Ethno and jazz vocalist Dunja Bahtijarević (Kazan, Chant Électronique, Mimika Orchestra) and guitarist Luka Čapeta (MILK, Trokut, Mary May) have joined forces in a world music project appropriately named Dunjaluk, playing with a combination of their own names and a Turkish term that signifies ‘worldly life’. This is precisely the focus of Dunjaluk’s music – the earthly realm where a fusion of the East and West, sevdah, jazz, rock, and psychedelia coexist in parallel.
Dunjaluk gets rid of the layers of sevdah that have become the rules of the genre in the 20th century. To the melancholy of sevdah, Dunjaluk adds the intensity of rock and the intricacy of jazz. It’s sevdah for those who think they don’t like sevdah.
