SUNG POETS: SAFVET-BEY BAŠAGIĆ

With the zeal of his heart, with the power of his soul, with his unbreakable will and extraordinary endurance, he carved his name both on the dead pages of our history and in our living hearts. We, who use the fruits of his work to the full, our children and future generations, who will use them as well, owe him eternal gratitude and recognition... While saying farewell to mortal remains of great Mirza, equally great as a poet, as a scholar and as a folk fighter, we know that his works will never disappear... (Novi behar, on the occasion of death of Safvet-bey Bašagić, 1934)

There is no doubt that Safvet-beg Bašagić was the most outstanding personality of Bosniak literature and literature of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the initiator of Bosniak national revival in the early 20th century. He was a distinguished poet, historian, educator, translator, playwright, collector of folk poems and a politician. Bašagić also wrote the Mevlud, which had three editions in a short time. His extensive work also included a collection of folk Muslim poems, which he collected before he went to university in Vienna. The poems were recorded in four volumes.

Safvet-bey Redžepašić-Bašagić was born in Nevesinje on 6 May 1870. His father's name was Ibrahim-bey, and after the grandfather Lutfullah-bey, also known as Bašaga, the Redžepašićs were named the Bašagićs. His mother was a granddaughter of Smail-agha Čengić. At the age of twelve, he moved to Sarajevo with his family, and completed ruždija (middle school) and high school there. From 1895 to 1899 he studies Arabic and Persian at the University of Vienna. After the First World War until the retirement, he worked as a curator in the National Museum in Sarajevo. He began writing poetry in the high school, and as early as a university student he prepared a collection of poems entitled Trofanda iz hercegovačke dubrave (Early fruit from Herzegovinian forest) (1896). In 1900, he launched the journal Behar together with Edhem Mulabdić and Osman Nuri Hadžić and was its first editor-in-chief. In 1903, he founded society Gajret, and later on, societies El-Kamer and Muslimanski klub as well. He took his PhD degree from the University of Vienna in 1910, having defended the dissertation entitled “Bosnians and Herzegovinians in Islamic literature”.  He wrote under the penname Mirza Safvet, and his lyrical poems, written in the language of sevdalinka, became close to the people he drew origin from.

A significant number of his poems have been shaped as music. Poem Quosque tandem, Aurea... from the cycle Ašiklije, well-known by its first verse Evo, ovu rumen ružu (Here, this red rose), has been the most frequently performed Bašagić's poem which includes all the features of sevdalinka. Thanks to Zaim Imamović (who probably composed the melody), this song has taken hold among people and is considered a folk song. It is performed without the last stanza and with minor modifications in the text; we here present Bašagić'e original poem:

Evo ovu nježnu ružu / Iz mog skromnog perivoja / Šaljem, Zlato, na dar tebi / Ime joj je: ljubav moja. // Ako ti se svidi miris / I njezina čista boja / Ti je primi s poštovanjem / Pa zakiti njedra svoja. // Ako ti se ne dopadne / A ti s njom na oganj živi; / Nek izgori – nek se stvori! / U lug i u pepô sivi. // Iz tog luga i pepela / Na sred tvoga perivoja / Niknuti će crna gljiva, / A zvat ću je; mržnja tvoja. // A to će me vazda tješit / Što cijenit niesi znala / Prvu ljubav, što no mi je / Na srdašcu procvjetala.

(Here, this tender rose / From my modest park / I am sending as a gift to you / Her name is: my love. // If you like its fragrance / And its pure color /Receive it with respect / and use it to adorn your bosom. // If you don't like it / Put it to flames; / Let it burn – Let it turn! / Into cinders and into grey ashes. // And out of the cinders and ashes / In the middle of your park / A black mushroom will sprout, / And I will call it: your hatred. // And it will always be a comfort for me / Because you could not admire / My first love / Which bloomed in my heart.)

Another poem of Bašagić which was set to music is part of the same cycle and is entitled Pod demir-pendžerom (Under the metal-trimmed window). In its sung variety it is known by its first verse Sini, sini sjaj-mjeseče (Glow, glow, bright moon). Milan Prebanda is listed as the composer Milan Prebanda (a record of Radmil Jagodić from 1964). In a variant closest to the poet's text, the poem was interpreted by one of the first vocal soloists of Radio-Sarajevo Zumra Mulalić (1928-1993):

Sini, sini sjaj-mjeseče, / Sini iza gora, / Da ja vidim, ko mi šeće / Noćas ispred dvora. // Ko li šeće, ko li pjeva / Tanko, glasovito, / Uz dvie žice tamburice / Tužno, žalovito; // Da to nije moje dragče / Od Boga mu plata! / Došlo vidjet, šta mu radi / Ašiklija Zlata. // Sjaj-mjesecu šapat doš'o / Gore u oblake, / Pa se curi smilovao / I posl'o joj trake. // Kada Zlata sa pendžera / Opazila ko je, / Kroz demire pružila mu / Biele ruke svoje. // „Dobro došo, mili goste, / Iz tuđega sela! / Kakva te je dobra sreća / Amo doniela?“ // „Zlato, Bog ti dobro dao! / Pitaj srce moje; / Za što tako ljubi žarko / Čarne oči tvoje?“

(Glow, glow, bright moon, (Glow behind the mountains, / Let me see, who is walking /in front of my house tonight. // Who is walking, who is singing / Tenderly, notably, / With two strings of tambura / Sadly, sorrowfully; // Is it perhaps my sweetheart / Let God reward him! / He came to see / what his beloved / Zlata is doing. // The bright moon received the rumor / Up in the clouds / And it took pity to the girl / And sent her ite beams. // When Zlata saw who it was /From her window / She stuck out her white hands / Through bars. // “Welcome, my dear guest, / From another village! / What good luck / brings you here?” // Zlata, God bless you! / Ask my heart: / Why does it love your dark eyes / So ardently?)

Another poem from the same cycle, Pjesnik i ljuba (A poet and his sweetheart) is better known under the title Sabah-zora živom bojom (The dawn uses bright colors). The author of the melody for this poem is unknown, though we can assume that it was one of the first group of post-was musicians who worked at Radio-Sarajevo, since these recordings were produced by it. The sung variant was modified in terms of the distribution of stanzas and was mostly sung by male performers of sevdalinka. Here is what the poet wrote:

Sabah-zora živom bojom / Plavo nebo rubi, / Ustanula dilber-dika, / Pa me budeć' ljubi. // „Ustaj, ustaj, dragče moje! / Sabah-zora sviće, / Sad u času po sto puta / Ponavlja se žiće. // Gledaj rumen rujne zore, / Gledaj ruže – cvieće, / Slušaj sladki poj slavuja, / Sve se živo kreće. // Ja podignem rusu glavu / Pogledam je milo / Poljubim je, pa joj rečem: / Što me budiš vilo? // ... Tvoje lice – moja zora, / Što no rudi jasno, / Tvoja duša – moja cvijeće, / Što miriše krasno. // ...

(The dawn uses bright colors / To border the blue sky, / My beloved woke up, / And kissed while waking up. // „Get up, get up, my darling! / The dawn is breaking, / Now, at this moment, for the hundredth time / It is repeated. // Watch the red of the rosy dawn, / Watch roses – flowers, / Listen to the sweet song of the nightingale, / Everything alive is moving. // I raised my auburn head / And looked at her lovingly / I kissed her, and said: / Why are you waking me up, my fairy? // ... Your face is my dawn / Which breaks clearly, / Your soul is my flowers, / With a wonderful fragrance. // ...

Poem Dok je... (As long as...) from the cycle Ašiklije depicts Bašagić's strong feelings. Fascination with the woman's beauty, her eyes and her hair, lead the poet to ecstasy where he prefers sweet lips of his sweetheart even to the heavenly pond Kevser. Melody for this poem was composed by Mirza Karabeg, and the song was performed by Safet Isović at festival “Beogradski Sabor” in 1976:

Dok je tvoga đula - ne gledam rubina, / Dok je tvoga vrata - ne gledam jasmina. // Tvoje grudi - moja pjesma nečitana, / Tvoje lice - moja knjiga netiskana. // Moji su almasi - mali prsti tvoji; / Što je moje, niko ne smije da svoji. // Tvoja merdžan-usta više slasti daju / Nego Kevser-vrelo u božanskom raju. // Miris, što ni amber, ni mošus, ni ruža / Ne imadu, meni tvoja kosa pruža. // Gazeline oči svaku cijenu gube / Pram očima tvojim, kad pospano ljube. // I ja sâm se, Leilo, vas u milju gubim, / Što sam stvoren da te bar katkad poljubim.

(As long as there's your beauty – I don't look at rubies, / As long as there's your neck – I don't look at jasmine. // Your bosom – my unread poem, / Your face – my unprinted book. // My diamonds – are your tiny fingers; // What is mine, nobody can claim. // Your coral mouth give more sweetness / Than Kevser-pond in the divine paradise. // A fragrance that neither amber, nor musk, nor rose / Have, is given to me by your hair. // Gazelle's eyes lose any value / Before your eyes, when they kiss me sleepily. // And, Leila, I get lost in pleasure, / Because I have been made to kiss you at least sometimes.)

In Trofanda we find the ballad Ljubav ga spasila (Saved by love), which describes love between young Behmen-han and sultan's sister Zulejha. However, identical motifs are found in the poem “Abassah” by Serbian Romanticist poet Jovan Ilić (1824-1901). We have no way to confirm in what manner these two poems merged to spawn their sung variant, better-known by the first verse “Na prijestolju sjedi sultan” (Sultan is sitting on the throne), which became popular as a sevdalinka. However, as claimed by ethnomusicologist Naila Ceribašić, PhD, Since the last quarter of the 19th century on, Belgrade and Serbian environment contributed to the development of the repertoire of sevdalinkas in terms of authors as well... Serbian late Romanticist poetry from 1880 to 1914 as a whole can be described as the “age of sevdah” due to a prominent place which poetics of sevdah occupied in this period. On sound recording media of the 1960s and 1970s, Bašagić is listed as the author of lyrics of the song, while in some cases the lyrics are described as folk. The song became popular due to its performances by Himzo Polovina:

Na prijestolu sjedi sultan silni Ekber-car / a do njega mlad vezire, mladi Behmen-han. / Kazuj meni, mlad vezire, imena ti tvog / ko ti dade zlatne ključe od harema mog. // Dala mi ih tvoja seja i poljupca dva / a do zore kol’ko bješe ni sam ne znam ja. / Znaš li, bolan, mlad vezire, snašao te jad / da će dželat glavu tvoju odrubiti sad. // Čekaj malo, saslušaj me, ja sam svemu kriv / ljubljah, ljubim, ljubiću je sve dok budem živ. / A sad čini šta ti drago, na volju ti baš / ili da mi seju dadeš, ili smrt daš. // Na te riječi skoči sultan, k’o razjaren div / mir zavlada k’o da niko ne imade živ. Dok najednom zažubori milostivi glas: / ljubite se, sultan Ekber blagosilja vas!

(Sultan Ekber-car sits on his throne / and a young vizier, young Behmen-han, next to him. / Tell me, young vizier / who gave you golden keys to my harem. // Your sister did, together with two kisses / And I don't know how many there were until dawn. / Do you know, young vizier, that you are in trouble / That an executioner will behead you right now. // Wait a minute, hear me, it is all my fault / I loved, I love and will love as long as I live. / And now do whatever you want / either give me your sister, or death. // Sultan jumped, as a furious giant / silence reigned as if nobody was alive. Suddenly, a gracious voice gurgled: // love each other, sultan Ekber blesses you!)

Translation work of Bašagić was also significant. Since he was fluent in six languages, the poem “Der Asra” by German poet Heinriche Heine (1797-1856) reached our region in his translation. This poem, better-known by its first verse “Kraj tanana šadrvana” (By a slender shadirvani)  was set to music, took a place in our music tradition and is considered a sevdalinka. Heine wrote the poem in 1855, and in 1872 it was set to music by Russian composer Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894). It is unusual that a poem by a German poet has been accepted as a sevdalinka; however, it could be explained by its topic. The poem describes a dialogue between lovely sultan's daughter and a slave named El-Muhammed, from the tribe of old Asras, who die when love enslaves them. It referred to Yemen tribe Benu Uzra, well-known by their love among all the Arabic tribes; the legend goes that, if their love is unrequited or unaccomplished, men from the tribe would go far into the desert or to war, to die while in love, since they did not want to live without love. Thus, because of the emotions it contains, the song was positioned as a sevdalinka. The song has been performed by many singers, and Himzo Polovina recorded it for “Jugoton” in 1965, with the following lyrics:

Kraj tanana šadrvana / gdje žubori voda živa / svakog dana šetala se / sultanova kćerka mila. // Svakog dana jedno ropče / stajalo kraj šadrvana / kako vrijeme prolazilo / momče bljeđe, bljeđe bilo. // Jednog dana pitala ga / sultanova kćerka draga / kazuj, robe, odakle si / iz plemena kojega si. // Ja se zovem El-Muhammed / iz plemena starih Azra / što za ljubav život gube / i umiru kada ljube.

(By a slender shadirvani / where living water gurgles / sultan's lovely daughter / walked every day. // Every day a young slave / stood by the shadirvani / as the time passed / the boy grew paler and paler. // One day / sultan's lovely daughter asked him / tell me, slave, where are you from / from which tribe. // My name is El-Muhammed / from the tribe of old Asras / who lose life for love / and die when love enslaves them.)

In his poems, Bašagić attempted to create an atmosphere similar to that in the sevdalinka, which is reflected in numerous instances of courting, yearning, curiosity and love rapture. It is for this reason that his poems have been accepted and sung. Safvet-bey Bašagić passed away in Sarajevo, on 9 April 1934, and was buried in the cemetery of the Gazi Husrev-bey Mosque.

References

• Bašagić-Režepašić, Safvet (Mirza Safvet) (1896), Trofanda iz hercegovačke dubrave (1890-1894.), Sarajevo: Kulturno društvo Bošnjaka „Preporod“, Centar za bošnjačke studije (etc.), reprint

• Ceribašić, Naila, et al (2019), Sevdalinka i Zagreb do kraja 1950-ih: Pokušaj rekonstrukcije, Zagreb: Narodna umjetnost: hrvatski časopis za etnologiju i folkoristiku, no. 56.

• Novi behar (1933-1934), list za pouku i zabavu, Sarajevo: Islamska dionička štamparija, year VII, no. 19-21,

• Rebronja, Semir (2021), Motiv ljubavi kod uzritskih pjesnika i Hajnriha Hajnea, Zenica: Islamski pedagoški fakultet Univerziteta u Zenici,

• Sound recordings: Zumra Mulalić: Sini, sini sjaj-mjeseče (MP BHRT-a: Antologija BH sevdalinke, CD 1, 2005), Safet Isović: Dok je tvoga đula (PGP RTB: SF 13 161, 1976), Himzo Polovina: Azra (Jugoton: EPY-3514, 1965), Himzo Polovina: Na prijestolju sjedi sultan (Jugoton: EPY-3514, 1965.