Bekvalac on Jahorina: 'Mama says hi', candid about a new album

An Olympic mountain, a packed hall, and the premiere of a song dedicated to her mother. Natasa Bekvalac played a concert at Jahorina on May 11, 2026, at the Termag Hotel complex, Oslobodjenje reported and Sarajevo’s Klix picked up.

The night opened with the premiere of Mama from her new studio album. The song was performed live for the first time before an audience.

A tribute to her mother that draws tears

The song is dedicated to her late mother Lepa Bekvalac, who died in 2020. Before singing it, the singer sent a short message to her audience:

Mama says hi to you from Jahorina, and I’m singing her tonight not as grief but as gratitude. This song is everything I wanted to tell her, and didn’t get to in time.

The hall sang every refrain back to her. For several of her early-career hits, the crowd took over in a kind of unaccompanied chorus, with no instrumental backing.

What was on the setlist

The set blended audience favorites with several emotionally weighted premieres:

• hits from the albums Volim te jos vise, Zal and Vodopadi
• songs from her hard pop period in the late 2010s
• the song Beograd to close the show
• the premiere of the new song Mama

The singer last played the same hall in 2022. This year’s return to Jahorina is a key stop on her spring tour.

A new label home

Bekvalac signed with new label Mascom Production of Belgrade earlier this spring. Manager Filip Vujovic, quoted in Telegraf, described the new direction:

She is coming back with material that is more mature but not slower. The autumn album bears her own creative hand on every track, which hasn’t been the case for five years.

The album title is being kept under wraps by the singer. Release is set for autumn 2026.

What comes after Jahorina

A request for additional comment from her camp did not arrive before publication. After the concert, photos on her Instagram show her staying on in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Her next show is set for Sarajevo’s Skenderija in late June 2026.

Is Jahorina just a warm-up for a big Stark Arena return

Her next Belgrade show, per tickets.rs, was set for May 17. The information became uncertain when Instagram photos from that day showed her on stage in Uzice.

The organizer confirmed Uzice to our portal as the actual venue. In 2026, the singer is planning up to eight major shows across the region and the European diaspora.

In 2025 ticketing platform rankings, Bekvalac was the fifth best-selling domestic artist. Above her were Ceca Raznatovic, Aca Lukas, Aleksandra Prijovic and Djani.

The autumn album, the singer said in the same Story interview, will be “the first in five years that is fully under my creative control”.

What do you expect from Natasa Bekvalac’s new album, a return to pop hits or more mature emotional material?