Gledao sam sa Šatora – Janj, BiH

Boško Đakić – Lead voice/prvi glas
Petar Žiža, Momčilo Kerlec, Mirko Džakić, Dušan Đakić, Niko Milovac – bas/bass

Janj is a geographical, historical, and cultural area of the western part of Central Bosnia (Bosnia and Herzegovina). It is located between the Vrbas River, the Pliva River, and the Vitorog Mountain. The name of the area comes from the small but beautiful river Janj, the tributary of Pliva. It is inhabited primarily by the Orthodox Serbs.
The uniqueness of the Janj area lies in its strong roots in tradition. Many aspects of culture including folk costumes, craft, music, or traditional working methods (such as working with draft horses and cutting grass with a scythe to provide food for animals) are still cultivated and constitute the common identity of the Janjani. What particularly enchanted us was the unique singing with a very strong, deep emission.

“Gledao sam sa Šatora” is sung in “na bas” style. In Janj, this type of song is called “bećarac” and can be found in other micro-regions of Western Bosnia, in different melodic variants. Two historical characters are mentioned in the song - the first one is Voivode Momčilo (called “Gavrilo” by the singer’s mistake), a brigand who became a Byzantine mercenary during the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans. Momčilo is also a hero of epic songs - according to them, he had a winged horse named Jabučilo, and one of his castles was located near the town of Bosansko Grahovo. Another character is Gavrilo Princip, member of a secret military society Crna ruka (The Black Hand) who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess von Hohenberg.

Lyrics (ENG)
From the Šator mountain...
From the Šator mountain I was watching
Gavrilo's (Momčilo's)
Gavrilo's (Momčilo's) castle
The town of Grahovo...
I was watching the town of Grahovo
Gavrilo's...
Gavrilo's birthplace


Lyrics (SR):
Sa Šatora...
Gledao sam sa Šatora
Gavrilova (Momčilova)...
Đe je kula Gavrilova (Momčilova)
Grad Grahovo...
I gledao grad Grahovo
Gavrilovo...
Rodno mjesto Gavrilovo

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About us – Balkan Polyphony is a field research project that collects traditional music from the Balkan area. We are not interested in any ideologies, we don’t take sides in any historical conflicts. What interests us is traditional culture and its musical intricacies.