Local Artists Honored by PA Council of the Arts

Two Erie residents have been awarded grants by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Mensura Berberovic, a master singer of the Sevdalinka Bosnian love ballad, has received a grant to pass her tradition on to two Bosnian sisters. Selma Simamovic, the older sister, has been studying with Mensura for two years, and now will be joined by Sanela. Mensura knows over 100 songs, many of them learned from her mother and grandmother. “When Communism came, they changed some Sevdalinka and forbid others, but my mother taught me the original songs in secret.” The Sevdalinka tradition goes back to the time when marriages were arranged and Bosnian youth did not date. “But young people managed to meet anyway,” explained Mensura. “The girl might send a message to a young man and he would sing underneath her window at night.” This year the PCA awarded Mensura a prestigious Folk Arts Fellowship Award, which honors only four artists in the state each year. This is the first time an Erie artist has garnered this distinction.

Another Erie artist has been granted an Apprenticeship grant by the PCA. Monica Ayuen specializes in the song and dance of Sudan’s Dinka Bor people. Like Mensura, Monica came to Erie as a refugee. She spent her childhood growing up in a refugee camp and there she learned many of her people’s songs. “There wasn’t much to do in the camp,” she states, “Some elders couldn’t sing their songs because they were too sad. Others felt it was very, very important that our way does not die. They taught me.” Her apprentice is Michael Diing. Ironically, they met each other at the refugee camp and learned that their grandmothers were sisters. Michael says, “Monica’s husband is also in the same clan as me. That is why we settled in Erie together.” Michael admits that even though Monica is a bit younger she is the master musician. “She spent her time in the camp with her mother and other elders singing and dancing. I spent my time with the other ‘Lost Boys’ in the camp school.”

Contact Museum Folk Art Coordinator, Kelly Armor for more information.