The Stanser Musiktage know and take to heart something very important: The bands make it, not only the people at the front.
Božo Vrećo also likes rhythm, and he loves his drummer and percussionist Kadir Dogan. But he also loves Marko Nikolic (piano, accordion) and Christopher Esch (guitar). And of course the audience. It’s genuine, not chummy. The 39-year-old Bosnian singer, who is both a man and a woman, is a beautiful, charismatic presence. While his bright, clear voice is responsible for the melody, the focus of his fellow musicians is on the rhythmic texture of the careful, jazz-inflected arrangements of Sevdalinka, the sad and often bitter love songs from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Always give a 100 percent” in love, he urges the audience. Even if it is not reciprocated. The same is true for him on stage. Božo Vrećo is a terrific performer, a diva in the positive sense, sometimes dervish, sometimes drama queen. And his love is reciprocated. After 45 minutes, the people in the sold-out Theater an der Mürg are standing.