Amira Medunjanin @ Zaprešić

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 sevdah to explore its 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.


Discography:

- A Secret Gate (2003 Connecting Cultures) 
- Rosa (2005 Snail Records)
- Live (2008 Gramofon) @ Jazz Fest Sarajevo 
- Zumra (2009 Harmonia Mundi/World Village) 
- Amulette (2010 Harmonia Mundi/World Village) 
- Silk and Stone (2014 Aquarius Records)
- Damar (2016, World Village)