Etno skupina Čuvarice

Etno skupina Čuvarice is a women's vocal and instrumental ethno group from Rama, in the north of Herzegovina in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was founded in 2011 within the Croatian cultural and artistic society "Rama", and it is still based there: it began at local feasts in Rama and celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2021 with a big concert in the sports hall of Prozor-Rama. That home in Bosnia and Herzegovina is why the group is on Muzika-Balkan. Čuvarice keep alive and newly arrange traditional songs of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, and sing songs of their own written in the spirit of the old ones.

The idea was to gather young women who would bring old folk songs back to life for a new generation. From the start the artistic leader has been Biljana Glibo, a master of music culture and ethnomusicology who has collected and studied the folk music of Rama. The singers are accompanied by David Glibo on guitar, Milenko Glibo on tambura, Juraj Glibo on percussion and drums and Ivan Vlajčić on piano. Dozens of girls have sung in the group over the years; today it has fifteen active members. The name, "the guardians", was proposed by Biljana's husband Milenko: guardians of life, customs and the heritage of their region. Their dresses, necklaces and belts are styled on the traditional costume of Rama.

Their first concerts were at church feasts and local festivities, such as Mala Gospa at Šćit and the feast on Vran mountain. Their break came at the Melodije Mostara festival, where they sang "Divojka" in 2017 and won the award for the best debutants in 2018, also singing "Sazrilo je grožđe" there. Their first album, Divojka (2018), has ten songs, three traditional and seven new ones, including "Diva s Vrana", "Opadaj lišće" and "Moj dragane".

The second album, Tragom prošlosti, came out on 17 October 2023 on Campus Records, with "Ruža za drugoga", "Misečino", "Oj Ivane", "Proljetna tuga" and "Cure Hercegovke". On World Music Day, 20 June 2024, they sang with the Mostar Symphony Orchestra in Mostar's Zrinjevac park, and in November 2024 they appeared on Croatian television's morning show. In Lent 2024 and 2025 they toured churches and monasteries in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia with traditional Lenten songs. A rave edit of "Ruža za drugoga" by the French producers Billx and Galvanoize came out in 2024.