Update: Some facts are corrected. Thanks to La Banda’s pianist Misko!
At the end of the 1980s, La Banda was one of the best-known bands on Sarajevo’s alternative rock scene. The musicians were just about to complete their debut album when their plans were dramatically changed by war. This personal documentary by the journalist and director Sergej Kreso, La Banda’s bass guitarist, records a reunion of members of the group after more than 15 years. The old friends return to Sarajevo from five different countries to complete two last songs and therefore finish the album they began before the war. However, Graffiti Street is not just a documentary about a meeting of musicians after a separation caused by war.
Two weeks ago I arrived at The Hague, Netherlands to visit a friend of mine, Nada, who interned at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. She and I taught at the same high school in Sarajevo in 2006. I flew at 6:20 a.m., thus all I wanted to do the rest of the morning was to take a quick nap before exploring the city.
On Sunday, 17 of February 2008 Kosovo’ parliament declared independence from Serbia with the backup of the USA, Britain, Germany, and France.
Kosovo’s parliament has unanimously endorsed a declaration of independence from Serbia, in a historic session.
Frenchman, a Cuban, a Bosnian and an American are stranded in a lifeboat fighting to survive after their ship has gone down. They are trying to show bravado in the middle of a bad situation.
The Frenchman pops open a bottle of French wine he’s saved from their sinking sink, takes a few sips and throws the bottle into the sea. “In Paris when we arrive, we’ll find many more!” he says.
Four astronauts land on the moon. An American, a German and two Serbs.
The American jumps out and plants a flag on the surface exclaiming that US derring-do and money made their mission possible so the moon will belong to America.
The German pulled out the flag and stuck in a flag from his country proclaiming that it was German scientific knowledge and technological precision that made the landing possible, so the moon was Germany’s.
The Balkan border is a disputing issue as Slovenia is included on some maps and not on the other, and the part of Romania which belongs to this region is unclear.
Balkan Scissors blogs a short but fairly detailed post describing the Balkan:
As of January 1st, 2008, Slovenia becomes the first new EU member (countries which join the EU in 2004) to resume the 6-month EU presidency.
At my colleague’s farewell party last night, I met a friend of her who was Macedonian. With little knowledge about Macedonia, I asked her if they spoke the same language as Serbia, then I said “Kako si!” That was it for our initial conversation.
Thanks a blog reader for this video link.
In this short clip, Richard Gere promotes his newest movie “The Hunting Party” in which he plays a journalist returning to Bosnia after the war to search for one of the two most wanted war criminal. This movie was released in September 2007.
A comment from a frequent reader of this blog:
A quite famous Italian rock band wrote, in the 90s, a whole album on the bosnian conflict. They recorded an impressive live concert in a cd entitled “La guerra, la terra” (the war, the earth), and the most touching song is indeed “Cupe vampe” (gloomy flames). I watched them playing it in Banja Luka, but the public was expecting the typical italian melodic pop and were not prepared to this, so it wasn’t that successful. But I still listen to it in the nights spent driving through the Balkans, and sometimes it makes me cry.
My name is Cindy, also rhymes with travel junkie. A friend said I was probably a gipsy in my previous life. One of my many secret missions in life is to convert you to run off every once in awhile.
