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 the kafana (coffee-house) music that blended sevdalinka … More Amira Medunjanin: For Him and Her
The seed for Bërbili (Nightingale) was planted in 1999 when a professor asked musicology student Dina Bušić to research and record music representing her heritage. On her mother’s side she is Arbanasi, descended from eighteenth-century Albanian Catholic refugees who settled in her home town of Zadar, Croatia, when the city was a stronghold of the Venetian Republic. The descendants lost much of their culture but retained their Albanian dialect into … More Dina e Mel: Bërbili
Based on his study of birdcalls, Darwin came to believe that love songs, no less than love itself, were essential to human propagation. Opting for science over criticism, however, he never weighed in on one conundrum: Whether a romantic ballad is beautiful or tedious often has little or no bearing on its success in courtship. A case in point is Ružo (Rose), the debut album of the Croatian ensemble Kazan. Their traditional love songs in retro-modern garb are … More Kazan: Ružo
