Like Karanfil kolo, Sevdah’s Oklada kolo is also a choreographic translation of an old sevdalinka into the universal language of movement and picture. Of course, we are talking here about the sevdalinka Okladi se momče i djevojče (A young man and woman had a bet) performed by Himzo Polovina.
Like the sevdalinka Karanfile cvijeće moje (Carnation, my dear flower), this sevdalinka also reflects strong Middle Eastern musical influence, especially rhythmically. This type of rhythm and melody can be encountered throughout the southern Balkans, especially in the city milieus. Thus, it is no surprise that Bosnians and Herzegovinans are moved in their souls and bodies when they hear some South Serbian or Macedonian songs in this same rhythm. They simply perceive them as their own.
Thus, the rhythm of the sevdalinka Okladi se momče i djevojče is, for instance, identical to the rhythm of the song Šano, dušo, Šano, mori... (Šana, my soul, hey Šana,…) from the South Serbian town of Vranje. Logically, the steps with which people in Bosnia and Southern Serbia used to dance to this rhythm are also extremely similar. Taking into consideration the given rhythm, it could be asserted that this rhythm and most probably the dance, too, originate in the Near East. Furthermore, with a great certainty it could be said that Roma were those who brought this rhythm, as well as dance, to Macedonia, South Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and elsewhere.
In Ottoman and later Balkan history, Roma were the greatest ambassadors of music and dance. In spite of the stigma which continuously pursued them, they were appreciated as musicians and entertainers and invited to perform for wealthier clientele at different celebrations. By these opportunities, they used to play and dance everything that they had heard, seen, and learned on the roads between Cairo and Sarajevo, Baghdad and Mostar. Their audience accepted their music and dances as their own, for they were their own. They all belonged to a larger cultural circle of the Ottoman culture. Over time, people added some local autochthonous elements to these songs and dances, like different lyrics or a different half-step.
Hence, the Sevdah Ensemble bases its interpretation of the sevdalinka Okladi se momče i djevojče on the steps which could have been introduced into Bosnia and Herzegovina by the B-H Roma, and which the B-H city dwellers of all ethnicities transformed a bit in their own way. On these steps Denis built a choreography in which several couples of women and men interpret the song. As the song says, a young man and woman had a bet to sleep together with their backs turned toward each other and not to touch each other all night. The one who succeeds in resisting lusty temptations, of course, wins the prize. During the whole night, i.e. dance, the young man tries to resist the charms of the girl and not to turn around although she is verbally challenging him. And in the end…
Well, if you would like to learn what happened in the end, come to see one of our performances when this choreography is on the program.