Zagreb is like the West but moved to the South and East. Cafes, pubs, brass
bands, paprika, fruits and vegetables fairs. Lots of top brand shops.
Coffee. Cathedral. Catholicism.
The Euro is here.
Tresymesy, in Sarajevo. Spicy cevapi, aromatic coffee and some sweets you
won't find anywhere else. Bullet holes in the walls. A cemetary in the city
centre.
Beautiful girls in headscarves. Shiny golden plates - in memory of those who
died.
Life goes on. People are here.
Tresymesy, Belgrade: beautiful parks, wide and busy streets. Crazy
Soviet-Austrian modernism. Lots of banks. Sausages in shops. Putin's and
Milosevic's memories in the bookstores. They're here.
Kratka vstanka.
Military Museum: tanks from the World War I and II. They seem to like
militarism. Those who like music accept only mp3s. A whole discography in a
tiny white box.
Epilogue:
The Balkans are full of life. The language is free though sometimes it's
better not to see it.
Two old men singing invariably like they sung before,
during and after the war. They will win. There's a peace in them.
Tresymesy _ the affairs are messy.
written by emiter
This was my first time in the Balkans. We went to Zagreb, Sarajevo and
Belgrade.
I was impressed mostly by Sarajevo, a magic city, beautifully
situated in a valley, surrounded by hills.
It was also the first time I saw
Islam like this: colourful, communal and peaceful. An Islam you'll never see
on the TV news.
I've been relaxing with a cup of aromatic coffee, I've been
sitting in the mosque square making my field recordings.
On the day we're
leaving I already knew I'd like to go back to Sarajevo and feel again the
spirit of this place.
The other cities were somehow more common.
Zagreb
reminds me of the cities of the West while Belgrade seems like it is taken
from the East.
Balkans are hot and aromatic, delightful, sometimes
fluttering and they raise a lot of questions.
written by arszyn
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field recordings and production: Marcin Dymiter, Krzysztof Topolski
Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Gdansk 2006-2007