“Pjesme iz Bosne” (1962) by Safet Isović & Zaim Imamović

I came to Sevdah later in life and approached it with the same curiosity & delight that some archaeologist might feel on excavation site.

When I was growing up, pop music was my main interest and something as archaic as traditional folk music couldn’t be more remote from my world - it took me decades to finally turn my attention to world music, than slowly out of curiosity I finally came to Sevdah that in Bosnia people loved and cherished for centuries. After all, if I enjoyed Portuguese Fado, why not checking out something that I actually might understand, right? It was truly a thunderbolt and I quickly put all my prejudices behind, once I have discovered this intoxicating combination of music and poetry that might in reality have nothing with my background (I was a city child) the sheer beauty of the sound and its message was too good to ignore. Even now I am far from expert, since Sevdah really speaks to Bosnian listeners who understand all the nuances, ornamentations and ancient expressions (my Turkish co-worker finds it similar to what her parents listened so this is interesting connection) but I do get the magic of the music and strangeness of old words even adds to it. 

Even though Sevdah is ancient music genre, it seems that during 1960s there was explosion of new recordings with works by composers like Jozo Penava who continued in exactly same style and created what now is accepted as “classic Sevdah” although it was actually newly written. This wonderful, early 1960s EP recording brings together two of the biggest Sevdah singers from Bosnia, singing new songs that came to become classics. Zaim Imamović was older and more stately of the two, his voice reminiscent of some gentle, wise bard and his songs were fitting to someone world-weary (“Stara Staza” is indeed a song about a man in hospital, meditating on his life, death and rare visitors). Younger Safet Isović was completely different kind of singer, golden voiced, lusty prince who sounds so happy singing that you can’t help thinking he was born to sing - he really had one of the best voices in business and even if the subjects of the songs were sad, he somehow made it sound joyous. Perhaps its also the fact that guys are backed by simple accordion duo (Duo Harmonika Alajbegović - Petković) that it makes it sounds so authentic and unfussy (later recordings would get more instruments but not necessary better spirit and nowadays Sevdah musicians are often too distracted with Jazzing everything up, to my biggest annoyance). When we finally hear these two guys together, its truly intoxicating and breath-taking. Just a wonderful, wonderful classic little recording made so long ago but still capable to move the listener, in fact it might stop you dead in the tracks, specially the last song.