news update

I was just speaking with a friend who encouraged me to give a little summary of everything that is going on here with Kosovo's recently declared independence. Because I'm here it's hard to imagine any news being bigger than this, but apparently coverage of the U.S. primaries will not stop for anything. So allow me to give a summary of events and what I have actually experienced here.

Sunday was independence day. Apparently there was some celebrating here in Sarajevo, but for the most part things were quiet. It looks like there was more visible jubilation in New York from the pictures I saw in online new sources. In Kosovo, things of course were crazy- people spent the whole week ahead of time figuring out exactely how they would celebrate. A bakery made a 100 foot long cake, the top orchestra practiced like crazy, everyone was brainstorming what they could do to go all out. Serbians on the other hand, not so happy. In Belgrade there were riots in front of the U.S. Embassy and (surprise surprise) the McDonald's. Yes, one restaurant had to close because all of its windows were broken. Serbs in Banja Luka (the capital of the Republika Srpska in BiH) attacked the French Embassy- possibly only because it was an easier target than the U.S. Embassy which is on a narrow ally.

The political game is certainly a tricky one here. Russia is of course united with Serbia in its refusal to recognize Kosovo. However, Serbia can't take its expressions of disapproval too far because of their hopes for EU membership. You may have noticed in the midst of all the election coverage that Serbia is withdrawing their ambassador to the U.S. from DC. There's discussion of withdrawing ambassadors from several EU countries as well. Of course there are plenty of countries who won't recognize Kosovo due to fears about separatist movements within their own borders. Spain is one example of this.

Bosnia and Herzegovina of course isn't immune to this problem either. The country's Serb entity, Republika Srpska, would like its independence too. However, they do not have and could not get the international support that has enabled Kosovo to take the plunge into independence.

This is more or less my summary of events at this point. Very much in a nutshell.

In closing, I would just like to request prayers for Katie M. my counterpart BVSer in Belgrade. The office of Women in Black, where she works, is taking increased security measures and will be closing earlier in the evenings. Keep her in your thoughts and pray for her safety.

gaining momentum

My life here seems to be picking up speed as I make more friendships and become more involved in the work here at Musicians without Borders. This is a very exciting development although in the past couple of weeks, I feel I have had little time to stop and smell the roses (or here I guess it would be the burek). So much happens, I have a rough time just processing all of it. As soon as one activity is done there is often something else to rush off to whether its work-related or just for fun. I try to always walk to and from work rather than taking the tram which does give me a nice 45 minute window for clearing my head.



Last week, Winds of Change performed at the Opening Ceremony of Sarajevska Zima (Sarajevo Winter) Festival. This was an interesting experience to say the least. When we were first invited to participate, we were supposedly going to play for 45 minutes total. After many revisions and changes in the program, we were left with only 5 minutes of playing time, a breif stint at an after-party, and a last-minute invitation to have our own performance the next day. Sarajevska Zima began in 1984 with the Olympics and therefore one would assume it is a well- established, well-organized festival. It is a mistake to make such an assumption. Instead everything about the event seems to be constantly in flux and subject to change at any point in time. Often the performers themselves aren't directly informed of changes, but discover them at the last minute when they may or may not have time to voice disapproval. There was supposed to be a dress-rehearsal for the opening ceremony on Wednesday at 4pm. When everyone showed up it turned out proper technical arrangements had not yet been made to supply the proper voltage and electricity for lighting and sound equipment. This was the day before the ceremony. So we waited around and were shuffled from place to place for about 2 hours. Then they told everyone to leave. Wow, I'm really glad we were there to not practice for 2 hours. (Note: Miller Davis should never NEVER try to work on a project in Bosnia)

The ceremony itself was interesting to say the least. A friend of mine likes to say that most things in the Balkans- events, tv shows, fashion, etc.- take the western version of something and then put it on acid. Everything is very over the top with as much glitter, light, color, and sexuality as possible. The opening ceremony was no exception. There was no clear concept of a stage and an audience. Instead there were various performance areas all over the place- one on an upper level, video screens on all sides, and a dance floor right in the middle. Towards the end the action all moved outside and culminated in a flashy show of lights and fireworks. Throughout all of this, spectators were herded around with varying amounts of confusion and sometimes found themselves right in the middle of the action. WoC performed their part just fine, but this was not hard considering all the music was done on play back. Apparently it all looked "great" on TV- but I think by Balkan standards. At some point I became exhausted with all the chaos and chose to leave with 2 friends who had come to see the performance at my invitation.

Later, I met back up with the group to watch a few of them perform at the after-party for the ceremony. This was much more enjoyable- they played beautifully and there weren't 27 other things going on at the same time. The "party" itself wasn't so fabulous, but its always nice to spend time with the group- 2 of the girls in particular are so friendly and really great to talk to. I won't see everyone again until mid-April when they start preparing for the concerts which are set to take place in May. I hope to have improved my language skills a lot by then too so I can talk more to some of the ones who don't speak as much English and can get more practice in general.

Last weekend was also a very exciting occaision- my Balkan BVS compatriots, Katie Mahuron and Katie Hampton, came to spend the weekend here in Sarajevo. Talking with them is probably one of the things that keeps me sanest. It is a wonderful thing to have others who are experiencing the same issues and difficulties. And while there are many internationals here in the Balkans, I have not met any others who will be here for as long as we will. In Mostar, Katie H., said our friend Charlene was lamenting the fact that the last 3 months have gone by so quickly. 3 months represent 1/3 of her time here, they represent only 1/8 of ours. I am curious to see how our thoughts and ideas about the region evolve over the course of that time- and how many other internationals we will see come and go.

Much of our visit was spent talking around the kitchen table although Katie H. and I did take it upon ourselves to introduce Katie M. to the Bosnian delights of čevapi and rahat lokum. We watched a Serbian comedy that had English subtitles, but rather than being entertained we were pretty much completely bewildered. The "western version on acid" rule somewhat applies here, but there were other factors involved too. Balkan humor is dark and often deals in death or other tragic subjects. After watching the movie we had to watch 2 episodes of the American TV show "Flight of the Concords" in order to get our laugh-fix. Katie H. wondered what Serbians and Bosnians would think of it, maybe what we found hysterical would just be weird to them. We also attempted a trip to the Museum by the Latin Bridge, but it was closed for the day- after our experiences is Belgrade this was not so shocking. We did manage to go to the National Art Gallery instead which I had already had the pleasure of visiting once, and hope to return to in the future as well. Our time together was over all too quickly, but we're hoping to reconvene in Mostar at some point since Katie M. still has not been there.