Music of Bosnia and Herzegovina - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Like the surrounding Balkan countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

has had a turbulent past marked by frequent foreign invasions and occupation. As a result, Bosnian music is now a mixture of the national Slavic

Slavic peoples

The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...

folklore with some Turkish

Turkish people

Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...

influences along with influences from the western part of the world.

History

During its period as a part of Yugoslavia

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina was covered in state-supported amateur musical ensembles called Cultural-Artistic Societies (Kulturno-Um(j)etnička Društva, KUDs) which played Bosnian root music and released a few recordings on local labels.

Original Bosnian music

Rural folk traditions in Bosnia include the shouted, polyphonic

Polyphony

In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....

ganga

Ganga (music)

Ganga is a type of singing from rural Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is characterized by a lone singer singing one line of lyrics and then others joining in for what can be best described as a wail. It is a very passionate form of singing, which is one of the reasons it has been limited in...

and ravne pjesme (flat song) styles, as well as instruments like a droneless bagpipe, wooden flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

and sargija

Šargija

The šargija is a plucked, fretted long necked chordophone used in the folk music of various Balkan countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Albania and Serbia....

. The gusle

Gusle

The Gusle is a single-stringed musical instrument traditionally used in the Dinarides region of the Balkans ....

, an instrument found throughout the Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

, is also used to accompany ancient slavic

Slavic peoples

epic

Epic

-Comics:* Epic Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics* Epic Illustrated, a 1980s anthology series published by Marvel Comics-Gaming:* Epic , a 1992 computer game* Epic , a series of wargames...

poems. There are also Bosnian folk songs in Ladino, derived from the area's Jewish population.
Bosnian roots music came from the Middle Bosnia

Central Bosnia Canton

The Central Bosnia Canton is one of the ten cantons of The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.-Geography:It is located in the center of the country, to the west of Sarajevo...

, Posavina

Posavina

Posavina is a Slavic name for the region of the Sava river basin in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia that is adjacent or near the Sava river itself.-History:...

, Drina

Drina

The Drina is a 346 kilometer long river, which forms most of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Alps which belongs to the Danube river watershed...

valley and Kalesija

Kalesija

Kalesija is a town and municipality in north-eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The town of Kalesija is located east of Tuzla. It is administratively part of the Tuzla Canton and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.-Kalesija:...

. It is usually performed by singers with two violinists and a šargija

Šargija

The šargija is a plucked, fretted long necked chordophone used in the folk music of various Balkan countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Albania and Serbia....

player. These bands first appeared around World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

and became popular in the 1960s. This is the third oldest music following after the sevdalinka and ilahija. Self-taught people, mostly in two or three members of the different choices of old instruments, mostly in the violin, sacking, saz, drums, flutes (zurle) or wooden flute, as others have already called, the original performers of Bosnian music that can not be written notes, transmitted by ear from generation to generation, family is usually nasljedna.Smatra to be brought from Persia-Kalesi tribe that settled in the area of present Sprecanski valleys and hence probably the name Kalesiji.U this part of Bosnia is najrasprostranjenija.Ponovo became the leader of First World War onwards, as well as 60 years in the field Sprecanski doline.Ovu kind of music enjoyed by all three peoples in Bosnia, Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs, and she contributed a lot to reconcile people socializing, entertainment and other organizations through festivala.U Kalesija each year maintained and the Bosnian Festival Original music
Studio Kemix firm Dzemal Dzihanovic from Zivinice together with its artists this kind of music brought to perfection at the end 20.vijeka.Dat it is an entirely new form of modernity, and so it is most common in the Tuzla Canton and the cradle of this musical city Zivinice were named Bosnian town of original music . Songs are performed preferably in a diphthong, the first and second voice which is a special secret performance of this music and some performers sing in troglasu as they do Kalesijski triple that in 1968 and recorded the first written record of the tone on the album, along with Higurashi no naku.

Braća Begići
Baščovani
Braća Babajić
Halid Musić
Sateliti
Sateliti
Sateliti is a Bosnian Root music group formed in 1989. Today they are the most popular root music group in Bosnia. The original singer Muto, is still with the group that he formed, he is the main vocalist....
Salcine Meraklije
Zvuci Podrinja
Refkini Ahbabi
Zlatni Kolibri

Sevdalinka

Probably the most distinctive and identifiably "Bosnian" of music, Sevdalinka is a kind of emotional, melancholic folk song that often describes sad subjects such as love and loss, the death of a dear person or heartbreak. Sevdalinkas were traditionally performed with a saz

Baglama

thumb|180px|Cura and bağlamaThe bağlama is a stringed musical instrument shared by various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and Central Asia....

, a Turkish string instrument

String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...

, which was later replaced by the accordion. However the more modern arrangement, to the derision of some purists, is typically a vocalist accompanied by the accordion

Accordion

The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

along with snare drum

Snare drum

The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...

s, upright bass, guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

s, clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

s and violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

s. Sevdalinkas are unique to Bosnia and Herzegovina as they are not only a mix of Turkish and Bosnian music, especially Muslim religious melodies called ilahije/nasheeds. Example of songs mixing all three influences are "Kad ja pođoh na Benbašu", the unofficial anthem of the city of Sarajevo

Sarajevo

Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....

, and "Kraj Tanana Sadrvana". Though not as common as it once was, traditional Sevdalinka singers like Kadir Kurtagić, Emina Ahmedhodžić, Hašim Muharemović and Muhamed Mešanović-Hamić are still popular to the extent that their recordings are available.

More modern performers Safet Isović

Safet Isovic

Safet Isović was a prominent and popular sevdah performer from Bosnia and Herzegovina.Throughout his career, which started in 1956, Isović performed at music festivals and won many of them which has contributed to the prevalence and popularity of the sevdalinka...

, Himzo Polovina

Himzo Polovina

Dr. Himzo Polovina was a Bosnian singer and songwriter, most famous for performing sevdalinka songs. In addition, Dr...

, Zaim Imamović

Zaim Imamovic (musician)

Zaim Imamović was a popular sevdalinka performer....

and Hanka Paldum

Hanka Paldum

Hanka Paldum is a popular Bosniak folk and sevdah singer. She is regarded as one of the best female sevdah performers of all time, and has diva status in her home country. She is a star that has been shining for the last three decades with full intensity at the very top of the sky above Bosnia...

have used non-native instruments, including the accordion

Accordion

, clarinet

Clarinet

, violin

Violin

and guitar

Guitar

Ilahije i Kaside (Religious Songs)

Ilahije (nasheeds) are religious songs that came after or before sevdalinkas. These songs usually deal with religion, but some of them tell tales of how two lovers (male and female) come together.

Modern folk

"Modern" folk (referred to as "novokomponovana narodna muzika" ("newcomposed music") for a while, although the term went out of use in favor of simply "narodna" or "folk"). It is based on various influences, sevdah stories with music of Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

and/or Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

often with incorporated elements of pop music

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

. During the time of former Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

, the genre developed jointly in Bosnia and Serbia, and performers from both sides of today's borders still enjoy certain popularity on the other side.

See also:

Selma Bajrami
Selma Bajrami
Selma Bajrami is a popular Bosnian pop-folk singer who gained enormous popularity after her hit single "Kakvo tijelo Selma ima" ....
Halid Bešlić
Halid Bešlić
Halid Bešlić is a prominent Bosnian folk and sevdah musician and singer who has been performing since 1979. Halid's singing career was one of the most successful in Ex Yugoslavia, and continues today throughout the entire Balkan region....
Halid Muslimović
Halid Muslimović
Halid Muslimović Halid Muslimović Halid Muslimović (born in January 22, 1963 is a Bosnian folk singer. Born in Prijedor, he began his musical career in 1982. He is one of the best-known singers in the popular genre Over six million units (silver, gold, diamond and platinum) of sound and image,...
Haris Džinović
Haris Džinovic
Haris Džinović is a popular Bosnian folk singer. He is also a composer, a musician and songwriter for his songs.-Career:He began his music career in 1975 in his hometown Sarajevo, as a singer and composer of folk music when pop and evergreen music were more dominant in the Balkans area, so he...

Classical music

Bosnian composers of European classical music include Dino Zonić

Dino Zonic

Edin Dino Zonić is a Bosnian composer and conductor.Edin Zonić was born and raised in Sarajevo, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is the composer and conductor and director of many productions throughout Europe and the United States. He was named as the cultural Ambassador of Bosnia...

, Mirsad (Giga) Jelešković, Ališer Sijarić, Igor Karača

Film music

Bosnian composers of Film score

Film score

A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...

include Saša Lošić

Saša Lošic

Saša Lošić - Loša is one of the most recognizable composers of the Balkans and the leader of the band Plavi Orkestar, which was one of the most popular acts of the former Yugoslav Pop and Rock scene.He is a composer of often folk-inspired pop, as well as theatre scores Saša Lošić - Loša (born July...

,
Goran Bregović

Goran Bregovic

Goran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...

, Mirza (Mizi) Čaušević (mentalEscape).

Pop and rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

has been very popular in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the mid-20th century. Popular and influential rock bands and artists have included Indexi

Indexi

Indexi was a Bosnian rock band popular in the former Yugoslavia. It formed in 1962 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and disbanded in 2001 when singer Davorin Popović died...

, Bijelo dugme

Bijelo dugme

Bijelo dugme was a highly influential former Yugoslav rock band, based in Sarajevo. Active between 1974 and 1989, it is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock...

, Divlje jagode

Divlje jagode

Divlje Jagode is a Yugoslav and Bosnian hard rock and heavy metal band.-1970s:Divlje Jagode were formed in 1977 in Bihać by guitarist Zele Lipovača...

, Plavi orkestar

Plavi orkestar

Plavi orkestar is one of the most popular bands from former Yugoslavia. The band was founded in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1983.The band has remained popular to the present day with 8 albums and more than 3500 concerts worldwide...

, Crvena jabuka

Crvena jabuka

Crvena jabuka is a Sarajevo-based pop band that originated in 1985, and since then has remained very popular. They were also a part of the so called New Primitives movement that occurred in the 1980s in the Former Yugoslavia territory....

, Zabranjeno pušenje

Zabranjeno pušenje

Zabranjeno Pušenje is a Yugoslavian garage rock band from Sarajevo, closely associated with the New primitivism cultural movement and the radio and television satire show Top Lista Nadrealista...

, Hari Mata Hari

Hari Mata Hari

Hari Mata Hari is a popular music band from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hari Mata Hari is the stage name for the singer Hajrudin "Hari" Varešanović. The group originated from the city of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The group has performed over 1,000 concerts and sold 5,000,000...

and others from the Sarajevo school of pop rock

Sarajevo school of pop rock

The Sarajevo school of pop rock collectively refers to the popular music created between 1960 and 1991 by artists and bands native to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina ....

Slavic Folk Metal and Heavy Metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

is fairly underground within the musical scene in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Extreme metal scene originate from Tuzla

Tuzla

Tuzla is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the time of the 1991 census, it had 83,770 inhabitants, while the municipality 131,318. Taking the influx of refugees into account, the city is currently estimated to have 174,558 inhabitants...

. Some notable acts include:

Toxicdeath
Agonize
Kontra
Doberman
Krv
Acronian
Corbansick
Ofsajd
Monolit
After Oblivion
Emir Hot
Hobson Choice
Silent Kingdom
Southern Storm
Neon Knights
Neon Knights (band)
Neon Knights is a former Bosnian progressive metal band from Tuzla. The band was formed in Tuzla 1994 and disbanded 1999. It's one of the most successful Bosnian heavy metal bands. They recorded one album Deserted Land in Italy 1998. Band was influenced by Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Rainbow,...

Electronic music

Bosnian electronic/dance music has also been very popular in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the mid-20th century. Popular producers and artists include Adi Lukovac (Adi Lukovac & The Ornaments), Mirza (Mizi) Čaušević (mentalEscape), Dr Mladen Milicevic, Dr. Igor Karača, Axa, Basheskia, Vuneny, Velahavle, Billain and dZihan & Kamien

DZihan & Kamien

dZihan & Kamien are a downtempo house and acid jazz music duo based in Vienna, Austria. Their sound has been described as having "jazzy texture, trip-hop rhythms and Eastern ambience." Their first production single, Der Bauch, released in 1996 under the name MC Sultan, was popular in European...

. Such producers and artists are responsible for various styles of electronic music

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

such as drum'n'bass/Neurofunk

Neurofunk

Neurofunk is a subgenre of drum and bass which emerged between 1997 and 1998 in London, England as a progression of techstep. It was further developed by juxtaposed elements of heavier and harder forms of funk with multiple influences ranging from techno, house and jazz, distinguished by...

, trance music

Trance music

Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...

, breakbeat

Breakbeat

In 1992, a new style called "jungalistic hardcore" emerged, and for many ravers it was too funky to dance to. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that the breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave" because the ever changing drumbeat patterns of breakbeat music didn't allow for the same zoned out,...

and industrial

Industrial music

Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...

.

New generation of electronic music producers in Bosnia includes names such as Siniša Tamamović, Mladen Tomić, DJ Mika, Narcis Jr. aka Monophonic/Mashala, Cycle Six, Chipi, and many more.

See also:

Adi Lukovac & The Ornaments
AXA
dZihan & Kamien
DZihan & Kamien
dZihan & Kamien are a downtempo house and acid jazz music duo based in Vienna, Austria. Their sound has been described as having "jazzy texture, trip-hop rhythms and Eastern ambience." Their first production single, Der Bauch, released in 1996 under the name MC Sultan, was popular in European...
mentalEscape
Basheskia
Billain
Velahavle
Vuneny
Vuneny
Vuneny are an experimental band, formed in 2003 as "electro-acoustic" project. Continuously experimenting with the sound, Vuneny perform and implement music collaborating...

Hip hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

is new to Bosnia and Herzegovina, but became very popular throughout the urban public with the famous rapper Edo Maajka

Edo Maajka

Edin Osmić , better known by his stage name Edo Maajka, is a Bosnian rapper. His stage name literally means "Edo the Mother".-Early life:...

, who is the most popular rapper in Bosnia-Herzegovina and most famous throughout the rest of the former Yugoslavia.

See also:

Bosnian Music Awards
Disciplinska Komisija
Disciplinska komisija
Disciplinska Komisija is a Bosnian rap group and its most prominent member is Edo Maajka; The other members are Frenkie, HZA and Moonja and their DJ/producer DJ Soul. The group has been called the Bosnian and Herzegovina hip hop supercrew or Tuzla hip hop crew.- Formation :Disciplinska Komisija...
Edo Maajka
Edo Maajka
Edin Osmić , better known by his stage name Edo Maajka, is a Bosnian rapper. His stage name literally means "Edo the Mother".-Early life:...
Frenkie
Frenkie
Adnan Hamidović , better known by his stage name Frenkie, is a Bosnian rapper from Bijeljina, Bosnia. The themes present in his music are often concerned with the political situation in Bosnia, as well as traditional hip-hop subject matter such as battle rapping and pop culture...
HZA