The last days of August in Maglaj were marked by the 52nd International Festival of insufficiently established singers of folk and entertainment music “Student Summer”. From the distant 1964 until today, the Maglaj festival was the springboard for continuing their careers, for many now successful singers from the entire region – Alma Čardžić, Severina, Đulijan, Danijelo Popović, Željka Samardžić, Lepoj Brena, Hasiba Agić, Asim Brkan and many others. others. What started as a small event of the “Native Club of Students” and a festival of young singers from the surrounding towns, grew from year to year, so that by the 90s, the Magla festival was the crown of all amateur festivals from the territory of the former Yugoslavia. As they say, everything was on a level, so the orchestras of TV Zagreb, TV Belgrade, TV Sarajevo and many others accompanied the performers, the guests of the evening were always attractive as well as the presenters – from Sanja Damić to Mića Orlović.
This year, at the Maglaj festival, 29 young performers from nine countries, from three continents fought for valuable prizes, and for the first time, thanks to membership in the World Association of Festivals, young and talented participants from Turkey, Ukraine and Egypt presented themselves to the audience in Maglaj.
This year’s “Student summer” broke all attendance records
It is estimated that both festival evenings were attended by more than 2,500 visitors, that this year all records were broken when it comes to attendance and that more tickets were requested. This proves that the people of Maglaj love their festival and that they support it with their presence.
“We are living our ‘Student summer’,” said Mirsad Mahmutagić, the mayor of the municipality, opening the festival, and he especially thanked and acknowledged all those who helped organize the “Student summer” at the world level. The organizing committee, which this year consisted of Eldina Mehinagić, president, and members Benjamin Hasanić, Arnela Tumbić, Rašida Muhić and Damir Bašić, made a significant step forward in terms of organization, so the scene itself with all the lighting effects looked spectacular, the course of the festival could be followed on two displays, the audience in the hall also followed reports from backstage, learned something more about the participants themselves and their impressions of the festival and Maglaj. We must not forget the hardworking volunteers, the employees of the Cultural Center and the technical support.
The audience applauded the jury’s decisions
Both festival evenings began with the festival anthem “Sub castro nostro” performed by Benjamin Hasanić and the presentation of the festival orchestra led by prof. Amir Muharemović, who wrote the arrangements for all the songs that could be heard during the festival evenings. The harmonica virtuoso Amer Šehić once again delighted those present in the hall. The winners of valuable prizes were decided by two juries as well as the audience in the hall. The expert jury consisted of professors Ahmo Muharemović, Enisa Hajdarević-Šojko and Benjamin Hasanić, and Marjan Kataroski in front of the World Association of Festivals, and the jury of journalists Hajdar Arifagić, Mahir Čaušić, Emir Šrijelj and Dragan Pejčić.
The audience decided on their winners by voting via QR code. During the evening of folk music, the following presented themselves: Adin Huremović (Gradačac), Denis Dimoski (Prilep), Haris Hasanbegović (Srebrenik), Haris Šabanović (Visoko), Jana Crnomarković (Novi Sad), Karyina Zaiets (Kiev), Lejla Mečkić (Maglaj). , Mario Petruševski (Skopje), Marta Jovičić (Belgrade), Mateo Krištić (Orašje), Mina Mujkić (Zemun), Onur Pasaaga (Istanbul), Savr Ayberk Hocaoglu (Istanbul) and Sanel Delić (Maglaj). According to the audience in the hall, Sanel Delić from Maglaj won third, Sabri Ayberk Hocaoğlu from Istanbul second, while Lejla Mečkić, also representing Maglaj at the festival, won the most votes from the audience. Sabri Ayberk Hocaoğlu, a festival participant from Istanbul, was very happy about the award given to him by the audience. His family is originally from Novi Paraz. “I was born in Istanbul, where my family moved 50 years ago. I play music, I live especially with music from the Balkans. The atmosphere here was excellent, there are participants from several countries, we socialized a lot, and for me that is the greatest reward. And the audience was really top notch,” Sabri told us. According to the decision of the Jury of journalists, the third prize went to Denis Dimoski from Prilp, the second to Mina Mujkić from Zemun, and the first to Haris Šabanović from Visoko. The “Selver Pašić” award for the best interpretation of Sevdalinka was awarded to Aldin Huremović from Gradačac. Expert live awarded its first prize to participants from Kiev, Karyna Zaiets, second to Onura Pasaağa from Istanbul, and first to Mini Mujkić from Zemun. “When I came to Maglaj, I did not expect to win two awards. I only expected that I would meet a lot of wonderful people who have the same interests as me, that we would share our love for music with the audience. Music is a help for me to express my emotions, a way of my life. This is the most beautiful thing that could have happened to me and I am happy to return to Zemun. I know about the festival that it lasts a long time, that many of our regional stars started their careers here,” Mina Mujkić told us.
During the evening of fun music, regional and world hits were sung
On the festival stage during the evening of fun music, the following sang: Angel Juntev (Skopje); Arijan Đemajilji (Bibinje), Bruno Rački (Zagreb); Darin Osman (Cairo), Ena Blitović (Maglaj), Filip Caković (Čačak), Hana Talić (Kakanj), Luka Škarić (Šibenik), Maja Bagarić (Kiseljak), Marko Ninković (Trebinje), Matija Sekulić (Podgorica), Strahinja Miličević (Kraljevo), Tamara Blatnik (Šentjernej), Trajče Georgiev (Strumica) and Vasil Angelov (Skopje). Hana Talić from Kakanj was third in terms of audience votes, the second representative of Maglaj was Ena Blitović, while Maja Bagarić from Kiseljak won the most votes from the audience in the hall. The jury of journalists gave its third prize to Bruna Račko from Zagreb, the second to Angel Juntev from Skopje, and the first to Marko Ninković from Trebinje. The prize of the Festival Organizing Committee for the best stage performance was won by Matija Sekulić from Podgorica. According to the expert jury, Maja Bagarić from Kiseljak won the third place, Vasil Angelov from Skopje won the second place, and Hana Talić from Kakanj won the first place. “If I had to choose the winner in Maglaj, I don’t know who I would choose, the competition was really strong. Thanks to the jury for choosing me as the winner. After the information that some big stars started their careers here, this award is especially important to me”, Hana Talić told us, who expects to study at the Academy of Music in the fall, majoring in conducting.
Karyna Zaiets from Ukraine attracted attention with an effective stage performance
In Maglaj, but also in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was Karyna Zaiets from Kiev for the first time. During the evening of folk music, in a white dress, with a crown made of tree branches and leaves, she attracted the attention of visitors and many wanted to take a picture with her. “It’s wonderful here, the town is small but so pleasant, as are the people. I look at these hills around me, everything is wonderful. The festival is very good, I can’t wait for the evening of fun music when my friend from Egypt Darin Osman performs. My look is inspired by the spirit of Ukrainian forests, I love the culture of my country very much. This was a very valuable experience,” Karyna (19), a student at the University of Kyiv, told us.
Maybe we are going the way of Toni Cetinski and Toša Proeski
For decades, friendships are formed at the festival, which then last and last. Something like that could happen between Bruno Rački from Zagreb and Vasil Angelov from Skopje. They did not know each other before arriving in Maglaja, but they “clicked” very quickly. “We are talking about music, so that we can create some new music, our music. I was always surprised by Macedonians, they are really fantastic in many ways,” Bruno told us with a laugh. “Our energy, singing style and the genre of music we love matched. We have good energy on stage and I think that it would be good if some new Macedonian-Croatian collaboration happened, like Toše Proeski and Toni Cetinski had it,” Vasil added, and Bruno continued. “This is one of the rare festivals where I was delighted by all the participants. I’m glad I made a new friend and of course – we’ll make a duet”.
The organizers are extremely proud
The organizer of the 52nd “Student summer” is the municipality of Maglaj, and the co-organizer is the “Edhem Mulabdić” Cultural Center. “Of course, we are all proud to have participated in the organization and implementation of the festival. The people of Maglaj can also be proud because during the evening of folk music, the sports hall broke all attendance records. With a lot of quality participants, guests, a beautiful host couple, a quality orchestra and the entertainment was fantastic. The city was full these two evenings and I can say that beautiful pictures are leaving our Maglaj and we are proud of that”, said Mirsad Mahmutagić, the mayor of the municipality, after the curtain came down on the 52nd festival. “We experienced that more tickets were requested for the festival this year. Citizens gave us a positive assessment for everything we did. I am overjoyed that this city recognized that ‘Student Summer’ is first of all its festival, and with their arrival they encouraged all of us who worked on the organization and supported us to move on. A large number of volunteers were with us this year as well, they will work at the festival tomorrow. We also learned from the best – how to build a festival, and I thank teacher Hana Čizmić on my own behalf and on behalf of the Organizing Committee for teaching us everything, and we continued on,” added Eldina Mehinagić, president of the Organizing Committee. The golden sponsors of the festival were: Natron-Hayat, BH Pošta doo Sarajevo, the Federal Ministry for Veterans and Invalids of the Defense and Liberation War, and numerous sponsors helped the organization. Ten media from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region will talk and write about this year’s festival. The presenters of both evenings were Maja Miralem and Armin Redžović, and the luckiest visitors received prizes from travel agencies and trips of their choice.
Written by: Nejra Bradarić
This story was written thanks to the generous support of the American people through the “Local Works” program of the United States Agency for International Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina (USAID). The content of the story is solely the responsibility of the author and the “Network for Building Peace”. The views expressed in the story do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
