The story of this ensemble is one of success against all odds. In 1999, Bosnian sound engineer and producer Dragi Šestić gathered a group of musicians from different ethnic backgrounds – Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks - in war-torn Mostar. At the time, it was a bold venture that was initially met with more suspicion than interest.
Some bands get boring with age, others get better. Mostar Sevdah Reunion fall into the second category, and you don't even know how they do it, because you were already more than satisfied with the previous album. The Bosnian combo seems to be getting more and more relaxed, they have nothing to prove anymore. No note is too much and everything is just right. They also know how to surprise again and again. After collaborations with Saban Bajramović, Esma Redzepova, Boban Marković and other Balkan greats, they are now working on their twelfth album with Antonija Batinić, who used to play rock, jazz and blues. It alludes to Robert Golden's film Stories of Sevdah, in which Sevdah is described as 'Balkan blues'. Comparisons between genres are always a misnomer, but there is a parallel, as Rusmir Pobrić so aptly explains in the liner notes: Blues is the music of slaves, Sevdah is the music of the slaves of love. Listeners can expect eleven tracks of great emotion – without any kitsch.