Bosnian singer Damir Imamovic is the winner of The Best of Europe award presented by the British music magazine Songlines, his team said Thursday.

This most important magazine in the field of music traditions of the world announced the winners of its awards and presented perhaps the greatest recognition so far to Damir for his work, but also the first recognition of its kind coming to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Following the announcement of the nomination in early April, it became clear that Damir’s work had been noticed more than ever before. He was nominated in two categories (for the “Best Artist of Europe” and for the “Best Artist”) and thus became the only contestant this year with two nominations. Apart from him, the Portuguese diva Mariza, the English troubadour Sam Lee and the French vocal duo Cocanha were also nominated in the “Best Artist of Europe” category.

The awards ceremony will take place at the end of the year in London.

Damir's great international success was not hindered by the pandemic, so his album “Singer of Tales” (Wrasse, 2020), found itself at the top of the international charts, immediately after its release, on which he spent more than six months. This was followed by the European Album of the Year Awards from the Transglobal Music List, followed by a quarterly award for the best traditional music album from the German Music Critics Association and inclusion in the top ten albums in the UK in 2020.

"Damir Imamović is the winner of 'The best of Europe' @SonglinesMag award!" <3 <3 <3 pic.twitter.com/QLkVIb7cjx

— Damir Imamovic (@damirimamovic) May 13, 2021

His seventh album was produced by famous music producer Joe Boyd (REM, Nick Drake, Pink Floyd) and Andrea Goertler (Saz'iso), and it was accompanied by an exceptional music team: violinist Ivana Djuric (Sevdah Takht Damir Imamovic), gusle master Derya Türkan (Kudsi Erguner, Erkan Oğur) and double bassist Greg Cohen (Tom Waits, Laurie Anderson, Masada, John Zorn).

The music award of the British Songlines magazine was established in 2009 and continues the tradition of the prestigious music award in the field of “World Music,” which was awarded by the famous third program of the BBC. Since 2016, the award has been awarded by continents from which the artists come. The winners of some of the prestigious Songlines awards so far have been: Bassekou Kouyaté, Mariza, Fanfare Ciocărlia, Seckou Keita, Goran Bregovic, Derek Gripper, and others.