Amir Karahasanović

Amir Karahasanović is a Bosnian singer and guitarist, the leader of the Sarajevo Roma band Sarr e Roma. The magazine Songlines called Sarr e Roma one of the most prominent Yugoslav Gypsy bands of the 1980s, known among other things for their work with Haris Džinović.

He also played rhythm guitar in Mostar Sevdah Reunion, on the group's first album in 1999 and on A Gypsy Legend (2001), the record they made with the Roma singer Šaban Bajramović. In 2004 he played guitar on Armin Šaković's album Za sva vremena, and Sarr e Roma had already appeared on "Trista dana" and "Tuđa srećo" on Armin's album Sve moje pjesme in 2000. At the Ilidža festival in 2008 his song "Imam gdje nemam s kim", words and music by Amir, was among the competing entries.

With Sarr e Roma, in which he sings and plays guitar, he released Mega tulum (1999), Kameno srce (2000), Godine (2002), Neka nama vas (2004) and the compilation Sve najbolje (2006). The band sang "Breza" and "Samo ljubav" at the Croatian Radio Festival in 2007 and 2008, and their "Tuđa sreća" and "Kameno srce" were chosen for international Gypsy music compilations.

After a quieter period Amir put together a new, all-acoustic Sarr e Roma, with piano in place of accordion or synthesizer. Their album Sarayland was recorded at the BHRT studio in Sarajevo in June 2009, produced by Dragi Šestić and released in 2010 by the Dutch label Snail Records. Its twelve songs come from the former Yugoslavia and Russia, and "Zvonija, zvonija" features Ljiljana Petrović-Buttler, recorded shortly before her death in April 2010. Reviewing it, Songlines praised Amir's rough, lived-in but flexible voice. Sarr e Roma have also recorded "Tuđa sreća" with Severina.