(Vocal, Balkan Blues, Sevdah, Ethnic Jazz) Amira Medunjanin (with Bojan Z, Nenad Vasilic) - Amulette - 2011, WEB, FLAC (tracks), lossless

Singer Amira Medunjanin's third studio album, Amulette, consists of ten Songs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia, all combining the beauty of cultural musical differences. She has come a long way since her debut, Rosa (Snail Records, 2005), recorded with Mostar Sevdah Reunion and her follow-up. Zumra (World Village, 2010), her collaboration with accordionist Merima Kljuco.
Unlike those first two, Amulette is edgier, with inventive arrangements and a lot of emotion. Producer/keyboardist Bojan Z (Zulfikarpasic) has truly outdone himself by successfully combining Sevdah and jazz with such elegance, focusing on Medunjanin's beautiful voice and never allowing the music to overwhelm it.
It is not easy to find a single word in English that can stand for the Bosnian concept of Sevdah, but it can easily be compared to the Portuguese Fado. Sevdah carries multiple meanings—love, hopeless love, endless love and a desire that chills; but in the end it's a way of life, and a narrative that tells the story of itself.
With Amulette, Medunjanin succeeds in doing what many of today's artists have not: to incorporate Sevdah in the 21st century, adding new contemporary elements while retaining its originality; avoiding frustration for the older audience of traditional music while, at the same time, engaging a new one. Together, with her team of musicians, she has showed that tradition, in a new setting, can and must be appreciated and taken care of.
Medunjanin was born in Sarajevo at a time when the popularity of traditional music in the former Yugoslavia was at high tide, and Sevdah held a special place for her. It was from her mother that she learned to sing sevdalinke (Sevdah songs); growing up surrounded by this tradition, she carries a very special emotion related to these songs. It is very easy to understand why she named this third album Amulette, and why the critics have also loved it.
Accompanied by bassist Nenad, "Bele ruze" (White Roses), is Medunjanin's soft introduction to an album that slowly progresses to the heartbreaking "Kafu mi draga ispeci," where Medunjanin's clear emotional voice and Z's piano arrangements demonstrate the understanding between them. The similarly playful "Omer Beze" bears close resemblance to the intro of Aram Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance," but despite its gloomy theme, this may be one of the most cheerful songs on the album.
Medunjanin had spent years searching in vain to find people who shared her ideas about Sevdah and for the best way to present it. Amulette shows that, with Bojan Z, she truly has found her musical soul mate. Her singing really tells the story—not only a theme, but the strong emotions of love, sadness, desire and Medunjanin's emotional engagement, clearly present in every note. (Nejra Majdanac)

Amira Medunjanin – better known by her stage name Amira – is one of Europe's finest and most soulful singers. Born in Sarajevo, she is one of the greatest exponents of Bosnian sevdah, a mostly slow, sad and passionate style that is the Balkan answer to the blues or Cape Verdean morna; no surprise then that she has already been compared to Billie Holiday and Cesaria Evora. This new set certainly proves she has the potential to become a global success, and also that she is willing to experiment. In the past, she has been backed by a band, the Mostar Sevdah Reunion, and by accordion, but here she is joined by a jazz trio, led by pianist Bojan Z (small but expressive band, where the bass acts as ballast for Amira's breathy flights above.). The songs are all traditional, mostly from Bosnia but also from Macedonia and Kosovo, and most are sad-edged love ballads, with just one stomping comic piece added in. Bojan often sounds desperate to break away to show off his rapid-fire jazz work, and there are adventurous sections where the piano and guitar solos contrast strongly with the vocals, or where echoing effects are added in. But Amira's exquisite, clear and pained singing holds the set together. (Robin Denselow)