Mostar Sevdah Reunion Presents Sreta: The Balkan Autumn

The music filtered for consumption by the ‘world music industry’ may well bear little relationship to the music listened to by people in their homeland. It's also generally recognised that most countries' popular musics are based on fusions of some kind, worked out autonomously beyond the grand projects so beloved of the major labels. This new recording from veteran Serbian singer Milutin Sretenović (aka Sreta) is proof of both.

Sretenović's collaboration with an expanded version of the Mostar Sevdah Reunion collective reminds us that trade at the crossroads of Europe travels in many directions. The echoes of French chanson and jazz, and melodies inflected by Turkish and Roma models, evoke the smoky bars and restaurants where Sreta learned his trade, and the beautifully reimagined and detailed arrangements of classic tunes complement the dark and controlled emotion of his vocal style. It's a rare opportunity to hear a hidden pop music, suffused with nostalgia for a nation that once was.