Randomness

I’m behind on posts.  I’m also behind in my travel journal!  While I catch up, here are some random observations and notes:

People here love to walk, especially by the river.  It’s great exercise, great scenery, and a time to talk to friends or think!

Dimsi cheese goes very well with mushroom tortellini!  It’s almost enough to keep me from missing my colby…

I visited the History Museum last week.  I saw it called a “living museum” somewhere (I’m wondering if that’s why they never fixed the bullet-holes in the building while the National Museum next door was completely repaired); the main part contains personal memoirs, artifacts, articles, and photos from the recent war.  It is a very powerful exhibit, and it’s an interesting experience (not sure how else to describe it!) to see the photographs of the destroyed buildings, and then walk outside afterwards and see the same buildings, repaired.

The art scene is great here!  More on that later, hopefully.

After listening to sevdalinka for several months before coming here, it is wonderful, and somehow comforting, to hear them in cafes, stores, etc…

Zumbuli (bluebells) smell wonderful!

I’m so glad to be in my own apartment.  Some of you know I was in a hostel for nearly a month when I first came.  However, that was also a great experience.  The owner and staff there were wonderful, helpful, and hospitable.  The director did not speak English, so it was a great way for me to practice my Bosnian.  He was so patient with me, never interrupting, and just waiting for me to think it through and come up with the correct word (and helped me out if I didn’t know it).

The ladies at these Women’s education centers (Kewser and Nahla) have become great friends. More on these organizations later.

I’ve met some of the musicians here; I was waiting for my Bosnian to improve before I started contacting everyone, but I think now it’s time to get down to business!

Videos from the Concert

Bosna Muslim Media has several videos up from the concert “Gaza u mom srcu” (see a few posts down for overall review).  When I saw the concert again on TV, I noticed they cut a lot of performances.  I wonder why.  Here are some that I liked:

Sead Zele Lipovača i Kenan Mačković – Palestino, dušo čista!

Hafiz Aziz Alili - Šehidi

Enes Begović – Šehidski rastanak

Burhan Šaban – Dođi najdraži

Hafiz Sulejman Bugari – Al Tawba 38

Hamza Ražnatović – Dosta mi je Allah moj

Enes Ukić – Zvao bih Te Gospodaru

Keep an eye on the site; I think they are still adding more!

Methinks Willy Wonka!

Pop Quiz. Is this:

A.  The Miljacka River after it’s been raining and all the snow has melted?

B.  Willy Wonka’s Chocolate River?

Review of Concert

On Sunday night, about 10,000 people braved the cold weather to attend “Gazu u mom srcu” (Gaza in my heart), a giant concert held to raise money for humanitarian relief in Gaza. It was such a large concert, in fact, that it was held in Zetra, the Olympic stadium. The event was scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm, but people began filling the stadium over an hour in advance, and by 6:30 the hall was nearly full. The audience consisted of viewers of all ages, ranging from children to the elderly. The stage was beautifully set up, with white hanging lights and arches to the side of the stage. In the center was a screen, on which a slide show consisting of images from Palestine would be displayed throughout the event. To either side of the screen were sets of high bleachers, which began to fill up just before 7:00.

Several choirs from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina and other parts of the Balkans were scheduled to participate in the event and they began to file onto the stage, taking their places on the bleachers to enthusiastic applause. The members of each choir were dressed alike, for example the women of Hor Kewser were dressed in shiny red and gold outfits. The instrumentalists took their places in front of the bleachers, and the soloists, narrators, and hafizi (those who had memorized the Qur’an, and would recite it during the event) sat in the middle, just under the screen. Shortly beforehand, I had seen the Reis ul-Ulema, Dr. Mustafa Cerić, and his wife arrive and take their seats in the front row.

The event started promptly with a recitation from the Qur’an. There are many hafizi (Arabic: Huffadh) in the Balkans who have been trained at the Gazi Husref-Bey madrasa. Some of them, such as Aziz Alili, Burhan Šaban, Senad Podojak, and Mensur Malkić, who all participated in the event, are also very popular singers of ilahije. After most of the recitations, a narrator read the Bosnian translation of the passages.

I was familiar with many of the singers there, but not all of them. Some of those less familiar to me were pop singers. A highlight of the event, in my opinion, was Hamza Raznatović’s (lead singer of pop band MacBeth) rendition of the well-known ilahije “Dosta mi je Allah moj” (My God is enough for me – see him singing this at a different event on Samaha’s blog). After hearing Burhan Šaban sing a song in Arabic at the beginning of the event, I hoped that he would later perform one of his own songs, and he did – “Dođi Najdraži” (Come, Most Beloved – see music video of this song here). I think he performed this song because it describes the Prophet’s return from the isra’ and mi’raj, part of which took place at the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Slides of the structure were shown on the screen during the performance. Another highlight was Aziz Alili’s performance of “Šehidi” (Martyrs – see video of him performing this song here), a song that was popular in Bosnia during and after the war here. I could see that many of the older people in the audience were deeply moved by the song. Interestingly, while the permissibility of musical instruments and female singers are hotly debated in many parts of the Muslim world, they appear to be non-issues here. The event ended with a brief speech and a du’a by Reis ul-Ulema Dr. Mustafa Cerić, and people began piling out of the stadium.

Concert!

I went to an EXCELLENT concert last night! More about it tomorrow, insha’Allah I’ll post an article. I also have a few other things on my mind, from the concert, and I’ll probably compose a few posts about that; I’d like to get some opinions on some issues. Hmm, also have to ask some potentially delicate questions and not sure how to approach them. I think I’ll wait awhile. Also the snow is melting! I need to get a better map, I got lost on the way home last night and had to get a taxi! I may have found an apartment too! Please pray that it works out…

Sarajevo Updates

Still no apartment and still using internet cafes!  And there’s (hey, finally found the apostrophe!) about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground and it doesn’t look like it’s stopping anytime soon!

I wasn’t prepared for how I’d feel the first time I finally heard ilahije live…

In Sarajevo

It`s beautiful here, but COLD right now!  I`ll post pictures later.  I`m still using the internet at cafes since I don`t have an apartment yet.

Allahimanet!

See you later

The next time I blog, it will be from Bosnia insha’Allah!  I’m leaving tomorrow.  I’ll be flying to Zagreb, staying there for a day and night, and then taking the train to Sarajevo the next day.

Gazel – Milost Tvoja (Your Mercy) with Translation

Here is a video by Gazel, a fairly new group I think.  You can find their CD on emusic if you have an account there.  The song titles on that site are not matched correctly with the actual tracks, however, let me know if you want them in the real order.  See two more of their videos on their website.

Milost Tvoja

Uvijek kada pomislim otišli su od mene svi,
Da leđa okrenuše, Milost Tvoja dođe mi,
Pa kroz dušu prođe mi,
Koja jako uzdahne kad Ti Ime spomene.

Ne može mi uzeti ovu sreću niko sad,
I planine da krenu ja Ti Ime dozivam,
I srce da šapne mi da neće izdržati
Ja ga neću slušati, jer Milost Tvoju osjetih.

Allah Allah ilallah Milost Tvoja beskrajna
Na dušu mi spusti se, hvala Ti za sve!

Your Mercy

Every time I imagine that all have abandoned me,
That they’ve turned their backs, Your Mercy comes to me,
And passes through my soul,
Which sighs heavily when it says your name.

Now it is not possible for anyone to steal this joy,
And the mountains that move when I call Your Name,
As for my heart that whispers that it cannot go on,
I will not listen to it, for I feel Your Mercy.

Allah Allah ilallah, Your Mercy is endless
It descends upon my soul, thank You for everything!

Postal Peeve

Since prices for postage stamps change so often, it’s really annoying to find an old book of stamps that have no price on them.  How am I supposed to remember how much they were, and thus, how many of those little one cent stamps to put on the envelope with them?