Meštrović Kaštilac once again will be a stage for some great music. Bosnian singer, guitar player and musical heritage explorer Damir Imamović is coming with his trio Sevdah Takht to present all the richness of traditional Bosnian music genre called sevdah. The concert is scheduled on Tuesday, August 13 at 9PM, as one of the last events of this year's Split Summer Festival. In addition to Imamović, members of Sevdah Takht are percussionist Nenad Kovačić and bass player Ivan Mihajlović.
Sevdah is a very emotional, usually love-filled music with origins in Ottoman times, and very popular in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Imamović was almost pre-destined to perform it, his grandfather Zaim was one of the greatest sevdah singers ever recorded. However, Damir is much more than just a sevdah singer and player, he reinterpreted his heritage with jazz influences, creating a completely new interpretation of this soul-soaking music sometimes called Balkan blues.
Sevdah Takht is his latest project, after a number of international concerts all over Europe with his trio and quartet. He was also the guide and narrator in the excellent feature length documentary Sevdah, shown on several film festivals as well as on Viasat History TV station.
In Ottoman times Takht was the name of small music bands which traveled all over the Meditteranean playing traditional music of the region. That's exactly what Damir Imamović's Sevdah Takht is doing, to collect the heritage of all the Balkans and mix it with different influences. They perform many popular sevdah songs, sometimes with unknown authors, but also original tunes written by band members.
