Musical fairy tale 'From Bach to Sevdah' held in Switzerland

(Patria) - Sevdalinka is a Bosnian-Herzegovinian national treasure, which is why concerts like the one held last night in Switzerland are of great importance for its preservation and promotion.

Namely, a true musical fairy tale titled "From Bach to Sevdah" was held in the renowned Stadtsaal hall in Zofingen, Switzerland.



The orchestra and guests at the concert, top singers, choirs, and instrumentalists performed selected sevdalinka songs, in original and arranged versions. The audience had the opportunity to hear sevdalinka songs like ‘Kiša bi pala’, ‘Karanfil se na put sprema’, ‘Moj Dilbere’, ‘Zvjezda tjera mjeseca’, ‘Tebi majko misli lete’ and others, but also works by masters of classical music, such as Paganini's Caprice No. 5 and 24, Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5, Prelude from Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suite No. 2, as well as works of classical popular music of the 20th century, such as Edith Piaf's chanson ‘Sous le ciel de Paris’.

The initiator of this unique project, the concert "From Bach to Sevdah", is accordion maestro Eso Balić, a true ambassador of sevdalinka and guardian of sevdah, who has been successfully building a musical career in Switzerland for years.

- I am glad that a beautiful image of sevdalinka has spread around the world from Switzerland. Such a concert is a dream come true for me. Thank you to all my colleagues, the audience, and also the media from all over BiH who gave us great support.

The concert lasted three hours and it was a musical journey through Europe, which symbolically started from Greece, through Turkey, Albania, Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia, all the way to Bosnia and further to Italy, Germany and England – says Eso Balić.