BELGRADE SIREN KATARINA KRSTIĆ CAPTIVATES AUDIENCE IN REPUBLIKA SRPSKA WITH TRADITIONAL SINGING

BELGRADE, JANUARY 14 /SRNA/ - Ten-year-old Katarina Krstić from the Belgrade neighborhood of Barajevo leaves no one indifferent with her performances of traditional songs, and the audience in Republika Srpska had the privilege of experiencing this talented girl firsthand.

For two consecutive years, Katarina has achieved the maximum score in the traditional song category at Belgrade's most prestigious music competition, the Golden Siren. She also won over the audience in Banja Luka, to whom she dedicated the song "Rasti, rasti, moj zeleni bore" during the celebration of the city's Patron Saint's Day /Slava/, Spasovdan. Katarina emphasized that she fondly remembers that performance, as well as those in Modriča and Bijeljina, where she would like to return, and looks forward to new gatherings with people from the Krajina in Belgrade. This young girl hones her musical talent at a music school in the piano department, as well as in the local church choir, and especially with Biljana Krstić's ensemble Bistrik. "I am the youngest among them, and I learn from them. I love to sing everything, especially Vlach songs, but also songs in foreign languages - Greek and especially Russian," Katarina told SRNA. She added that she is learning the art of playing the gusle at the Sandić Gusle School, with whose members she has performed as an ethno singer. This versatile young girl, who loves mathematics almost as much as music, said that she enjoys singing but does not yet know whether she will pursue music professionally. Whatever career path she chooses, her father Jovan Krstić said, her parents and two sisters will be her most loyal audience and strongest support. He said that Katarina showed an interest in ethno music as soon as she could speak, and that at the age of six, she began singing in the Prelo Singing Society in Rakovica. "At the age of eight, she auditioned for Biljana Krstić and began participating in the Bistrik workshop. She is the youngest in Bistrik, but she takes part on an equal footing with the others," Krstić emphasized. Katarina sometimes also sings songs written by her father, and they share a love for the gusle, faith, and Serbian tradition, which she represents and preserves in the most beautiful way.