For Him and Her

Amira Medunjanin made an immediate impact internationally with her debut album Rosa in 2004 with Mostar Sevdah Reunion (a Top of the World in #30). Her rich voice and expressive phrasing ensured she was hailed as one of the foremost young sevdah singers to emerge from post-war Bosnia. Since then she has toured widely and built a large following. That noted, the albums she released after Rosa were a varied bunch and none effectively captured the Sarajevo-born and based singer at her best. For Him and Her is a real return to form.

Here she focuses on singing the songs of Toma Zdravković (a late Serbian singer and songwriter) and Silvana Armenulić (a late Bosnian sevdah singer), who were close friends during the 60s and 70s. Accompanied by a small band – including Mustafa Šantić on accordion (he once being a member of Mostar Sevdah Reunion) – Medunjanin interprets each song with exquisite grace. The largely acoustic band move between a variety of Balkan sounds: there are deep, mournful Ottoman-flavoured ballads, up-tempo dance numbers that have a Vojvodina flavour and epic Macedonian numbers. It’s a testament to how gifted a singer Medunjanin is (and how strong the songs are) that each performance stands alone while also fitting well with the rest of the album.