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

000 000 000 000