Amira Medunjanin - Live At Arena (Live) (2CD) (2019)

It is not easy to find a single word in English that can stand for the Bosnian concept of SEVDAH, although yearning perhaps comes closest. Like the Spanish duende, it carries multiple meanings – love, hopeless love, endless love, a desire that chills and fevers the lover like malaria, and like malaria can never be shaken off – but in the end, it’s a way of life, and a narrative that tells the story of itself.

Amira was born in Sarajevo at the time when the popularity of traditional music in the former Yugoslavia was at the high tide, and sevdah held a special place for her. The sevdalinke (sevdah songs) she learned from her mother were the most beautiful of songs. Her fascination with the oral tradition of Bosnia and Herzegovina led her to devote herself to creating a unique voice within sevdalinke to explore their expressive capacity to the full. She had spent years searching in vain for to find people who shared her ideas about Sevdah, and for the best way to present it.

Dubbed “Bosnia’s Billie Holiday” by music journalist and author Garth Cartwright, the comparison reflects the way in which Amira turns sevdah inside out, finding new contexts and forms within a tradition that is hundreds of years old.



CD1 (00:56:27)
01. Gde si duso, gde si rano - (06:22)
02. Sve pticice zapevale - (03:55)
03. Oj, meglica - (04:14)
04. U dul basti - (06:24)
05. Si zaljubiv edno momce - (08:10)
06. Snijeg pade na behar, na voce - (06:46)
07. Oj, ti momce Ohrigjance - (06:21)
08. Marijo, deli bela kumrijo - (04:56)
09. Ja izlezi Gjurgjo - (06:08)
10. Cula jesam da se dragi zeni - (03:11)

CD2 (01:04:43)
01. Grana od bora - (06:58)
02. Ah, sto cemo ljubav kriti - (08:12)
03. Sto te nema - (07:40)
04. Moj dilbere - (06:18)
05. Ako znas bilo sto - (08:44)
06. Ajde Jano kolo da igramo - (06:03)
07. Nestaces iz mog zivota - (05:28)
08. Vecernja ljubav - (05:44)
09. Tiho noci, moje zlato spava - (02:40)
10. Emina - (06:56)

Acoustic Guitar – Ante Gelo, Boško Jović
Cello – Astri Hoffmann-Tollaas, Marit Aspås
Clarinet – Ismail Lumanovski (tracks: 4, 7)
Contrabass – Zvonimir Šestak
Double Bass – Jostein Bolas Brodreskift
Electric Guitar – Nikola Stajić (tracks: 8)
Engineer – Oli Jacobs
Mixed By, Mastered By – Goran Martinac
Piano – Bojan Zulfikarpašić
Producer – Ante Gelo, Goran Martinac
Strings – Trondheimsolistene
Viola – Björn Guo, Guri Krog Dodig
Violin – Anna Sonstad, Eira Bjørnstad Foss, Fride Bakken Johansen, Kaja Constance Rogers, Nella Penjin, Stina Andersson, Tino Fjeldli

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