This is a story about Emina and how we learnt about the tragic love story of Emina and Aleksa. It is one of the most famous sevdalinka poems in Bosnia. Sevdalinka is a type of lyrical romance, where one pours their soul out. To fall into “Sevda” is to have a state of strong emotional outburst. Emina is a beautiful poem and it is easy to see why it is so famous and is integral to Bosnian culture and history.
Meeting Denis, a treasure trove of Bosnian stories
We were walking around the cobbled streets of Mostar’s old town when we noticed a sign “naturally chill café”. Amused and intrigued, we go to the café to have a sheesha and have a “naturally chill time”. The owner of the café, Denis, told us that he was closing up shop soon and that we would be his last customers for the day.
Meeting Denis was the highlight of the day for us. He spoke about the fragile history of the country. He told us stories about his life in Bosnia and the tragedies he faced during the Bosnian war. Denis is like a treasure trove of stories and was so happy to share them with us. If you ever want to learn about Bosnian history, do yourself a favour, go to Bastan and speak to Denis.
The story of Emina
“This is the most famous song in Mostar. It’s called Emina.”, said Denis as he played the song. With the song in the background, he proceeded to tell us about one of the greatest tragedies in Bosnian history.
There was once a guy called Aleksa Santic, a famous Bosnian poet. He was walking past a garden in Mostar when he saw her. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his entire life. She was walking around, watering the plants in her garden. Her beauty infatuated him and he immediately fell in love with her.
The woman, Emina, was the daughter of an Imaam and lived next door to Aleksa. She was a Muslim. Aleksa was a Serb.
If you’ve heard of Bosnia, you probably know about the horrors faced by the country. Most of it stemmed from the fact the country has three main religions – Muslims (Bosniacs), Catholics (Croats) and Orthodox (Serbs).
Aleksa was heart-broken. He knew he wouldn’t be able to marry the love of his life. Days, months and years passed by. Aleksa’s love for Emina grew and grew. But he never spoke to her. Never declared his love to her, for he knew the love was forbidden.
He dies without ever having spoken to the love of his life.
Emina continued to live her life, never knowing of the life that could have been. With the man, she never knew, who lived a few feet from her.
When Aleksa was alive, he wrote a poem about his love for Emina. This poem eventually became the most famous song in the country. “Emina”.
Emina – the poem
“Last night, returning from the warm hamam,
I passed by the garden of the old imam,
And lo, in the garden, in the shade of a jasmine,
There with a pitcher in her hand stood Emina.
What beauty! By my Muslim faith I could swear,
She wouldn’t be ashamed if she were at the sultan’s!
And the way she walks and her shoulders move . . .
–Not even a hodja’s amulet could help me!
I offered her salaam, but by my faith,
Beautiful Emina wouldn’t even hear it.
Instead, scooping water in her silver pitcher,
Around the garden she went to water the roses.
A wind blew from the branches down her lovely shoulders
Unraveling those thick braids of hers.
Her hair gave off a scent of blue hyacinths,
Making me giddy and confused!
I nearly stumbled, I swear by my faith,
But beautiful Emina didn’t come to me.
She only gave me a frowning look,
Not caring, the naughty one, that I’m crazy for her!”
Translated by Omer Hadžiselimović – ©2006 Omer Hadžiselimović – taken from the website Spirit of Bosnia.
Here is the version of the song we heard in the café.
Hope you enjoyed it!
Happy travels,
Amana
PS. Check out the story about our search for the green door in Chefchaouen.