Siege of Sarajevo Series Part 3 'You Stay Here' by Richard Shindell

Hello everyone! This is the third and final part of my 3 part series about songs based on the Siege of Sarajevo. Here are my previous articles Part 1 and Part 2. 

In this article I will mostly be using 'Zlata's Diary' by Zlata Filipić and 'My Childhood Under Fire' by Nadja Halilbegović for my reference as these 2 book talk about how they and their families got through the siege.

Today we will be seeing the siege from the view of a father and his family. This song was written in the 2000's by Richard Shindell. It was written about the Siege of Sarajevo. This is actually one of my most favourite songs I have ever heard. Not only because it's about something I'm interested in, but because the music is just as powerful as the lyrics. It gradually builds with new sounds being introduced each verse.

In this song we hear what it was like to raise a family during the siege. What they did to get by and how they tried to make it easier for the kids. He also talks about how he plans to protect his family if he has to. He starts questioning God towards the end.

Notable lines from the song:

"You stay here

And I'll go look for wood

Do not fear

I'll be back soon enough

Do not let the fire die

Neither let it burn too bright"

During the siege there was a shortage of both fuel and firewood. People would look for wood wherever they could. Towards the end of the siege people were cutting down trees and chopping furniture to get wood to burn as this was the only source of heat because of the fuel shortage.

"You stay here

And I'll go look for bread

And if I can

Some sugar for the kids"

Along with fuel shortages there was also a shortage on food. Certain foods became "luxury goods" such as simple candies and chocolate.

"Dry your eyes - I'll be alright

I know where they've laid the mines"

Along with bombing by Republika Srpska, they also planted mines in certain areas. Even to this day there are still mines in certain areas of Bosnia. The former Olympic village from the 1984 Olympics is a good example of a place that still has mines.

"You stay here

And I'll go look for coats

There may still be

Some out on the road

We'll wash them clean with melted snow

The kids don't ever have to know"

Here he is talking about getting winter coats for the kids from bodies of people shot by snipers. He says he'll wash the blood and dirt off of the coat because he doesn't want his children to know where he got the coats.

" You stay here

And I'll go look for guns

I think I know

Where they've hidden some

Cause if the Tiger comes one night

We won't go without a fight"

In this verse he talks about what he'll do if Republika Srpska tries to kill his family. He'd rather go down in a fight with honour than have his family slaughtered before him.

"You stay here

And I'll go look for God

Not so hard

Cause I know where he's not

I will bring him back with me

Make him listen - make him see" 

The father starts to question his religion. He doesn't think that God or Allah would allow the city to become a battleground because it feels like Hell. He wants God/Allah to know how his people are suffering under this war.

I pretty much quoted the whole song, but here is the video for you to listen.

Thank you so much for reading this series. I have been wanting to do this series for a few years but never had much motivation, but now that I have lots of time and energy, I decided to finally make it. I hope you enjoyed this look into a piece of history that fascinates me and that you learned a little bit about the Bosnian war and the Yugoslav civil wars.

-Amy Katrina

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Siege of Sarajevo Series Part 2 'Song for Sarajevo' Judy Collins

Hello everyone! This is the second part of my 3 part series about songs based on the Siege of Sarajevo. If you missed the first article, here it is here. I explained the history of the Siege of Sarajevo in the first article.

Today we will be viewing the siege from the view of a child. This song is called 'Song For Sarajevo' by Judy Collins. This song was actually written in 1994, around the time NATO intervened and the world came to know about the Siege of Sarajevo.

 In this song she writes the lyrics from the point of view of a small child who is orphaned by the war. The child is seeing everything she loved destroyed by the war. All this child wants is to have peace in her life because she is surrounded by war. She feels as if her childhood was stolen from her.

Notable lines from the song:

"There's nowhere to hide, no where that I can go"

As I mentioned in my previous article Sarajevo was blockaded and the city became a battle ground. There was no getting out. The whole city was the battle ground, you couldn't hide from it. To a child this would have been very frightening and beyond their concept of safety and danger. 

"I can hear my heart, pounding like a clock

Hiding from the planes and from the bombing"

Here Judy Collins is talking about how the child is scared because there is war all around her. There is constant bombings from Republika Srpska and airplanes overhead from NATO.

"Fire from the sky, burning down my life

There is no more love and no more longing"

This child's whole world is gone because of the war. She feels like there is no more love where she is.

(Chorus)

"But when I close my eyes:

I dream of peace

I dream of flowers on the hill

I dream I see my mother smiling

When I close my eyes I dream of peace"

Here the child talks about how she saw Sarajevo before the war and how she now dreams about seeing all the little beautiful things that she saw before the war.

"Once I had a home, once my life was good

Once my mother sang to me and held me

Then the fire came, falling from the sky

There is no one left who can protect me"

This is the part of the song we find out that the girl was orphaned by the war. Her mother was killed in a bombing. She used to have a home, but now it's all gone. She feels alone and scared.

"War's a wicked bird that never comes to rest

Feeding on the dreams of all the children"

To a child war takes everything from them. Their home, their school, family, friends. Everything in a child's perception of life.

"Can't you stop the war, bring it to a close

You are tall and strong and I am just a child

Can't we live in peace, stop the flowing blood

Make a blessed world where I can be a child"

Here the child begs for peace. Peace would mean that she would get to be a child again. She knows she can't physically stop the war herself because she is a child, so she asks whoever is listening to bring peace.

Here is the song for you to listen to:

Thank you for reading this second article! I hope you come back next week to see the third article. 

-Amy Katrina 

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Siege of Sarajevo Series Part 1 'Sarajevo' by Watsky

Hello everyone! I know it's been a long while since I wrote anything for this blog. Life happens and I don't always feel motivated enough to write.

Today I'm going to start a 3 part series about 3 different viewpoints to the Siege of Sarajevo through music. A young couple, a child and a father. The songs I chose were all written about this subject. I have wanted to write this series for a while as I've always been interested in the city and culture of Sarajevo, Bosnia. I have read 2 books about this subject, 'Zlata's Diary' by Zlata Filipić, and 'My Childhood Under Fire' by Nadja Halilbegović. They are great books that I recommend you read.

Sarajevo is the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina which used to be part of the Socialist Federalist Republic of Yugoslavia. Bosnia is a multiethnic state, but the biggest 3 groups are Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Serbs, and Catholic Croatians. Sarajevo used to be called 'The Jerusalem of Europe' because of how diverse it was.

During the wars that broke up SFR Yugoslavia there was a particular battle called The Siege of Sarajevo. Between the 5th of April 1992 to the 29th of February 1996 the city of Sarajevo was under siege at first by the Yugoslavian People's Army, and then by a paramilitary group that wanted to make Bosnia a Serbian state called Republika Srpska (literally Serbian Republic). This Serbian paramilitary group blockaded all access to Sarajevo. They also surrounded the city and it's hills with snipers. The city became a battle ground for Republika Srpska, Yugoslav People's Army and Bosnian defence groups. There was almost no way for civilians to escape this urban warfare. In 1993 there was a tunnel built to smuggle weapons into the Bosnian defence and to let people out. NATO intervened in 1994. A ceasefire was declared in October 1995 by the new Bosnian government and the last bomb was launched on the 9th of January 1996, killing one. The Bosnian Government declared the end of the siege the 29th of February 1996. The Siege of Sarajevo was longest siege of any capital city in modern warfare. People of all ethnic groups were killed. In total 13,952 people are believed to have been killed in the Siege of Sarajevo. Many of the buildings and bridges were damaged or destroyed including the National Library. Even now, in 2018, many buildings still bear damage from the siege.

Now that I got you roughly filled in to the history of The Siege of Sarajevo I will start this series. The first song I am writing about is called 'Sarajevo' by Watsky. It is a song based a real life couple's tragic story. Boško Brkić and Admira Ismić were called 'The Romeo and Juliet of Sarajevo' because Boško was Serb and Admira was Bosniak. They died on the Vrbanja bridge after being shot by a sniper. In this song Watsky writes from the perspective of Boško; talking about how he loves Admira more than anything and understands that their love is important regardless of their differences. He talks about their differences and the war itself.

Notable lines from the song include:

"And when she closed those eyes one final time no pipers came

But I know we got a love that's truer than a military sniper's aim

But we won't die in vain"

Here he is talking about the day they were shot and that their names will live on.

"People wanna put up walls to divide us

Kinda fitting that we died on a bridge"

Here he mentions how ironic it is that they were from 2 different sides of the war but they died together as 1 regardless of ethnicity.

"They say we're different and they're fillin in the facts

But they put the same metal in the bullets

And they put the same bullets in our backs"

In this part he talks about how they died as one, regardless of sides. They both were humans regardless of ethnicity and they were both killed the same way

"Kinda love that we got is one in a mill

Ain't no God that I pray to would wanna kill

It's not God but it's fear and it's politics"

Here he is saying that God wouldn't want this war. It's people who want war. People were dividing them and their love, not God.

"We're two drops of the blood and tears

Over thousands of years of the clash of the steel"

In the end they were just 2 people in this siege. There are lots of stories like this over years of wars.

Here is the song for you to listen yourself:

I hope you enjoyed this article and that you come back next week for the second article in my series. Thank you for reading!

-Amy Katrina

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