Hanka Paldum, the Bosnian singer who back in the Yugoslavia of the 1980s skyrocketed to stardom, is still shining – and with a new vigour! In the deluge of the turbo trend these past decades there was neither time nor space in Slovenia to listen to this brilliant singer; however, in the meantime the reputation of the diva of Bosnian popular music - who has also been considered the personif ication of Bosnian sevdah (lovesickness, yearning for love) - has been extolled to the heavens. When one listens to Hanka Paldum’s brilliant interpretation of Bosnian love songs, one can hear that determination, desire and strength is not exactly new or a »western« phenomenon. At the same time, this concert at the City of Women festival is an opportunity to re-address the question as to the autonomy of artwork, namely: does the ideological and political structure of the audience become one with the artwork?
