Divanhana performs traditional music with new arrangements, influenced by jazz, pop and 20th century classical music. The ensemble seeks to foster and present not only the urban traditional music of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also the traditional music of the Balkan countries, especially sevdalinka.

 

Their big concert at Lisinski Hall was announced in a press conference, in which those present caught a glimpse of what is awaiting us on 24 February, when the sounds of Divanhana fill Lisinski Hall. With the beautiful timbre of her voice reflecting the warmth of the human soul, Naida Čatić expressed excitement about the upcoming event, extremely important for their career.

 

That morning, they also performed on the Croatian National Television show Good Morning, Croatia by editor Ana Milić. They presented themselves with one of their greatest hits: Nema ljepše cure od malene Đule (There Is No Girl More Beautiful than Little Đula).

 

“We come from the present time; we are young and we wanted to bring sevdah closer to ourselves, to young people. This is why jazz, electronic music and pop music, which we have added”, pianist Neven Tunjić said.

 

They started the Zukva (Crabapple) Tour at the beginning of 2016. It is accompanied by a documentary film of the same name, which premiered at Lisinski Hall. It presents stories about the people researching tradition, people from the profession, on and behind the scenes. Stories featuring seemingly common people are intertwined in a net making up this ethnomusicological and ethnographic documentary film.

 

“Crabapples have wide crowns and deep roots. This is where we found the metaphor for what we are doing. It is important to say that other species are also inoculated on crabapple trees, which is what we are doing with music. We blend it with other music genres, such as jazz, pop and classical music. In this way, we give new overtones to sevdah, something that has been around for a long time”, the Divanhana band's singer Naida Čatić said on the Good Morning, Croatia show.

 

Source: Scena.hr