On record
The bands, singers and traditions that made Sarajevo's sound — the rock of the New Primitivism era, the sevdah of Radio Sarajevo, and the orchestra that played through the siege. The directors · The films
The modern voice of sevdah — 'Bosnia's Billie Holiday' (The Guardian).
Debut album Rosa (2005); her 2009 live album was recorded at Jazz Fest Sarajevo. During the siege she sang sevdah with friends in basements to keep her sanity; her 2003 guest appearance on Mostar Sevdah Reunion's 'A Secret Gate' led to her debut.
Sarajevo's sevdah museum and café, opened on 8 May 2008 inside the 18th-century Velike Daire in Baščaršija.
The building is the Hadžimuratovića Daire, one of five 'daire' trade complexes that existed only in Sarajevo, built just before 1776 and declared a national monument in 2007; the museum preserves the biographies, instruments, awards and recordings of the great sevdah performers.
The 'First Lady of Sevdah', at Radio Sarajevo from 1954.
Lived in Sarajevo through the siege; buried at Bare Cemetery.
The most popular and best-selling band in the former Yugoslavia.
Audiences: Fans' consensus: the biggest band of the former Yugoslavia, with Bebek rated the best singer.
Formed in Sarajevo in 1974; led by Goran Bregović. The 2005 reunion concerts opened in Sarajevo. In 1982 they played the symbolic Olympic torch handover in Innsbruck as the Games passed to Sarajevo; their 2005 reunion concert at Koševo Stadium drew about 60,000 people.
New Primitivism band whose early hit was the football chant 'Željo to je moj tim'.
Founded by guitarist Nedim Babović in 1982; actor Branko Đurić joined in May 1983. Inactive from 1992 to 2008, then reunited with a concert in Sarajevo.
The bigender sevdah singer who revives the genre's traditional women's songs, at sold-out concerts across the Balkans.
An archaeology graduate discovered singing in a Sarajevo café; his solo debut 'Moj sevdah' (2014) presented seventeen sevdalinkas a cappella.
Pop band formed from the New Primitivism scene.
In 1986 a car crash near Jablanica killed one founder and fatally wounded another, Dražen Ričl, aged 24.
Grandson of Zaim Imamović; his 2020 album Singer of Tales won the Songlines Music Award for Best European Album in 2021.
Audiences: Radio Sarajevo and the Huffington Post have called him the 'king of sevdah' of the modern generation.
Trapped in besieged Sarajevo from the age of fourteen, he taught himself guitar during the siege; a researcher and educator through his SevdahLab programme.
Wrote the lyrics to 'Jedna si jedina', Bosnia's first national anthem, and took part in Eurovision three times — as author of the 1993 entry and as performer in 1999 and 2011.
Audiences: An 'institution' with sold-out arenas — though the domestic online hate is dismissed by fans as a media artefact.
Still lives in Alifakovac in the same house on the same street; owns the Magaza record label and shop in Baščaršija. During the siege he wrote 'Sva bol svijeta', the plea for peace sung by Fazla at Bosnia's first Eurovision in 1993; his manager Kemal Bisić was killed in the war.
Hard rock and heavy metal led by guitarist Sead 'Zele' Lipovača.
Vocalist Alen Islamović left for Bijelo Dugme in 1986.
The most popular Bosnian musical act of the 2010s, formed from a merger of Sarajevo and Zenica bands in 2003.
Audiences: Loved abroad for connecting the Balkans, mocked at home for sameness — but everyone agrees the live show is great.
Crossover dub-rockers known for politically charged, multilingual lyrics; their satire 'USA' became an unofficial anthem for the Bosnian national team during the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
The most popular Bosnian hip-hop act, whose 2002 debut 'Slušaj mater' defined the scene.
Edin Osmić left Bosnia for Zagreb in 1992 at the outbreak of war; in 2005 he became the first Bosnian hip-hop star to tour North America. Included here as the reference point for Bosnian rap, though he is Brčko-born, not Sarajevo.
The New Primitivism punk band fronted by Mirko Srdić, 'Elvis J. Kurtović' of Sarajevo.
Founded 1981 with members of Zabranjeno Pušenje; their debut Mitovi i legende o kralju Elvisu (1984) was a Monty Python-style 'thematic radio show'. Keyboardist Zoran Degan was killed during the war and the band did not survive it.
Sarajevo-born singer Billboard called 'an icon of traditional Bosnian music'.
The only singer to perform original sevdalinka accompanied by the saz; recorded songs for the films Gori vatra and Remake. Her portrait hangs in the Art Kuća Sevdaha exhibition.
One of the best-known female sevdah voices of the 20th century, at Radio Sarajevo from 1972.
Her 1978 version of 'Voljela sam, voljela' sold over a million copies; co-founded the Sarajevo Disk label in 1979 and stayed in Sarajevo through the siege.
Third place for Bosnia at Eurovision 2006 with 'Lejla'.
'Lejla' was first aired at the Sarajevo National Theatre; singer Hari Varešanović grew up in the Vratnik neighbourhood.
Best known for his version of 'Emina'; a neuro-psychiatrist by profession.
Radio Sarajevo soloist from 1953; buried in Sarajevo's Bare Cemetery.
Blind since childhood, he passed the Radio Sarajevo audition in 1957 and became a vocal soloist there at nineteen.
Audiences: Reported to be Josip Broz Tito's favourite folk singer.
An exclusive Jugoton artist from 1960 and author of 'Ne klepeći nanulama', which became one of the most recorded and best-selling songs in the spirit of the sevdalinka.
Psychedelic rock pioneers — 'When you say Sarajevo, you say Indexi.'
Named after the student grade log; disbanded the year singer Davorin Popović died. The Bosnian music award is named for them. Their 'Bacila je sve niz rijeku' was later covered by bands across the former Yugoslavia, notably Crvena Jabuka.
The largest jazz festival in Southeastern Europe, held every November since 1997.
Founded by Edin Zubčević; Amira Medunjanin's live album was recorded at the 12th edition in 2008.
Author of 'Sarajevo, ljubavi moja', the city's evergreen musical homage, and one of the greatest songwriters of the former Yugoslavia.
Born to an Italian father and a Bosniak mother, he spent the entire 1990s war in besieged Sarajevo and was buried at Bare Cemetery in 2015; wrote for Zdravko Čolić, Toše Proeski and Indexi.
Pop-rock group from Sarajevo, formed 1988, who played unplugged through the siege for lack of electricity.
Original vocalist Davor Ebner left for Regina; their debut album Sa vremenom came out in 1997 with the hit 'U tvojim očima'.
Rock band formed in Sarajevo in 1986, fronted by Dino Šaran.
Their debut album (2005) took three Davorin awards; the 2018 Kemal Monteno Award for pop music went to them.
Bosnian sevdalinka-folk singer who worked as a bricklayer before releasing his first single in 1966.
During the war he recorded the patriotic albums 'Vjetrovi rata' (1992) and 'Poruka Šehida' (1995); he died two months before his close friend Safet Isović.
Sang 'Kad ja pođoh na Bembasu', the unofficial anthem of Sarajevo.
Born Nada Vukićević in Belgrade, she moved to Sarajevo after marrying and sang on Radio Sarajevo; her archive of sevdah recordings numbers over 150.
Colleagues called him the 'prince of Bosnian sevdalinka'.
A vocal soloist of Radio-television Sarajevo and Radio Belgrade; recorded over 60 albums, including 'Ne klepeći nanulama' and 'Jesen u vrtu mom'.
Sevdah singer and one of its most significant composers.
Founder and director of the Institut sevdaha in Mulići, Visoko, in whose books he recorded nearly 1,000 sevdalinkas.
Their debut Soldatski bal (1985) is the best-selling debut album in Yugoslav pop history.
Fronted by Saša Lošić; early sound grew out of the New Primitivism scene.
Rock band formed in Sarajevo in 1990; represented Bosnia and Herzegovina at Eurovision 2009 with 'Bistra voda'.
Davor Ebner, a founding vocalist, previously sang with Konvoj. Finished 9th at Eurovision 2009 in Moscow; reunited in 2005 after splitting in 2000.
One of the most significant sevdalinka singers of the interwar years.
Started singing on Radio Belgrade while a law student there; was killed by Ustaše troops in Sarajevo on 4 April 1945.
Compilation of siege-era Sarajevo rock, released in 1995 by Radio Zid Sarajevo and Stichting Popmuziek Nederland.
Radio Zid kept the underground scene alive — bands played on through the siege, even in the city's shelters. The related 1993 anti-war compilation Preko zidova nacionalizma i rata ('Over the Walls of Nationalism and War') drew bands from across the former Yugoslavia.
The 'King of Sevdah'; the only singer from the former Yugoslavia to perform at the Sydney Opera House.
Audiences: Unchallenged 'king of sevdah'; his wounding in besieged Sarajevo is the story fans repeat.
Wounded by a grenade in besieged Sarajevo in 1992; buried at Ali Pasha's Mosque.
Premiered on 9 November 1946 with Smetana's The Bartered Bride at the National Theatre.
The National Theatre runs three ensembles — Drama, Opera and Ballet; the first opera staged in Sarajevo was Lisinski's 'Porin' in 1925, performed by the visiting Osijek Opera.
Played Mozart's Requiem among the ruins of the Vijećnica under Zubin Mehta, 19 June 1994.
Seven members were killed during the siege, yet the orchestra gave 60 concerts, rehearsing in unheated basements by candlelight.
The urban folk song of Bosnia, inscribed on the UNESCO intangible heritage list in 2024.
Radio Sarajevo was its postwar vehicle — it signed Himzo Polovina (1953), Beba Selimović (1954), Safet Isović (1955) and Zehra Deović (1960). The earliest song retrospectively identified as a sevdalinka is 'Bolest Muje Carevića', dated to about 1475; the word 'sevdalinka' itself became established only toward the end of the 19th century.
Siege-era Sarajevo rock band — the first from Bosnia on MTV, and the opener for U2's 1997 Koševo concert.
Played the 'Rock Under Siege' concert at the Sloga club organised by Radio ZID and opened for Bruce Dickinson in 1994; their debut album Now, Always, Never was produced by Brian Eno.
The earliest Bosnian female author whose work survives, who sang her sevdah poetry herself.
After her fiancé was killed in the First Serbian Uprising in 1813, she wrote of him and his soldiers; her only fully attributable poem is the 79-verse 'Sarajlije iđu na vojsku protiv Srbije'.
Pop rock fronted by Suad 'Jaka' Jakirlić.
First toured as the opening act for Bijelo Dugme across Bosnia; debut album featured Goran Bregović as guest.
Sevdalinka singer whose career began in 1919, when she won a talent contest in Brčko at sixteen.
Sang in Skadarlija and on radio programmes such as Bosansko veče, recording for Odeon, Polydor and Jugoton; later performed with Zehra Deović.
The New Primitivism band at the centre of No Smoking in Sarajevo.
Audiences: Das ist Walter is held up as the pinnacle of Yugoslav post-punk — the band's wartime losses are part of how fans hear it.
Debut album Das ist Walter (1984) opened with the Walter Defends Sarajevo theme, and sold 100,000 copies from a first press of 3,000.
The great reformer of sevdah, singing on Radio Sarajevo from its first broadcast day, 10 April 1945.
Wrote some of the most popular sevdalinkas himself and co-founded the Ilidža Folk Music Festival; died in besieged Sarajevo in 1994.
Leading female sevdah voice of the 1960s and 70s.
Started at Radio Sarajevo in 1960; debut album Pjesme iz Bosne (1962).
In 1964 he became the first citizen of Tuzla to have his voice recorded on a gramophone record.
A vocal soloist of Radio Tuzla from 1960, though he recorded on the RTV Sarajevo label; retired in 1996 and was posthumously awarded the Davorin in 2003. Buried at the Alifakovac cemetery in Sarajevo.
