EMINA ZEČAJ

“The icon of Bosnian traditional music” is how British magazine Billboard described Emina Zečaj in February 2004, on the occasion of the announcement of her album “Emina Zečaj: Traditional Bosnian Songs” published by “Gramofon”. Emina Zečaj was not only the trademark of sevdalinka or its embodiment in the most beautiful form; she was a living encyclopedia of folk song with a unique memory and huge performing repertoire, like from some comprehensive songbook. Her contribution and personal stamp that she left in the traditional music during a career of more than half a century are immeasurable and, according to words by our prominent sociologist Esad Bajtal, PhD in his book Sevdalinka – Alhemija duše (Sevdalinka – Alchemy of the soul): “The harmony between her voice and the saz, lyrics and melody provided Emina's performance a museum value and the aesthetic measure of the time of the emergence of sevdalinka.”

Emina Zečaj was born in Sarajevo on 17 March 1929 into the family of Avdija and Melća Ahmedhodžić, née Vuk-Neretlić. On her mother's side she was related to the famous family of beys from Stolac, the Rizvanbegovićs. She grew up with a brother and three sisters. She learned the first songs from her mother. She completed Gazi Husrev-bey madrasa and Textile High School in Sarajevo. Support of her friends Zaim Imamović and Slavka Petrovska, with whom she went to concerts and performances of folk music, additionally encouraged her to apply to the audition for vocal soloists of Radio Sarajevo in 1964. At the audition she already showed her singing skill, performing the poravna song “Poranila na vodicu Fataˮ. Soon afterward she was informed that she passed the audition and so she began to improve her vocal technique and voice with prominent pedagogues Beluš Jungić and Zvonimir Nevžala. From 1967 she began to record her first archival recordings, which included songs: “Poletjela dva golubaˮ, “Protužila Pembe Ajšaˮ, “Svu noć ja ležah, ne zaspahˮ and others.

The person who was particularly credited for her career of vocal performer and professional maturing was ethnomusicologist Cvjetko Rihtman (1902–1989), a distinguished professor at the Academy of Music in Sarajevo and the director of the Institute for Folklore Research, who detected her talent as early as at the audition. Having perceived her talent and the unique repertoire, top management of Radio Sarajevo strictly “saved” Emina for performing and recording traditional songs. They forbade her to record composed songs. Initially, she was not happy about it, but later on she realized that it was the only right way. Decades of fruitful work which followed confirmed it. This is what Emina Zečaj remembered: “Professor Rihtman, Beluš Jungić and Zvonimir Nevžala never let me sing anything composed. They saved me only for sevdah. Whenever I wanted and felt that I could sing, that I could record something, I always got a time slot” (Radio BIR, program “Iz sehareˮ, 2008).

Like other vocal soloists, Emina Zečaj had to pass a gradual road of maturing as a vocal performer. She first recorded with an accordion duo, and later on also with a tambura and folk orchestras. She was a favorite singer among colleagues – musicians, who gladly cooperated and recorded with her. Top people of Radio Sarajevo in Bijeljina found a singer and a saz player Selim Salihović, who was already a skilled saz player. Thus, starting from 1970, Emina began to make her first recordings accompanied by saz. Cooperation with Selim Salihović was a turning point in her career. It was then that the noteworthy recordings “Gledali se Mujo i Nizamaˮ, “Pita Fata Halil mejhandžijuˮ, “Kolika je šeher Banja Lukaˮ and others were made. Having embarked on a thorny road of breaking stereotypes on previous exclusively male singing with saz, she thus became the first performer of (female) sevdalinkas accompanied by saz. Thanks to this brave step, she became a unique performer which saved hundreds of folk songs from oblivion. Besides Salihović, during her career she cooperated with saz players Hašim Muharemović, Fuad Smajlović, Halid Musić, Ćamil Metiljević and Mehmed Gribajčević.

Like Himzo Polovina, Emina Zečaj was also involved in research and collecting activities. She went to the field, and in the area of Foča, Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina she learned songs from old women, memorized or recorded them and later on brought them to Radio Sarajevo. The number of collected songs exceed six hundred. She recorded a significant number of these songs during her career, although a large number remained unrecorded. The number of sound recordings which she made for archives of Radiotelevizija Sarajevo exceeds several hundred.

Emina Zečaj was not only a superior performer of traditional music. She also made a huge contribution to research, documenting and consulting work. She had a unique repertoire which was not performed by singers before he and which significantly enriched our musical heritage. Her repertoire included a small number of composed songs, though they were songs which satisfied high criteria and which relied upon sevdalinka.

She represented Bosnia and Herzegovina and Yugoslavia at festivals across Europe and the world many times. Two documentaries about Emina Zečaj have been shot, in German and Bulgarian production. Late in life, she recorded excerpts from Mawlud. Emina Zečaj's discography consists of five singles, four long-playing records, several compact discs and other sound recordings published within many compilations. A pioneer of electronic music Adi Lukovac recorded a duo song “Il' je vedro, il' oblačnoˮ with Emina Zečaj, which was published on the album “Remakeˮ in 2003. At the end of her career, she recorded two albums accompanied by Omer Pobrić's accordion, and then with accordion player Avdo Buzara.

Authentic transfer of folk expression, perfect elocution, impeccable nuances of tones and rich melisma are characteristics which are attributed to Emina Zečaj as a vocal performer of sevdalinka. She passed away in Sarajevo, on 19 April 2020. In our folk music, the name of Emina Zečaj has become a legend.

References:

• Ovčina, Mirsad, program “Iz sehareˮ, an interview with Emina Zečaj, Radio BIR, 2008