Art
Sculptures and Paintings
Architecture
Music
Music in all areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina has strong echoes of the Turkish tradition and is combined with elements of its rich cultural heritage and history. Singing is very popular way of getting together in Bosnia and Herzegovina and usually occupies the whole evening. It is accompanied by the saz, a Persian type of lute. In rural areas, the music draws more on Slavic influences. Ravne pesme is a "flat song" with little variation; ganga is a polyphonic song that sounds like shouting. There are a variety of folk dances. Some are similar to the Serbian and Croatian forms. The gluho kolo /deaf dance/ is a circle dance performed to foot stamping rather than music. There are also different line dances, some performed by men and others by women. The main instruments are the shargija (similar to the saz), the diple (a drone-less bagpipe),Serbian gusle and a wooden flute. Epic hundred-years old poems are performed to the accompaniment of a one-stringed fiddled called a gusle. Sevdalinka songs - sevdalinkas/beautiful traditional love song/ are sentimental melodies usually originally sung by young women that over centuries filled hearts of Balkan peoples with peace, love, happiness and melancholy. Sevdalinkas were designed to be performed in a tranquil back garden or a traditionally decorated large living room, while consuming some mezze and coffee in the way only Bosnian people know it. Unlike most musical types, in Sevdalinkas the singer leads the song, while the accompaniment follows the singer. Sevdalinkas are nowadays performed widely throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and have a strong cultural resonance in the entire country.