The press conference was held in the Ministry today with the beginning at 10:30 on the occasion of inscription of the Bosnian traditional urban and folk song (sevdalinka) on the UNESCO Representative List on Non-material Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The conference was opened with a sevdalinka „Kraj potoka bistre vode” sung by Mensura Bajraktarević, followed by address to representatives of numerous BiH media of the Federal Minister of Culture and Sport, Sanja Vlaisavljević, Assistant Minister for Cultural-Historical Heritage and Culture, Mirela Miličević-Šečić and ordinary professor at the Music Academy of Sarajevo, Tamara Karača-Beljak.
“It has been a long process to inscribe sevdalinka on the UNESCO Representative List of Non-material Cultural Heritage. However, what I would like to point out is that the process has been finally brought to an end thanks to exceptional, devoted and hard work of the Assistant Minister, Ms. Mirela Miličević-Šečić, who formed a huge team from the entire Federation of BiH. I would like to congratulate warmly to the whole team and to all other participants of the project. I will not list the details of their work, because that would be too pretentious. Still, I would like to underline that they have achieved a huge success, with a support of intellectuals and member of academia and two universities from Sarajevo and Mostar. Today, thanks to the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports that was the holder of the candidature, we can proudly say that the process has been ended. I am sure that all citizens of the Federation and of whole Bosnia and Herzegovina will be happy about this. – said minister Vlaisavljević.
According to Assistant Minister for Cultural-Historical Heritage and Culture, Mirela Milićević Šečić sevdalinka is now joining the world’s cultural mosaic, becoming a deserved representative of culture of our peoples and of richness of non-material heritage of our country. She reminded that Bosnia and Herzegovina has so far inscribed within this category the following: Zmijanje embroidery, Konjic woodcarving, picking of iva grass at Ozren Mountain, Kupres mowing customs and Lipizzan horse breeding within serial nomination.
“The 19th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for Non-material Cultural Heritage is now ongoing in Paraguay, at which sevdalinka will be officially inscribed on the List. However, it is very important to mention that a month ago, we received the official report by the UNESCO evaluation body that had been thoroughly considering all the elements of our nomination on the basis of which they made their opinion. Sevdalinka met all conditions in all five criteria and it doubtlessly deserves to join the List”, as of Milićević Šečić.
On behalf of the Music Academy of Sarajevo, which provided expert support in the process of creating the nomination document, together with the University of Mostar, professor Tamara Karača Beljak addressed the media representatives.
“This milestone, of which we are so happy, opens the door for other traditional music forms from BiH to gain global recognition.” – said Karača Beljak.
The Ministry hopes this international recognition will inspire further efforts to preserve and promote sevdalinka, as well as other cultural expressions that form the identity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
