Passport Series: Damir Imamović

Growing up in a family of sevdah bards, Damir was immersed in the world of Balkan traditional music at a very young age. He started tracing his own path in sevdah in the early 2000s, prompted by his friendship with the writer and editor Farah Tahirbegović, also a singer in the band “Dertum”. In 2006 he recorded his first album, followed by concerts in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the region of former Yugoslavia. His tours have taken him from different corners of Europe to China, USA, India, Japan, and Mexico. He has worked with musicians such as Eric Vloeimans, Greg Cohen, Derya Türkan, Ivana Đurić, Bojan Z, Vlatko Stefanovski, Ivan Mihajlović, Nenad Kovačić, Vlado Kreslin, Jadranka Stojaković, Frenkie, Jelena Popržan, Vasil Hadžimanov, and producers Chris Eckman (“Dvojka”, Damir Imamović Sevdah Takht, The Glitterbeat Records, 2016) and Joe Boyd & Andrea Goertler (“Singer of Tales”, Damir Imamović feat. Greg Cohen, Derya Türkan & Ivana Đurić, Wrasse Records, 2020). Damir received numerous international awards for his work. Among others: “The Best of Europe” (Songlines, 2021), “The best European Album” (Transglobal list, 2019/2020), and “The Best of Folk” (German Association of music critics: Bestenliste 3/2020).