Bosnia and Herzegovina National Anthem
Intermeco
Key Facts
- 1. The anthem is one of only a handful in the world that has no official lyrics; the wordlessness is itself a deliberate political compromise among Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs.
- 2. It came into force on 25 June 1999, on an interim basis, by decision of High Representative Carlos Westendorp under his Bonn powers: the House of Representatives had passed the law, but the House of Peoples could not agree on its text.
- 3. The previous anthem, "Jedna si jedina," was arranged by Dino Merlin from the Bosnian folk song "S one strane Plive"; many Bosniaks still sing it informally.
- 4. Proposed lyrics beginning "Ti si svjetlost duše," written by composer Dušan Šestić with Benjamin Isović, were accepted by a parliamentary commission in 2009 but have never been approved by parliament.
Bosnia and Herzegovina National Anthem Lyrics
Instrumental anthem, no lyrics
Intermeco has no official words. The music was written by Dušan Šestić in 1998 and adopted in 1999, replacing "Jedna si jedina", whose text was contested.
The absence of words is deliberate. Any lyric has to satisfy Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs at once, and no proposed text has yet cleared that bar. Lyrics accepted by a parliamentary commission in 2009 were never approved by parliament, and later attempts, in 2016 and 2018, went the same way. In 2018 one political analyst suggested borrowing the words of "Emina", a love poem about a Bosniak woman from Mostar by the Serb poet Aleksa Šantić.
Analysis
EditorialFew national anthems carry their politics so openly. Intermeco is wordless by design: after the Bosnian War, the country's three constituent peoples (Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs) could not agree on words for any anthem. The House of Representatives adopted the Law on the National Anthem in February 1999, but the House of Peoples, although it had accepted the anthem itself, could not agree on the text of the law, so on 25 June 1999 the international High Representative, Carlos Westendorp, used his Bonn powers to impose it. The chosen melody, by Bosnian Serb composer Dušan Šestić, replaced "Jedna si jedina," arranged in 1992 by the singer Dino Merlin, which Croat and Serb political leaders had objected to. Šestić and Benjamin Isović later wrote unifying lyrics, beginning "Ti si svjetlost duše," that a parliamentary commission accepted in 2009; parliament has never approved them. The silence is the compromise.
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Sources & References
- Carlos Westendorp, High Representative. Decision Imposing the Law on the National Anthem of BiH . Office of the High Representative (OHR) (1999)
- Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1996 until today . Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Jedna si jedina . Wikipedia
- Predstavljen prijedlog teksta himne BiH (names Dušan Šestić as the anthem's composer) . Ministarstvo pravde Bosne i Hercegovine (2009)
Source & Review
- Source status
- Legal source verified
- Translation
- Nationalia working translation
- Rights status
- Third-party rights may apply
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