On May 27th, 1992, a grenade was thrown into a bread queue at the - TopicsExpress

Miren Edurne

On May 27th, 1992, a grenade was thrown into a bread queue at the bakery in the pedestrian precinct Vase Miskina in Sarajevo. Twenty-two people were killed. Every day after this tragedy, the cellist Vedran Smailović, until recently with the Sarajevo Opera, went to the spot, in full evening dress, at four oclock precisely, and risked his own life by playing in memory of the dead, regardless of mortar and machine gun fire and the risk of further grenade attacks. The report by John Burns of the New York Times of this heroic musical declaration made an impact more immediate than any political statement up to that time. I first read about it on a train from Nürnberg to Hannover. As I sat in the train, deeply moved, I listened; and somewhere deep within me a cello began to play a circular melody like a lament without end. The opening of The Cellist of Sarajevo consists of only three long notes: a low C, the D flat above, and back down to the C. Yet, this simple melody conveys the agony with such clarity and conviction, that when I heard this piece for the first time on Yo-Yo Mas Solo album, I was instantly and completely enthralled. It was music stripped of any fanciness or flashiness - music as pure and honest as it gets. https://youtube/watch?v=HvsNU4eEt74

Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 20:00:35 +0000

On May 27th, 1992, a grenade was thrown into a bread queue at the - TopicsExpress

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