The Museum of Sevdah or Art House Sevdah , which is located in the area of the Velike Daire in Sarajevo and built in the 17th century, represents a unique institution that is dedicated to the preservation of the traditional Bosnian love song – sevdalinka.
Working on the principle of self-financing, the Sevdah Art House has been a successfully operating institution for nine years and it is working on promotion and preservation of Sevdalinka and its great artist, and the significance of sevdalinka for the development of the cultural heritage of BiH was confirmed with the opening of this permanent museum setting.
Space wirhin the Sevdah House is arranged as 11 rooms in which are placed museum settings of 36 great artists of sevdalinka, composers, interpreters, and songwriters who left the greatest mark on the promotion of sevdalinka as we know it today.
A total of 6,700 attendees, mostly primary and high school students, passed through interactive workshops that are organized in the Sevdah House.
They are also working on the establishment of cultural bridges with other countries and for the first time ever BiH had an institutionalized presentation at World Music Expo in 2010, which is a planetary music fair where 90 countries and more than 2,000 delegates, producers, musicians, and interpreters are presented.
It was also noted that the promotion of sevdalinka is important for our country and that there are just a few countries in the world that can boast with what we have.
Another project of the Sevdah’s Art House is enrolling sevdalinka on the list of the non-material heritage of UNESCO, which means that certain conditions must be fulfilled, one of which is the continuity, and sevdalinka met this condition. Namely, the first written record of sevdalinka is dating back to the 16th century. The first record was recorded back in 1919. It was recorded by Sofka Nikolic in Berlin, who was the second best-selling tenor of Europe. Nedzad Salkovic sang to Princess Diana, Tito used to bring sevdalinka artists on his travels who sang for high officials.
“There were new instruments coming and going, but the form of sevdalinka has not changed, it remained the song that tells the story of life,” said Armis Masic, the president of the Assembly of the Association Promokultura.
(Source: Se. H./Klix.ba)
