Album “Obrad Milić – Traditional Singing, Gusle Playing, Dipla Playing and Storytelling from Žegar in Dalmatia” is the first solo recording of one of the most significant and versatile Serbian traditional artists of today. Born in 1938 in Bogatnik near Žegar in Dalmatia, Obrad Milić absorbed the tradition from early childhood through oral transmission, primarily from his father Bogdan, a renowned gusle player, as well as from other guslars, dipla players and singers of the region. Žegar is known as a distinctive dipla-playing area, and over time Milić grew into one of the leading dipla players of the Knin Krajina. As a master traditional musician he developed a recognizable performing style and shaped around twenty dipla arias – unique melodic patterns that form the core of his musical expression. The album presents a wide range of traditional forms: dipla playing on two types of instruments, gusle epic singing, traditional vocal styles, and shorter oral forms such as toasts, enumerative verses and humorous stories. A special place is given to rare epic songs related to events of the First World War and to songs about the emigration of people from Dalmatia and Lika to America. Among them stands out the powerful and authentic epic “The Assassination in Sarajevo”, recorded here for the first time in its complete form. This album offers a valuable testimony to the rich oral heritage of a Dalmatian region and to an artist who preserves, transmits and reshapes that tradition in a unique way.

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