Sarajevo-born AMIRA was in her teens in 1992, when the Bosnian war and its following atrocities broke loose. According to a recent interview with the Observer’s Ed Vulliamy, the idea of becoming a professional singer was then still unformed in her young mind. Instead, she eagerly rushed to attend the risky, do-it-yourself, literally underground gigs that her husband-to-be Bekim Medunjanin helped organize in city cellars at the time, joining other fascinated, rhythm-hungry young people in sheltering from the violence which gripped their city. AMIRA is largely responsible for the recent popularity of sevdah, which has left Balkan ground and reached more and more European homes, gaining rave reviews from world music magazines and reverberating to spellbound live audiences. From Japan, Taiwan, Stockholm to Liverpool, Istanbul to Helsinki and from boisterous jazz festivals to laid-out-bare solo performances, her vocal charisma unfailingly moves and captivates.