Damir Imamovic share the news about his brand new album called «The World and All That It Holds»
Damir Imamovic, a Bosnian singer, makes his London debut at Milton Court at The Barbican on May 21. He then performs at Brighton Festival on May 22 and Hay Festival on May 27. Zaim Imamovi, a renowned Bosnian singer, has a grandson.
Damir Imamovic specialised in sevdah, the music of lovely grief, longing, and love, which is a traditional singing style in Bosnia. The World and All That It Holds, Damir’s brand-new album, will be released internationally on May 19, 2023, by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. It features strong and audacious narratives about fleeing from war, same-sex love, and longing for home.
Sevdah is to Bosnia what fado is to Portugal, tango is to Argentina, and rebetiko is to Greece. The song «Sevdah», which means «beautiful sadness», uses poetic storytelling and very emotional music to eloquently communicate the language of desire and love. Damir Imamovic, a Bosnian sevdah maestro, is about to embark on an exciting new phase of his musical career and release his debut album under the legendary Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label, «The World and All That It Holds». An epic trip that touches so many significant stories of our day, such as fleeing from war, same-sex love, and longing for home, through the passionate Bosnian sevdah genre and songs of the sevdalinka tradition.
Damir Imamovic describes his rich sevdah background. He was born into a sevdah family and is the grandson of the renowned sevdah actor Zaim Imamovic.
«Many of the people I remembered from family gatherings reappeared as giants of the genre and the songs I carried from my childhood obtained a new meaning and beauty. But something else happened… I started dreaming of a new sevdah, one rooted in the music’s past but challenging the ways things were traditionally done. The postwar Sarajevo of the early 2000s was a vibrant cultural setting in which we dreamed of finding something positive and creative in our cultural identity».
The widely acclaimed 2023 novel of the same name by Bosnian American author Aleksandar Hemon wonderfully complements the musical tapestry of sevdah, as Damir Imamovic explains. This relationship is shown in the song «The World and All That It Holds», which Damir wrote with Aleksandar Hemon.
«Aleksandar Hemon told me he was writing a novel in which two Bosnian soldiers in World War I, Pinto (a Sephardic Jew) and Osman (a Muslim), communicate their love for each other by singing sevdah and Sephardic songs and invited me to work with him on the musical side of the story. The perspective of same-sex love in past times, without any prospect and promise, struck me deeply. Unfulfilled and even forbidden love has always been one of the essential themes of sevdah».
«The World and All That It Holds» includes the age-old song «Snijeg pade» («The Snow Has Fallen»), which Damir Imamovic played at the 2019 Sarajevo Pride march. It recently rose to prominence as the Balkans’ unofficial LGBQT+ anthem. The cause that still has to be fought for, «Let everybody love whoever they want», is simply adapted from the forbidden love that is sung of and sought for outside of planned weddings in the past. Those who are unwilling should refrain from imposing.
Take a listen below !
