Damir Imamović

Cankarjev dom Music Damir Imamović

Damir Imamović, voice, tambur, tar; Ivana Đurić, violin; Ivan Mihajlović, acoustic bass; Nenad Kovačić, percussion

The music that wrote a novel.

We are pleased to announce that Damir Imamović is returning to Ljubljana, to play at the venue that hosted his unforgettable solo performance, the closing concert of the 2011 Druga Godba Festival. And if we have followed his glittering career from the very start, this was not so outside the borders of the former Yugoslavia. In fact, it was not until his latest two releases that attracted the interest of international audiences. With Singer of Tales Damir not only rose to worldwide prominence as a sevdah performer, but also earned himself a place in the pantheon of European artists working in traditional music. The World and All That It Holds also opens the door to the US market, as the album was released by one of the most prestigious historical labels, Smithsonian Folkways. Be that as it may, there is no reason Damir shouldn’t perform in the intimate setting of CD’s Club, his favourite concert venue in Ljubljana.

Produced by the renowned Joe Boyd and Balkan music expert Andrea Goertler (who has worked with Imamović since 2014), The World and All That It Holds draws from the traditional Bosnian style of sevdah while serving as a companion to Aleksandar Hemon’s new novel of the same name. Imamović worked closely with Hemon, the pair selecting the songs for Hemon’s novel and constructing the narrative of Imamović’s record in tandem. Using original compositions, old Sephardic songs, and reimagined sevdah classics, Imamović channelled the novel’s themes – same-sex love, war and loss, displacement and longing for home – to make an album, at times exuberant and at times mournful, which soundtracks the story of the two protagonists.

It was always obvious to me that Damir was the perfect artist to collaborate with,” Hemon adds. “One of the many beautiful consequences of our collaboration is that the novel and the people in it now glow in the light of the music, while the music has acquired an additional, narrative dimension. I cannot imagine my own novel existing without Damir’s music. The very existence of this album expands the boundaries of my novel, and of literature as such. I can only hope that my book does the same for the music.