"Years of searching for a single word that can stand for the Bosnian concept of sevdah have been fruitless, although yearning perhaps comes closest. Like the Spanish duende, it carries multiple meanings - desire, hopeless love, end less love, a love that chills and fevers, the lover like malaria, and like malaria can never be shaken off - but in the end, it's a way of life, and a way of telling."

The band was formed by Dragi Sestic 1998 . The band started out as a group of local, talented and experienced musicians -old friends , who made a reunion in summer 1999 for the recording of the first album. Their first CD was released 1999. Since then they became a real world music attraction performing on various world music festivals and receiving a number of music awards.
The band is composed of experienced musicians and often collaborates with renowned musicians in the field of gypsy music: they made two albums with Gypsy legend-Saban Bajramovic and two albums with Ljiljana Buttler-The Mother of Gypsy Soul. Working and recording with these two Gypsy legends were recorded to show variety of Balkans music an to give a respect to the finest and uncompromised authors of genuine Gypsy music

BBC made one hour documentary about the band as the part of the series of "The roots of European Blues" 2005.
The latest album "Cafe Sevdah" presents new dimension of sevdah music. It brings the mix of traditional music and jazz/blues influences to an higer level. This album presents the new discovery of the band Nermin Alukic Cerkez with his intense vocal and specific oriental guitar playing. The guest singers on the CD are also Suad Golic, Elmedin Balalic and 70 years old Fevzija Sarajlic. This CD is presenting in obvious way the bridge between sevdah and blues -the quote that was used many times during the explanation of the sevdah music in foreign press.

www.mostarsevdahreunion.com

Based:Bosnia

LJilJANA BUTTLER was born in Belgrade, her father was an gypsy accordion virtuoso and her mother a Croatian singer. But her father left soon after she was born and her mother had to support herself and her child, singing in bars. When her mother died, Ljiljana had to sing at age 12 in cafes to support herself through school. From 1980 Ljiljana (Petrovic) started doing concerts and became well-known on TV until the political and musical mood started changing with so-called turbo-folk. In 1987 she vanished from the Balkan music scene. She settled in Germany with her children and Married Mr. Buttler. For Ljiljanna her singing career was over but in 2002 she got a call from Dragi Sestic, producer from Snail Records. He wanted to record an album with her but she was reluctant. After lots of persuasion she decided to give her singing career one more try. Her vocal abilities on the CD "Mother of Gypsy Soul" lead us to the depths of Gypsy and Balkan soul. At the age of 60 she sings better then ever; what she is presenting to us now is a pure handbook of Balkan Blues. On this recording she is accompanied by the most famous Balkan band from Bosnia and Hercegovina, Mostar Sevdah Reunion and Gypsy trumpet player Boban Markovic. Ljiljana released her second CD with Snail Records in the summer of 2006. On this album she is jointed by special guest and ‘King of the Gypsies’, Saban Bajramovic. The third album will be a more jazzier approach with new musicians from her homeland Serbia. The CD should be released in 2008. Ljiljana performed the last five years often as a quest singer with Mostar Sevdah Reunion in many Festivals and theaters in Europe. In 2007 she jointed the party of Fanfare Ciocarila for several concerts. Ljiljana is to be expected to perform with her own band in 2008

Based:Germany/
Serbia

....Her album Rosa is not simply the finest Sevdah album of recent times but a marker of all East European musicians wondering how to bring their musical roots into the 21st centruy with out losing the essential soul of the sound...
(Garth Cartwright, Froots may 2005)

....This is a fabulous record which get even better with repeated listening. (Simon Broughton, Songlines)

Amira started her first tour abroad in 2007 and performed in Sweden, Holland, Switzerland and Great Britain.

Based:Bosnia

CD
artist : Amira
title: Rosa
Label: Snail Records

Branko Galoic is a guitarist, composer and singer/songwriter from Ivanic Grad, Croatia. He lives in Amsterdam since year 2000 and that is where he met Dragi Šestic, a producer from Bosnia, with whom he recorded his first solo record "Above The Roofs". The album is under strong influence of Balkan traditional and Gipsy music mixed with Blues and Pop and Branko sings in his mother language. Branko's album has been voted jazz CD of the week by the Independent in the year 2007 !!!

Based: The Netherlands

Martin studied classical music and jazz in Sofia and Vienna. His roots in the vibrating ground of balkan wedding music kept him from becoming an "academic" musician. And fortunately his musical education helped him quite soon to outgrow popular music, to which a lot of Roma musicians on the Balkans are confined.
In 2000 Martin Lubenov moved to Vienna in order to study and soon became a link between the music of Yugoslav and Macedonian communities and the Central-European folk and world music scene. Fast his talent got around and numerous musicians and bands invited him to collaborate, like for example the Sandy Lopi?i? Orkestar. In addition to this, he has been instrumentalist and arranger for the Jony Iliev Band in Bulgaria. 2005 Jazzta Prasta won the Austrian World Music Award, and in 2006 Martin Lubenov was awarded the prestigious French Prix Gus Viseur, category Jazz/World.
The band was a success right from the start and during the past few years has been conquering European clubs and many festival stages.

www.martinlubenov.com

Based:Austria

Can a folk audience enjoy free jazz? A heavy metal audience, classical music? A world music audience, British pop?
Terrafolk are proud to be performing at Mostar's first ever World Music Festival and straight after their festival show the band will check into the Pavarotti studio to start recording their next release.

www.terrafolk.org

Based:Slovenia

The unique sound of the musical project "Biber" is a result of fusing ethnic music of Balkans with different music genres. Songs on the self-titled debut album lead the listener to a voyage through different moods and musical spaces: from lyrical ballads and traditional dances to electronic music influenced
numbers. Rastko Aksentijevic, recognized as a refinedcomposer and guitarist together with his peers MiloradKocic (Keyboards and programming) and Goran Simpraga (producer) has forged this release paying dues to the tradition he inherited from his father, famous singer of medieval Serbian music, but at the same time marrying that tradition with his own tastes and influences in modern music. To give the best possible representation of their music in concerts, for live work Biber draws other musicians as members of collective on various instruments - male and female vocals, different string instruments such as saz, sargija, classical guitar and tambura, wind instruments as bagpipes, kaval and frula, different
percussive instruments and all this combined with modern instruments and sequenced rhythms and loops.
ue sound of the musical project "Biber" is a result of fusing ethnic music of Balkans with
different music genres. Songs on the self-titled debut album lead the listener to a voyage through different
moods and musical spaces: from lyrical ballads and While being active in live presentation of their work
Biber also had noted appearances on different festivals and manifestations as EXIT music festival
and Mostar World Music Fest. As their musical value has been internationally recognized, songs from their
first album were included in "Buddha Bar 8" and "Balkan Beats 2" compilation albums.

www.bibermusic.com

Based: Serbia

In September 1980 he recorded his first record titled Ne Kuni me, Ne Ruzi me, Majko (Do Not Scold Me, Do Not Rebuke Me, Mother), which became diamond.

In February 1984 he recorded his second record DUDA which became platinum and reached the top place on Yugoslav charts.

In 1994 Louis received an official recognition for being an originator of ethno-pop.

With each new album there was a new award: golden plaques, popularity oscars, golden, platinum and diamond records...
He recorded 13 albums by 2007

His shows are great spectacles. Huge and wild, like himself.

www.louis.co.yu

Bilja Krstic has been on the Yugoslav pop scene for a long time. Her stage experience started at her very young age in Chorus of Youth; later, in the `70s, she was a member of the cult bands “Sunflowers”, and “Early Frost”.  Finally, she decided to go solo, and her first album was released in 1983.Furthermore, she released three pop-oriented records, and did music for many theatre shows at Belgrade’s National Theatre. In the meantime, she graduated from University of Musical Arts, and started to work as a Music Editor on the National Radio Broadcast.
After successful career in pop music, Bilja Krstic has decided to record material close to her heart ever since her childhood. For more than five years, she was patiently collecting obscure folk songs from the territory of Kosovo, south Serbia, Macedonia, the Vlach district in east Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. The results were the albums “Bistrik” (2001) and “Zapisi” (2003). Album “Bistrik” was re-released by V2-Greece record label, in May 2002.
The music performed by BILJA KRSTIC & BISTRIK ORCHESTRA is a fusion, blend of traditional ethno music, a Capella songs and ethno grooves with elements of improvisation and modern music approach. Her sincere stage presence and beautiful voice received great acclaim at more than 170 concerts across the world and in her home country; it was best acknowledged when she was invited as the only female vocal perfomer from Mediterranean at festival “Mostra Sesc de Artes” in Sao Paolo in 2005. At the time, she was a member of Mediterraneo Orchestra, formed of about 25 top musicians from all over the world. She has just finished recording her 3rd CD “Tarpos” which is about to be released across Europe at the beginning 2007.

www.bilja.co.yu

Based: Serbia

CD
artist:Bilja Krstic
title:Tarpos
label:Ituition/Schott Music