Amira Medunjanin & TrondheimSolistene – Ascending (Town Hill Colony, 2018)
Bosnian vocalist Amira Medunjanin is one of the finest performers of sevdah, a passionate musical genre from the Balkans. On Ascending, Amira takes a detour, recreating some of her previously recorded songs with a new perspective, collaborating with Norwegian classical musicians.
“Just like fifteen years ago, I still find important that our traditional music should reach, as many people as possible, so they are able to feel and understand what a beautiful soul we have” mentioned Amira “and all this time I have been intensively sharing my life with music and I felt the need to record an album which is in fact some kind of recap of my previous work. The usual thing is to publish compilation of already recorded songs that were interesting to listeners. But you know that neither I follow any trends, nor I obey the way the music industry works. With this album I am turning the new page in my life in music and hopefully I will endure until my 30th anniversary”.
“Ascending” includes the re-arranged songs; a second set of songs that were never recorded before, but Amira performed them only live; and four new songs that she had never played, nor recorded before.
The lineup includes Amira Medunjanin on vocals; the TrondheimSolistene chamber orchestra; Bojan Z. on piano and percussion; Zvonimir Šestak on double bass; Ante Gelo on guitar; Boško Jović on guitar; and Nikola Stajić on guitar.
Ascending is an exquisite recording of unconventional sevdah with a beautiful cover drawing by Azra Halilbegović.
Buy the album from townhillcolony.com/product/ascending-cd-2018
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.