BIOGRAPHY

Zorana Guja Dražeta (1992) graduated in 2015 from the Academy of Music, University of Sarajevo, Department of Musicology and Ethnomusicology (name of the thesis “The Custom of Marking the Family Slava of St. George’s Day in Pale”) and finished her master studies at the same Department in 2016 (name of the thesis “Folk Musical Tradition of Pale and its Surroundings”). Both undergraduate and master studies were finished under the mentorship of professor Jasmina Talam. Zorana Guja Dražeta is the winner of the “Silver Badge” award of the University of Sarajevo for being one of the best students of the first and second cycle of studies at the Academy of Music, University of Sarajevo in 2016. In the field of ethnomusicology, Zorana is primarily focused on vocal forms of rural tradition, vocal-instrumental practice (singing to the accompaniment of the gusle), and applied ethnomusicology. She enrolled in her doctoral studies in 2019 at the aforementioned academy within which she conducts field research on singing to the accompaniment of the gusle, different gusle practices, and styles in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a special focus on the central-eastern Bosnia. She participated in several national and international scientific conferences, and symposiums, as well as several student conferences, was engaged in international projects and workshops and was a member of the jury and a lecturer at various folklore shows and festivals. Zorana is the author, editor, and music producer of several ethnomusicological-documentary films and CDs dealing with the traditional culture of Serbs in the areas of Romanija and Sarajevsko polje, and the author of the book “Folk Musical Tradition of Pale and its Surroundings” (2017). So far, she has published more than ten articles in national and international journals. She conducted field research in the areas of eastern Bosnia and Podrinje, central Bosnia, Herzegovina, northeastern Bosnia and Semberija, Bosanska Krajina (western Bosnia), Bosanska Posavina (northern Bosnia), Gora (AP Kosovo and Metohija) and northern Dalmatia. In the Cultural and Artistic Association “Baščaršija” in Sarajevo, she was the Artistic Director of the female and male singing groups “Dunje” and “Zora” and the Artistic Director for the traditional singing of folklore ensembles in the period from 2014 to 2020. Since February 2022, she has been employed at the Institute of Musicology of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences as a Junior Researcher. During the 2021/2022 academic year, Zorana Guja Dražeta was a scholarship recipient of the Ministry of Science and Technology Development, Higher Education and Information Society of the Republic of Srpska, „Dr. Milan Jelić“ Fund. Zorana is a member of the Musicological Society of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the ICTM National Committee in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the International Council for Traditional Music, and the Association of folklorists of Serbia.

Current projects

A War of Heritage? (Re)Constructing Religioscapes and Competing Territorial Claims in Bosnia & Herzegovina since 1995. (Рат насљеђа? [Ре]конструисање религиозних пејзажа и конкурентни територијални захтјеви у Босни и Херцеговини од 1995. године), бр. 1826892, Националнa фондацијa за науку Сједињених Америчких држава (The National Science Foundation of the United States), руководилац пројекта др Роберт М. Хејден (Robert M. Hayden), професор емеритус на Одељењу за антропологију Универзитета у Питсбургу, 2018–2024.