SDLAP 111 Cultural Post #2

[Justin Chew]

This week, I got a taste of Balkan popular and traditional music.

The first artist Milica introduced me to was the Croatian pop-star Severina. We watched her hit video titled "Uzbuna." Basically, it's about the delirious, frantic, but light-hearted panic of Severina not waking up next to her love interest. She misses him terribly. I thought the piece was incredibly catchy. Very enjoyable. I will likely never forget some of the vocabulary, nor the tune, repeated in that song. I've been humming it for days. I suppose music, as Dr. Grove had mentioned last semester in SDLAP 105, is certainly an effective means to learn some words or cultural concepts. Severina also had a sextape scandal with some wealthy business video. This video was also interesting, but not as culturally informative.

My favorite part of the "Uzbuna" was the folk elements, specifically the use of the accordion and this really fantastic sounding guitar. I decided to explore for myself, Bosnian folk music. As I was perusing, I stumbled on a famous, traditional genre called Sevdalinka. Apparently, the topic in this genre is almost always love or longing. My favorite piece was Đorđe Balašević's "Sevdalinka." First, I listened to the song first, without any effort to understand what was said. On first impression, I thought that this piece was perfect in describing this surrendering, melancholy, nothing I do makes a difference attitude in the face of an unjust, cruel fate, as the singers voice indicated to me. Yet, as the accordions consistent melody shows, the world goes on as if nothing happened, even joyously. Anyhow, I thought this was a beautiful song that captured some Bosnian humor and a pervasive attitude/worldview. The song is in fact, a melancholy reminisce of multiple topics.

[Global Studio]

Very interesting.  I'm definitely going to explore some of this music.  Since I have a friend who is a Eurovision Song Contest fanatic, I thought I'd check about Bosnia's participation.  Unfortunately, they are not participating this year, but you may be interested in some of the past performances:  http://www.eurovisionary.com/eurovision-news/bosnia-herzegovina-wit...