VOA · Arts & Culture
Intermediate · B1–B2learner speed3:352024-12-31public domain
The Arts & Culture beat covers music, film, museums, food, and traditions from the United States and around the world. The reports are short, vivid, and full of everyday descriptive language — great for learners who want vocabulary beyond textbooks.
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01Every Friday, musician Enos Salman performs the Sevdalinka, an ancient form of love song from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
02Sevdalinka was recently included in UNESCO's National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
03UNESCO is the United Nations' educational, scientific, and cultural organization.
04Sevdalinka is often called the Balkan Blues.
05It is a somewhat sad form of urban love song that dates to the 1500s.
06It is a mix of South Slavic spoken poetry and music of the Ottoman Empire.
07Salman is among only a few musicians keeping the tradition alive.
08I have been playing and singing Sevdalinka since I was 14, he said before a recent performance.
09Sevdalinka is often performed a cappella.
10That means it is sung without musical instruments.
11Sometimes the performer sings with traditional instruments, like a lute.
12This form, or genre of music, has been carried from generation to generation, through performances at family gatherings.
13In recent years, younger musicians have brought modern versions of Sevdalinka to audiences around the world.
14One of them is Damir Imamovic.
15His father and grandfather were famous Sevdalinka performers.
16In 2020 and 2021, Imamovic won awards from two world music publications, Songlines and Transglobal for Best European Album.
17Imamovic supports Sevdalinka internationally through his Sevdalab project.
18The project helped build support for the music's inclusion on UNESCO's World Heritage list.
19I realized how little the public knows about the Sevdalinka genre, and wanted to reveal the story behind that music, he said.
20Zanin Berbitz is a 28-year-old ethnomusicologist.
21He works as a curator in the music department of Bosnia's Regional Museum in Sarajevo, organizing, protecting, and bringing attention to music.
22He also plays Zaz, a long-necked lute used in Ottoman classical music.
23He said that Sevdalinka tells the story of Bosnia's history.
24Berbitz said, Most of my days I spend either singing or playing Sevdalinka songs, or reading or talking about them.
25Sevdalinka is my life, he said.
26I'm Ana Mateo.
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