Last night in Chicago, the currently probably biggest female star of ethno music in the Balkans, Amira Medunjanin from Sarajevo, held her concert. And she did not just hold a concert, but also a lesson on the topic: the artist and her communication with the audience.
Because everything she did, sang, or said, was with style and respect for those who came to see and hear her.
The artist gave her voice and soul, but she remained artistically consistent in what she does, never reaching for faster, shorter, cheaper ways to reach the hearts and pulses of her listeners.
And when one acts in this way, the result is not lacking – the audience carried Amira and she led them on paths known perhaps only to her, on which ethno music and songs written a hundred years or more ago can sound modern, in jazz and classical arrangements, which do not take anything away from those masterpieces – on the contrary, they color them with some fresh hues, and thus refined, pass them on as a legacy to new generations, who did not remember the same tunes performed by the legendary masters of Sevdah, the precursors of the musical genre that Amira redefined in the 21st century.
Amira’s voice, years schooled yet so free and outside all molds, a voice hard to find a parallel for comparison, can perhaps best be described as some kind of elixir that flows from the spring, is taken in small doses and acts for a long time, even when the magic of the concert is over.
It took me, thus, a whole day to gather myself and arrange what I saw and heard last night in the packed Alhambra, because it is difficult to think about the music when you still hear it in your ears.
It began with a mix of her own hits (“Kad bih bila,” “Pjesmom gradim mostove”) Balkan traditional songs (“Tvojte oči Leno mori,” “Grana od bora,” “Žute dunje”) and covers of Sarajevo legends (Monteno’s “Dušo moja” and Indexi’s “Balada”), which in her interpretation acquired some different tones and depths, but also left space for new reflection and re-examination of the messages of the verses we have known for an eternity.
And the deeper she sank into the night, the artist was further from the stage, and more and more among the audience, among the people, whom she won over unobtrusively, and who followed her unquestioningly, like some small female Napoleon, in a leather jacket with studs instead of a uniform with epaulets.
Neither power surges, sound cacophonies, nor trifles could stop her; there was no force that could prevent her from giving people what she brought them from home – a soul with a bow.
And it seemed at times that both Amira and her pilgrims, several hundred of them, would most like everything to fade out, for the electricity to disappear and for this concert to continue as it most befits, with some candles, without a microphone and amplifier, just voice, violin, accordion…
And since I already mentioned them… It would be a true sin and an injustice reaching the heavens not to single out those who accompanied Medunjanin in this musical adventure, and at times captivated the attention and admiration of the audience with their virtuosity.
Two exceptional young musicians who came from the Zagreb jazz school, violinist Leopold Stašić and accordionist Antonio Vrbički, with their interpretations not only showed technical mastery and perfection but, in the manner of old masters, although they do not have too many years or experience behind them, they knew how to sense the moment, their five minutes, which would last even longer, leaving a trace.
The farewell to the audience began with Štulić’s “Ako znaš bilo što” and ended with Šantić’s “Emina,” two tracks that perhaps best illustrate the breadth of Amira Medunjanin’s interests and musical taste, but also the capacity to breathe new life into that long-sung poetry, unrestricted by time and space.
Until the next opportunity to sing what our hearts know…
Author: Antonije Kovačević
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