U Stambolu na Bosforu with Amira Medunjanin

Amira Medunjanin (*1972) is a Bosnian singer and citizen of both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. She is considered the best living interpreter of the Bosnian life song, the sevdah, and has modernized this genre.
U Stambolu na Bosforu is a Bosnian love song from the repertoire of sevdalinkas, a genre often compared to fado at the intersection of Turkish, Slavic and Sephardic traditions. Marijn van Prooijen arranged the piece so that Cappella Amsterdam and harpist Beate Loonstra could perform this work with Amira Medunjanin in the al Bahr concert series.

Program
U Stambolu na Bosforu (trad. arr. Marijn van Prooijen)

U Stambolu na Bosforu bolan paša leži
Duša mu je na izmaku, crnoj zemlji teži

Molitva je njemu sveta
Dok mujezin s minareta
Uči na sav glass:
‘Allah illallah, selam alejkjum!’

Kad ste vjerno sluge moje služile moj harem
neka svaki od vas uzme jednu ženu barem

Iz oka mu suza kanu
Pa na less mrtav pa’nu,
stari musliman
Allah illallah, selam alejkum

Kad je čula pašinica za tu tužnu vijest
Da se paša preselio sad na drugi svijet
Iz oka joj suza kanu
pa na less mrtva panu

ljubav pašina
Allah illallah, selam alejkjum

Cappella Amsterdam
Amira Medunjanin
Beate Loonstra harp
Leonard Evers conductor