live performance, 30 min
October 12, 2024 @12h
Performers: Neira Kabaš • Lamija Kabaš • Edvina Kuštura • Azra Pondro • Iva Nenić • Lala Raščić • Zerina Sadiković
Director: Lala Raščić
Coordinator: Azra Pondro
Live soundd prcessing: Hrvoje Nikšić
Technical support: CRVENA & Haris Sahačić
Support: KUD Baščaršija, Sarajevo
Tepsijanje is usually performed by a single tepsija spinner, and one to several signers joining in. The Tepsija Summit held as part of Raščić’s exhibition at the National Museum of BiH, had almost historical significance.
This unique musical and stage performance of collective tepsijanje with tepsija performers from Sarajevo and its surroundings was perhaps the first time ever that multiple tepsijas took to one stage. The event was held in the foyer of the Ethnological pavilion of the National Museum of BiH. The spinners, youngest being in her early teens and the oldest at the cusp of 60, started by performing one by one, forming a loose medley of songs performed with the tepsija eventually joined together in a hypnotic crescendo created by six pans spinning in unison.
Treatment of the tepsija as an idiophone instrument was further amplified by live sound processing of sound signals from contact and directional microphones picking up the specific rumbling of the tepsija against the wooden surfaces of the sinija (traditional low table usually
used as a base on which the tepsija was placed). The often folkolorized and, one could even say, decorative representations of the practice, codified in set choreographies was completely
deconstructed with the Tepsija Summit. While in tune with the origins of the practice, this performance attempted to showcase tepsijanje within the context of persistent urgencies that still apply to women’s issues in contemporary societies, one of which is building solidarity and resilience through community.
The title Tepsija Summit gives a nod to the ex-Yugoslavia region’s shared history of the Non-Aligned Movement, whose international meetings were called summits. Imagined as a pan-regional and ongoing endeavour, Raščić has hopes that the Tepsija Summit will continue to expand and include all who engage with the practice of tepsijanje.
photo: Ajla Salkić
Lala Raščić 