(Ethnic Jazz, Sevdah, Accordion, Balkan Blues) Amira Medunjanin & Merima Ključo (Kljuco) - Zumra - 2009, MP3, 320 kbps

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.
After guesting on Mostar Sevdah Reunion's album "A Secret Gate" in 2003, Amira recorded her debut album, "Rosa", (Snail Records, 2005), which garnered great reviews in the UK and across Europe, featuring in several "Album of the Year" lists. In April 2009 Amira released "Live" album, a recording of a concert held at the Jazz Fest Sarajevo in 2008.
At the same time, in April 2009, Amira released the album named "Zumra" in collaboration with Merima Ključo, the internationally renowned accordionist. The album represents the innovative approach to the musical tradition of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Macedonia by fusing contemporary accordion and arrangements to the traditional melody, lyrics and vocal styling.

"Only today, with all my available senses and from many angles and magical foggy depth, I have listened over and over again to Zumra, the album of two incredible artists, accordionist Merima Ključo and singer Amira Medunjanin. I have read earlier, mostly positive, even euphoric reviews of this musical masterpiece, and the only thing, in the majority of them, I do not like, is the conclusion that Amira and Merima "offered their specific way of interpreting sevdalinka." Incorrect. These two together presented the ONLY correct, aware and considerate model of (re) interpretation of sevdalinka!" Senad Avdić, SLOBODNA BOSNA (December 2009)
BBC Review
In 2005, the Bosnian singer Amira Medunjanin released her debut album, Rosa, for Snail Records, run by Amsterdam-based expat Bosnian and producer Dragi Sestic. On that album, she was backed by Mostar Sevdah Reunion, a virtuosic ensemble who made a series of great albums with Sestic before music business shenanigans sadly broke up the original line-up. Rosa was a welcome introduction to Amira’s clear, pitch-perfect voice, yet somehow not quite the sum of its parts.
Now, Amira has returned in a far more stripped-down musical setting, which suits her better. Zumra (meaning Emerald) was made with her new producer Merima Kljuco, who joins her on a bass-heavy accordion, at times sounding almost like an organ or harmonium.
The bulk of the material is still traditional sevdah, the generally slow, mournful folk music recently rebranded ‘Bosnian blues’, which has roots that go back to the Middle Ages. More often than not, these are plaintive songs of lost, unrequited or thwarted love, and the pathos needs no translation.
At the end of the 19th century, sevdah songs were typically accompanied by just accordion and violin, so their stark, minimal arrangements are actually a kind of return to roots. Even so, in an effort to reveal what they consider has been lost through repetition over the years, these interpretations put a radical new spin on well-known pieces.
The most obvious example is Mehmeda Majka Budila, a lullaby that recounts a disturbing dream. Kljuco’s accordion weaves unsettling layers of dissonance, powerfully reinforcing the anguish in Amira’s verses. Similarly, on Kuje – a song about a man shoeing his horse in the middle of the night so he can rush to his love’s side – her playing is frantic and feverish.
Nevertheless, most of the material is beautifully sedate, such as Gde Si Duso Gde Si Rano and in particular Zosto Si Me Majko Rodila, which has a yearning, unforgettable melody. Another highlight is Kales Bre Ando, an exquisitely sad song from Macedonia.
There are also a couple of humorous pieces that lighten the tone. Karanfil Se Na Put Sprema has a mother-in-law joke and a jaunty rhythm, while the closing Jo Hanino Tu Hanina is a Bosnian Sephardic song that finds them duetting in archaic Spanish and really shows how much these two enjoy working together. Let’s hope they continue to do so.

Amira Medunjanin - vokal
Merima Ključo - harmonika, vokal na 5 i 14