Saturday, April 05, 2008
Mostar Sevdah Reunion make it onto Euronews!
Mostar Sevdah Reunion participated in a music festival in Brussels called 'Balkans Traffic' It was from what I could see a cool music festival, and Ms. Butler was there! So rumors of the group's collapse are 100% not true! They are alive and kickin' out the jams!
Other groups from the region were shown, but MSR got the first bit of film, and probably the longest, although they were not interviewed.
The front man for 'Emir and Frozen Camels' was sort of interviewed in 'Dnevni Avaz'. He is funny, he said his house pet was his mobile phone!
Other groups from the region were shown, but MSR got the first bit of film, and probably the longest, although they were not interviewed.
The front man for 'Emir and Frozen Camels' was sort of interviewed in 'Dnevni Avaz'. He is funny, he said his house pet was his mobile phone!
# posted by Katja R. @ 2:06 AM 
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Dear Yakima,
It may have looked good on Euronews, but I was at the MSR concert in Brussels and must say I was disappointed. The band has, unfortunately, split - I happen to know that because a cousin of a friend of mine played in the original band and is still playing with one of the 'rump' bands. On the same evening when this, in my opinion weaker, half of the original band played in Brussels, the other half played at a Bosnian ball in Vienna.
I was, of course, sad to see that they had split as they were just fantastic before. But what bothered me more was how the musicians did not really care, you could see that it was just a gig for them, they did not enjoy it, they had zero stage presence. They ended up playing ONLY FOUR sevdalinkas, and the rest was Ljiljana Butler's repertoire. She was as good as always but for those who came to hear sevdah - described by the
presenter as "Bosnian fado" - it was disappointing to say the least.
I hope I'll get to hear the other half of the band somewhere.
Greetings from Brussels
It may have looked good on Euronews, but I was at the MSR concert in Brussels and must say I was disappointed. The band has, unfortunately, split - I happen to know that because a cousin of a friend of mine played in the original band and is still playing with one of the 'rump' bands. On the same evening when this, in my opinion weaker, half of the original band played in Brussels, the other half played at a Bosnian ball in Vienna.
I was, of course, sad to see that they had split as they were just fantastic before. But what bothered me more was how the musicians did not really care, you could see that it was just a gig for them, they did not enjoy it, they had zero stage presence. They ended up playing ONLY FOUR sevdalinkas, and the rest was Ljiljana Butler's repertoire. She was as good as always but for those who came to hear sevdah - described by the
presenter as "Bosnian fado" - it was disappointing to say the least.
I hope I'll get to hear the other half of the band somewhere.
Greetings from Brussels
# posted by 
: 5:01 AM
: 5:01 AM
First of all, always nice to have a visit from the 'Capitol of Europe'.
I'm sorry to hear the group split.
Liljian Butler is an excellent performer in her own right, but you are correct that it is not sevdah!
I am sorry to hear that M.S.R. indeed has split. Are you able to enlighten us as to why? Or is it personal?
Now I am sorry I did not take in the direct broadcast of the Bosnian Ball in Vienna!. I did not realize who would be playing and the re-run has already been shown! I watched something else that night.
I thought 'Ball, boring music, who cares!'
Readers address me as Katja. or *Komrade*Katjusa*
I'm sorry to hear the group split.
Liljian Butler is an excellent performer in her own right, but you are correct that it is not sevdah!
I am sorry to hear that M.S.R. indeed has split. Are you able to enlighten us as to why? Or is it personal?
Now I am sorry I did not take in the direct broadcast of the Bosnian Ball in Vienna!. I did not realize who would be playing and the re-run has already been shown! I watched something else that night.
I thought 'Ball, boring music, who cares!'
Readers address me as Katja. or *Komrade*Katjusa*
Drugarice Katjusa :)
I may be writing from the 'capital of Europe', but I sometimes feel I couldn't belong here less since I'm Bosnian - a citizen of a country that is still rather far from membership in that Europe. I meet people a lot who seem never to have met a Bosnian before - can be quite amusing to watch their reaction when I tell them where I'm from.
Anyway, back to MSR - my friend the insider :) told me they had split over money, how typical when a band becomes popular. And how sad. The guy who was in charge of their PR apparently took a few other guys with him and continued playing using the band's name - those are the people I watched in concert here in Brussels.
I hope the weather in Sarajevo has improved. If it's of any comfort, there hasn't been real spring yet here either.
Best
I may be writing from the 'capital of Europe', but I sometimes feel I couldn't belong here less since I'm Bosnian - a citizen of a country that is still rather far from membership in that Europe. I meet people a lot who seem never to have met a Bosnian before - can be quite amusing to watch their reaction when I tell them where I'm from.
Anyway, back to MSR - my friend the insider :) told me they had split over money, how typical when a band becomes popular. And how sad. The guy who was in charge of their PR apparently took a few other guys with him and continued playing using the band's name - those are the people I watched in concert here in Brussels.
I hope the weather in Sarajevo has improved. If it's of any comfort, there hasn't been real spring yet here either.
Best
# posted by : 1:20 PM
: 1:20 PM
We did have a few nice days here and it is back to rain as of yesterday, but thank God not too cold.
It is funny, many Americans have Bosnian heritage and don't even know it, especially Americans with serious royal blood do, and then there are the Melungeons, an ethnic group that included Abraham Lincoln, and Elvis Presley, they actually were people who ended up in America very early on and by accident. The story of that ethnic group is complex and hard to accurately research, but the DNA evidence is that their ancestors came from either Bosnia or Turkey. They usually have Irish surnames, but don't look Irish.
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It is funny, many Americans have Bosnian heritage and don't even know it, especially Americans with serious royal blood do, and then there are the Melungeons, an ethnic group that included Abraham Lincoln, and Elvis Presley, they actually were people who ended up in America very early on and by accident. The story of that ethnic group is complex and hard to accurately research, but the DNA evidence is that their ancestors came from either Bosnia or Turkey. They usually have Irish surnames, but don't look Irish.
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