Balkan ballad

Balkan ballads (also known as Balkan folk ballads) are an umbrella term for several emotional slow music styles in the Balkans region of Southeastern Europe. Balkan ballads often deal themes AbOUT love (unrequited love, lovesickness, romantic and intimate relationships) with using Balkanic INSTRUMENTS such as Balkanic string instruments, šargija, clarinet, trumpet, accordion, fiddle, guitar and bass guitar. Balkan ballads are characterized by the fusion of pop music, folk music and sentimental ballads, and singers are usually performed in their native languages.

Characteristics

Typical ballads use ethnic instrumentation, though in recent trend, Balkan ballads commonly implement some degree of westernised instrumentation.

Examples

Westernised melody and instruments

Balkanic melody and instruments

History

On an international level, Balkan ballads are commonly associated with the Eurovision Song Contest. Some Balkan countries, such as Albania, are known for their tendency to send entries in the 'Balkan ballad' style. In addition, music of this genre can be widely seen in various Balkan music festivals, such as Festivali i Këngës, Kënga Magjike, Beovizija, and Montevizija.

Examples

  • “Lane moje” in 2004, and “Nije ljubav stvar” in 2012 performed by Željko Joksimović
  • “Lejla”, performed by Hari Mata Hari (Bosnia & Herzegovina 2006)
  • “Oro”, performed by Jelena Tomašević (Serbia 2008)
  • Doris Dragović – “Željo moja” (Yugoslavia 1986)
  • Fazla – “Sva bol svijeta” (Bosnia & Herzegovina 1993)
  • Alma & Dejan – “Ostani kraj mene” (Bosnia & Herzegovina 1994)
  • Both of Darja Švajger’s entries for Slovenia (“Prisluhni mi” in 1995, and “For A Thousand Years” in 1999)
  • Magazin & Lidija – “Nostalgija” (Croatia 1995)
  • Maja Blagdan – “Sveta ljubav” (Croatia 1996)
  • Danijela – “Neka mi ne svane” (Croatia 1998)
  • Marija Šerifović – “Molitva” (Serbia 2007), which of course won
  • Karolina Gočeva – “Mojot svet” (FYR Macedonia 2007), features a language change to English at the end
  • Marija Šestić – “Rijeka bez imena” (Bosnia & Herzegovina 2007)
  • Regina – “Bistra voda” (Bosnia & Herzegovina 2009)
  • Igor Cukrov feat. Andrea – “Lijepa Tena” (Croatia 2009)
  • Feminnem – “Lako je sve” (Croatia 2010)
  • Maja Keuc – “No One” (Slovenia 2011), a rare English-language Balkan ballad, although a Slovenian version was performed at the National Final
  • Kaliopi – “Crno i belo” (FYR Macedonia 2012), a more rock-based ballad
  • Nina Badrić – “Nebo” (Croatia 2012)
  • Eva Boto – “Verjamem” (Slovenia 2012)
  • Maya Sar – “Korake ti znam” (Bosnia & Herzegovina 2012)
  • Klapa s Mora - "Mižerja" (Croatia 2013)
  • Moje 3 - "Ljubav je svuda" (Serbia 2013)
  • Sergej Ćetković - "Moj svijet" (Montenegro 2014)
  • Knez - "Adio" (Montenegro 2015)
  • Dalal & Deen feat. Ana Rucner and Jala - "Ljubav je" (Bosnia & Herzegovina 2016)
  • Kaliopi - "Dona" (FYR Macedonia 2016)

On the other hand, Serbian Singer Željko Joksimović was described as 'The Master of the Balkan Ballads' by the worldwide media.