FEATURES OF SEVDALINKA

Sevdalinka is the most significant musical-poetic form of our musical tradition and oral lyric poetry. It is assumed that it possibly emerged in the late 15th century as a distinctive form of love poem and song. The location of its emergence is related to urban environment. It belongs to Muslim heritage, although it has also been handed down and sung by members of other religions as well. Ahmed Muradbegović calls it a poem/song of Muslim feudal gentry, while ethnomusicologists(C. Rihtman, V. Milošević and others) and researchers (D. Golemović) define it as a Muslim town song/poem. Its emergence and later development as a distinctive musical-poetic form was doubtlessly influenced by the Islamic way of living and by clearly defined social norms of behavior. As an urban love song/poem, sevdalinka has preserved memories of real personalities, tragic destinies, sighs and rapture, love yearning and gloom. It also sings about heroism and the beauty of cities. Munib Maglajlić, PhD perfectly observed social relations in the period of the emergence and evolution of sevdalinka, and the position of the woman in the patriarchal way of life:

Moderate isolation of girls, which was practiced by almost all the parts of urban population, led to the emergence of a distinctive form of love encounters, courting, gradual development of love, with reliably established rules of love declarations and fairly accurately defined place, time and circumstances under which guys and girls could freely meet: most often on Friday, in the afternoon, although on other days and at other times as well, by the gate or at the ‘ašik pendžer’ (a type of window especially constructed for love talks), a window covered by dense wooden grills (mušebaks) protruding into the street. On days reserved for courting, young guys walked along the street in groups, while girls stood at the ašik-pendžer or peeked through the courtyard door left ajar. One of the forms of communicating in this way of love meetings was the song, sevdalinka, since it was the way to respond, from the interior side of mušebak or the garden or courtyard wall and fences (female voice) to the challenge by song from the other side (male voice). (Maglajlić, 1983)

Sevdalinka emerged as an artistic expression of an individual, and would become a generally accepted folk artistic creation. Sevdalinka was a means of communication, courting and love meeting between a guy and a girl. What distinguishes it from a love poem/song in general is the character and intensity of feelings expressed in it. It is a poem/song of deep melancholy which borders on suicide because of unrequited love, of intoxication with a girl's beauty bordering on madness, yearning which cannot be expressed by words and a desire which burns everything in the human body. There are many examples in sevdalinkas which record tragic destinies, marriage to the unloved, death of the beloved, or separation of those in love, such as in the poem/song “Omere, prvo gledanje (Omer, the first look)ˮ:

Omere, prvo gledanje/zamalo ti se gledasmo/zamalo, dvije godine/ko li nas, bolan, rastavi/ko li nas, bolan, zavadi/Mostar se čudom začudi./Duša mu raja ne vid'la/nego se vila i vila/nasred se pakla savila!

(Omer, the first look/we almost looked at each other/almost, for two years/who separated us/who set us against each other/Mostar is astonished/Let his soul not see the heaven/but let it fly and fly/and bend in the middle of the hell!)

The first data on sevdalinkas are found in the chronicle by Sarajevo chronicler Mula Mustafa Bašeskija (1731/2-1809). Bašeskija mentions the data that in 1780 (1194 Hijri year), a group of kadis organized gatherings twice a week, when people played naj (reed pipe), sang turćijas and cracked various jokes. Translator of Bašeskija's chronicle Mehmed Mujezinović translated the term turćija as sevdalinka, while Maglajlić believes that the term turćija could pertain to a folk form in Turkish. Ethnomusicologist Vlado Milošević (1901-1990) claims that the term sevdalinka was not used by recorders and collectors of folk materials. Ethnomusicologist Ankica Petrović (1943) claims that sevdalinka was called turćija until the 19th century. In books of published sevdalinkas collected by researchers of folk treasure other terms can be found as well. Dubrovnik ethnographer Vid Vuletić Vukasović (1853-1933) uses the term šeherli songs. In 1914, Mihajlo Milanović (published under the pen name Abdul Hak) published the book Ašiklije: muslimanske sevdahlinke (Ašiklije: Mulsim sevdalinkas). The same author also uses the term love ašiklijas. Antun Hangi calls them harem songs. According to Ahmed Muradbegović, the term sevdalinka draws its origin from Gypsies (1940: 13), and Mehmedalija Mak Dizdar (1960: 449) shares this opinion. Most probably, at the turn of the 20th century, the entire musical practice of urban environments was encompassed by a single term – sevdalinkas, although this category sometimes also covers romances, ballads, songs of epic character, even the characteristic indigenous creation named ravna song.

The term sawda, which we took from Arabic and added the letter h to it, is translated as black bile. Black bile was well-known as early as in ancient times, and Arabic and Greek doctors believed that it caused melancholic behavior. The wordsouda' was also used by Rumi in the meaning of excitement filled with love pain. The term sevda gave rise to the term sevdalija, which referred to a person who enjoys in sevdalinka, regardless if he was a professional performer, a fan of this form of music or an ordinary listener.

If we take into account the Islamic way of life, where sevdalinka emerged and evolved, we can conclude that for a girl the song was an escape to freedom and a trip to unlimited expanses of imagination and dreams. There were no limits in the song, and thoughts and desires could travel wherever the soul wanted. In the world examples of love lyric poetry one can hardly find an example similar to the one that we see in the poem/song “Na Obhođi, prema Bakijamaˮ (“Mošćanice, vodo plemenitaˮ) / „At Obhođa, toward Bakije“ (Mošćanica, you noble water). The actual person, Ćamila Fazlagić (died in 1848) sends the following message to her sweetheart, who fled to Posavina from the pending plague, by way of the Mošćanica river, which flows into the Miljacka, which in turn flows into the Bosna and the Bosna into the Sava:

Mošćanice, vodo plemenita/usput ti je, selam ćeš mi dragom/il' nek dođe, il' nek me se prođe./Ak' ne dođe, već ako se prođe/nek' ne kosi trave pokraj Save/pokosiće moje kose plave/nek' ne pije Save vode hladne/popiće mi moje oči vrane!

Mošćanica, you noble water, give regards to my sweetheart/he should either come to me, or let me be. / If he doesn't come but let me be / he mustn't scythe grass by the Sava/because he will scythe my blonde hair/he mustn't drink the cold water of the Sava/he will drink my dark eyes!

Through the song, the girl expressed her deepest feelings, which she essentially was not allowed to express publicly. As the most significant form of communication between a guy and a girl, many sevdalinkas are permeated with dialogues, such as in this example: 

Što te nema, dragi, da mi dođeš?/Il' si bolan, il' si tužan, il' ti brani majka?/Nit' sam bolan, nit' sam tužan, nit' mi brani majka/već sam drugu dragu zavolio.

Why are you not here, my love, why don't you come?/Are you ill, are you sad, or your mother won't let you?/I am neither sick, nor sad, nor my mother won't let me/but I fell in love with another girl.

Sevdalinkahas survived and has been preserved in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in (Novi Pazar) Sandžak. In its original form, it was sung without instrumental accompaniment. Somewhat later, the traditional urban stringed instrument – saz - was assigned to it as the accompaniment. The performance eventually continued with various instruments, and therefore its form gradually changed.Sevdalinkaaroused interest of many European researchers, musicologists and travel writers. The first sound recordings ofsevdalinkasfor research purposes were made in the late 19thcentury for the needs of phonogram archives in Vienna and Berlin. The appearance of record companies in the early 20thcentury was followed by an increasing interest in recordingsevdalinkas. The most significant period in the production ofsevdalinkaand its sudden popularity is one from the early 1950s to the late 1980s, which is related to Radiotelevision Sarajevo (1945-1990). Due to the diligent work of many excelling vocal performers, instrumentalists, producers and music editors, thousands of sound recordings ofsevdalinkaswere made and permanently stored. Many vocal performers left their stamp onsevdalinka, by spreading the beauty of this song throughout the world. As a jewel of our music and literature, in 2017sevdalinkawas nominated to UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

References:

• Ahmed Muradbegović, „Sevdalinka, pesma feudalne gospode“, Politika, 5.2.1940, Beograd 

• Alija Isaković (1990), Biserje: Antologija muslimanske književnosti, Opatija: IRO „Otokar Keršovani“

• Ankica Petrović, „Islamic Echoes in Bosnia and Hercegovina: Tradition and Modernity“, Conference on Music in the world of Islam, 2007, Assilah 

• Munib Maglajlić (1983), Od zbilje do pjesme, Banja Luka: „Glas“

• Mehmedalija Mak Dizdar, „Gdje je ona čudnovata djevojka koja se je suncem povezala, a mjesecom opasala?“, Život, 1960, Sarajevo

• Vid Vuletić-Vukasović, „Šeherli-pjesmice u Bosni i Hercegovini“, Slovinac, Tiskarnica Dragutina Pretnera, 1883, Dubrovnik 

• Vlado Milošević (1964), Sevdalinka, Banja Luka: Muzej Bosanske krajine