Mostar Sevdah Reunion

Mostar Sevdah Reunion is an ensemble from Mostar that plays almost nothing but sevdalinka, the old love songs of Bosnia, in modern arrangements, often alongside Roma songs, a sound that has been summed up as "Balkan blues". The idea was Dragi Šestić's: he formed the group in 1998 and has been its producer and manager ever since.

The founding musicians were old friends who met again in the summer of 1999 to record a first album. Made at the Pavarotti Centre in Mostar, Mostar Sevdah Reunion was released that year by the Dutch label World Connection. Next came A Gypsy Legend (2001) with the Roma singer Šaban Bajramović.

In 2002 Šestić found the singer Ljiljana Buttler, and the band made The Mother of Gypsy Soul (2002), The Legends of Life (2005) and Frozen Roses (2009) with her for Snail Records; she toured with them until her death in 2010. In between came A Secret Gate (2003), the live album Once Upon a Time in Mostar (2005), a second album with Bajramović, Šaban (2006), and Café Sevdah (2007), which introduced the young singer Nermin Alukić Čerkez from Prijedor. The band also recorded the album Rosa (2004) with Amira Medunjanin.

Tales from a Forgotten City (2013) won the band wide international praise. It was followed by the live album Kings of Sevdah (2016), The Balkan Autumn (2018) with the singer Milutin Sretenović Sreta, Lady Sings the Balkan Blues (2022), Live in Sarajevo (2023) and Bosa Mara (2024). Since 2017 Antonija Batinić has been a lead vocalist.

Today's line-up is Mišo Petrović and Sandi Duraković on guitars, Vanja Radoja on violin, Marko Jakovljević on bass, Gabrijel Prusina on piano, Senad Trnovac on drums and Antonija Batinić on vocals. The band has played at many world music festivals and won a following among world music audiences.

At home the Davorin music awards gave them a special award in 2002, best ethno album in 2003 for The Mother of Gypsy Soul, and album of the year in 2004. In 2023 the Transglobal World Music Chart named their work best European world music album, and in 2024 Songlines magazine named Mostar Sevdah Reunion best world music group. Their story has been told in three films: Mostar Sevdah Reunion by Pjer Žalica (2000), a BBC documentary by Mira Erdevički (2005) and Tales from a Forgotten City by Amir Grabus (2013).