Agony & Destiny

Listening Post 299. The voice—low, flowing, passionate—belongs to Amira Medunjanin, renowned for interpretating songs from her native Bosnia and Herzegovina. But as the title of her ninth album indicates, she sings for three: Him and Her are Serbian singer-songwriter Toma Zdravković and Bosnian singer Silvana Armenulić, epic-tragic figures of kafana (coffee-house) music, blending sevdalinka, newly composed folk and chanson, that flourished in the taverns of Yugoslavia in the 1960s and 70s. History: Silvana encountered the penniless Toma sleeping on a park bench, took him to the restaurant where she was performing hoping to get him a job, and there discovered his voice. They sang together on and off, she helped secure his first recording contract, and he wrote many of her songs. The melancholy of sevdalinka, often called Bosnian blues, echoed not only in their voices but also their lives. Silvana died in a car accident at 37; Toma struggled with broken marriages and alcohol, succumbing to cancer at 52. Medunjanin never saw either of her idols on stage, but she grew up on their music and superbly channels their ardent songs—meant for pub intimacy—arranging and easing them into the age of streaming and studio subtlety. Titles in the 12-track collection, flawlessly accompanied with varied Balkan sounds, preview the pain in the lyrics and Medunjanin brings majesty to their revival. Despair is relentless in I Don’t Have the Right to Love Anyone (Ja nemam prava nikoga da volim, video 1) and My Wounds (Rane moje, video 2). Relief comes with music and drink in Why Is This Night So Sad (Što je tužna tako ova noć, video 3) and Danka (video 4). And there’s a touch of redemption in What Is Life Without You? (Šta će mi život, video 5), a tale of loss but also a reminder that beloved artists live as long as their songs are performed. (Croatia Records)

Amira Medunjanin: For Him and Her
Amira Medunjanin: Vocals
Shyrkhan Agabeyli: Bass guitar
Bojan Zulfikarpašić: Percussion, synthesizer
Predrag Vasić: Guitar, mandolin
Ismail Lumanovski: Clarinet
Mustafa Šantić: Accordion, harmonica
Vladimir Ćuković: Violin
Pantelis Stoikos: Trumpet

Ja nemam prava nikoga da volim / I Don’t Have the Right to Love Anyone
Toma Zdravković

(From the Serbo-Croatian lyrics)
I don’t have the right to love anyone/Or to inflict pain on another
I have only my empty nights/So I can cry until dawn

My sorrow, the long nights
My heart is full of pain, full of pain

I’m searching everywhere for my lost love/Searching for the one who hurt me
Searching for the time when I was with you/When I was happy every day

My sorrow, the long nights
My heart is full of pain, full of pain

It was a love that comes only once in a lifetime/It was my most beautiful love
That’s why I don’t have the right to love another/Or to inflict pain on another

My sorrow, the long nights
My heart is full of pain, full of pain

Rane moje / My Wounds
A. Šoškić

My face is pale, oh mother/Because he took my life away
I won’t curse him, no, mother/My tears forgive him
I know, mother, that he is with someone else/Long, long is the night
The pain will never stop/Even though I know he will come to me again

Oh wounds, my wounds, my deep wounds/How will I ever get over them
How can I curse him, mother/When my soul wants him
When my heart wants him/When I love him madly, mother

How will I forgive him, mother/When he was with another
I could kill him, mother/But he is dear to my heart
Everything is empty without him, mother/Long, long is the night
My heart tightens, my soul aches/When I think of him returning to me, from her

Oh wounds, my wounds, my deep wounds/How will I ever get over them
How can I curse him, mother/When my soul wants him
When my heart wants him/When I love him madly, mother

Sto je tuzna tako ova noc / Why Is This Night So Sad?
Toma Zdravković

Why is this night so sad?/One woman has hurt me
So I wander the streets alone/I know every tavern, every Gypsy
When they play their instruments, they relieve my pain/When they stop, I talk about her.

This night will pass, I know/Without her I hate every day
Go away, everyone, everything, damn it all to hell!/I’m crying, but she’s not, she’s gone

Hey, Gypsies, play for me now/Play me your song
I want to get drunk tonight/To break the last glass
Tonight I grieve my misery/I’ll sing with you and pour out my tears

This night will pass, I know/Without her I hate every day
Go away, everyone, everything, damn it all to hell!/I’m crying, but she’s not, she’s gone

Danka
Toma Zdravković

I wander the empty streets all night, Danka/You are my greatest love in the whole world, oh Danka
How can I tell you how much I love you, Danka/You are my life 

I have to drink to ease the pain/Oh how sad this life of mine
Oh how long the nights, Danka/I drink without end, glass after glass
And whisper Danka, Danka, I love you

Don’t be angry because I write you songs, Danka/You gave your love to someone else, Danka
I can only sing about you, Danka/Because you’re my life 

I have to drink to ease the pain/Oh how sad this life of mine
Oh how long the nights, Danka/I drink without end, glass after glass
And whisper Danka, Danka, I love you/And whisper Danka, Danka, I love you

Šta će mi život / What Is Life Without You?
Toma Zdravković

What is life without you, darling?/I don’t want another love
I dream of you every night, only you are in my heart
I dream of you every night, only you are in my heart

My heart aches tonight/My soul aches tonight
It’s hard to love/When you are alone

Autumn has long since come/And I wait in vain, hope in vain
Oh, mother, how much I love him/He alone is in my heart
O, mother, how much I love him/He alone is in my heart

My heart aches tonight/My soul aches tonight
It’s hard to love/When you are alone