Artist Profiles: Damir Imamović

Damir Imamović was born in 1978 in Sarajevo, the former Yugoslavia and currently located in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Damir is a singer, musician, author and sevdah master.   He grew up in a family of sevdah musicians and represents a new generation of the traditional music of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Since 2005, Damir performs with his Trio and also with his Sevdah Takht quartet that includes bassist Ivan Mihajlović (Belgrade), percussionist Nenad Kovačić (Zagreb) and violinist Ivana Djurić (Sarajevo).

Damir Imamović has other musical projects with Jelena Popržan, Bojan Z, Eric Vloeimans, Greg Cohen and Derya Türkan.

He has recorded several albums for different labels (Glitterbeat Records, Wrasse Records) and collaborated with producers such as Chris Eckman and Joe Boyd.

With his many projects, Damir has toured China, Mexico, Europe and the USA.

A documentary film Sevdah by Marina Andree-Škop (DIM, 2009) features his work.

Damir is very active as a traditional music educator with his SevdahLab program. He also wrote the book Sevdah, the first history of the genre (Vrijeme, 2016).

In December 2022, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings announced that Damir Imamović was going to release an album on the American label in 2023.

Discography:

Svira Standarde (buybook, 2006)
Abrašević live (samizdat, 2008)
Damir Imamović (Gramofon, 2010)
Svrzina Kuća (iTM, The House of Svrzo, 2011)
Sevdah Takht, with Sevdah Takt (iTM, 2012)
Dvojka, with Sevdah Takht (Glitterbeat Records, 2016)
Singer of Tales (Wrasse Records, 2020)

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.