Damar

The almost presidential aura exuded by the Bosnian and Herzegovinian singer and humanitarian in the monochrome photo that graces the cover of her sixth album makes it hard to imagine the content being any less poised and subtly powerful. And so it turns out to be. Proceedings begin with an almost inaudible heartbeat of a bass drum, which pretty much sets the tempo and intimate sensual mood for all that's to come.

Produced at Real World Studios by Medunjanin herself, along with Bojan Zulfikarpašić (who also plays piano and percussion), it took two years just to decide on what material to include. What was settled for in the end were primarily songs of love and yearning, some traditional, others new, that have been granted the simplest acoustic arrangements. The mood sometimes shifts from classical guitar-led ballads to piano-centred, more jazz-inflected numbers such as ‘More Izgrejala Sjajna Mesecina’, in which a lover is compared to a bright rising moon and Zulfikarpašić's piano is admirably restrained and cliché-free. The overall focus was to make a tasteful, unobtrusive frame for Medunjanin's pure-of-tone, controlled yet impassioned vocals. Justice is more than done to the stated aim of paying tribute to five centuries of traditional Bosnian music. Pure class.