995- with the Dayton peace agreement. Since June 2001, with UNESCO’s guidance, the Old Bridge was rebuilt using construction techniques from the 16th century and stone blocks from the same quarry where the original ones were taken, five centuries earlier.
During this time, the group kept their promise: they recorded their first album, Mostar Sevdah Reunion (World Connection), in 1999. From that day on, they have captivated audiences wherever they go. Dragi has continued to produce the group from his label Snail Records and even has his own entry on Wikipedia in five languages.
So far, the band has released 11 studio albums and 3 live ones. Throughout their career, they have had various lead singers: Ilijaz Delić (1936 – 2013) was one of the founders of the band and the singer of the debut album; Amira Medunjanin was introduced on their 4th album, A Secret Gate in 2003.
Nermin Alukić was the main vocalist from 2007 to 2017; then Milutin Sretenovic Sreta (1947-2021), who joined the band in 2016 and recorded for the album The Balkan Autumn (2018); the legendary Roma singer Ljiljana Buttler (1940-2010), the lead voice on several albums (and main female vocal singer from 2002-2010), with the first being The Mother of Gypsy Soul (2002).
The equally legendary Roma singer Šaban Bajramović (1936 – 2008), was featured on the 2001 album A Gypsy Legend.
The current lead singer of the band is Antonija Batinić, who has held the position since Sreta’s passing.
In the interview, I asked Dragi if they feel they have fulfilled that promise about “everyone would know sevdah music.” It’s clear that many people remain unaware of this music style, but I believe Dragi has reasons to feel that, at least to a significant extent, the promise has been fulfilled. I think Dragi’s friendly, candid, and dedicated personality has played a considerable role in keeping the band active for so long. I hope they continue for many more years. In the meantime, let’s chat with him about the beginnings, evolution, and some challenges they have overcome.
AT: Your last album was released when the project was 30 years old. On your website we read “The story begins in 1993 when Dragi Šestić, the producer and founder of the band, recorded an audio cassette with a couple of tracks that were distributed in limited edition among their friends. Those were the times of war in the Balkans, and the reason for recording was just a getaway episode to momentarily forget all the atrocities and suffering. Then, they made the promise that “the whole world will know about Sevdah” – one day when the war would come to an end.” Do you feel you have fulfilled that promise?
DS: I think we did it. When our first album was released in October 1999 (25 years ago). World Music scene was not so big like now, and many journalists were nicely surprised that something beautiful came out of our war-devastated land. I know that I had constantly to explain what is sevdah, sevdalinka, background of it, etc…Last year Divanhana won the Songlines’ music award, albums of Damir Imamovic and Mostar Sevdah Reunion were on the top of the chart lists. I would say they are nice accomplishment for sevdah music.
AT: What is the secret to staying on the path for 30 years despite the obstacles? I understand obstacles as aspects such as having to emigrate and make a living in another country and culture and having to work in other things to survive.
DS: Love for music; for sevdah and for sure a huge nostalgia. I am also getting inspired by other music. With the years I got addicted – I just cannot stop or turn off that desire of being involved in music production, projects. Even my daily life and full-time job has no connection with the music – probably that makes me hungrier to do the things that I love.
AT: What would you highlight about the latest album, Lady Sings the Balkan Blues?
DS: The maturity of the band and certainly the great vocals of Antonija Batinic. Even after the first line of the first track on the album, you can recognize the wonderful voice of Antonija. Also, the title of the album was the part of our eternal explanation on the question that we always get: ’What is sevdah?”
AT: What can we expect from MSR in the near future?
DS: This year is our 25th anniversary of the release of the first album – so we are preparing the new one – with a few surprises (let’s keep them as the secret). I think we deserved to play around with the music – we have nothing to prove. So, the anniversary album will be some kind of our free style enjoyable trip.
AT: How was is to work with benchmarks like Saban Bajramovic or Liliana Butler? Which challenges did it mean to you, both as an executive producer and as artistic producer?
DS: Working with those two giants of Roma music will always stay in my memory as the greatest and most beautiful experience. The most impressive detail from the recording was that both of them recorded their vocals almost in the first take. As years pass, I realize how blessed I was to produce three albums of Ljiljana and two of Saban – and all those albums are now part of the Balkan Roma Anthology. Apart from the fact that I am recognized as the founder and producer of Mostar Sevdah Reunion, my name became more known thanks to these two incredible artists. It was such a pleasure and privilege to work with them and to get to know them.
Even recording their only known duet song, “Rupuni” (which is featured on the Mostar Sevdah Reunion and Saban’s album Saban, as well as Ljiljana’s album with MSR, The Legends of Life), was an incredible moment in my recording and producing career.
Regarding the fact that I was also in the role of executive producer; wow, that was quite a job! It was so difficult to convince them to record. When I approached them the first time, my name meant nothing to them. But I was very stubborn, and eventually, they decided to record with the crazy guy from Mostar.
AT: If you could bring back to life any musician of your culture that is already dead, who would you choose and why and what would you do with him/her?
DS: We had so many great singers, and it’s difficult to choose, but probably I would like to work with my favorite sevdalinka singer, Dr. Himzo Polovina. He was the man who discovered, preserved, and arranged an uncountable number of sevdalinkas.
In second place would be the great Silvana Armenulić – a true diva of sevdah and folk music. Unfortunately, she died very young in a traffic accident, but her legacy will endure forever.
Third on my list is Toma Zdravković – probably the most famous, popular, and greatest singer/songwriter of former Yugoslavia.
And certainly, I would like to bring back to life my dear friend, Ljubiša Stojanović (Louis). We recorded his latest album, The Last King of the Balkans, but he was killed in a traffic accident just a few weeks before the album was supposed to be released. We had so many plans, but destiny had other plans for him.
Author: Araceli Tzigane
