A Balkan song

I came across the widely acclaimed documentary “Whose is this song” by the bulgarian director Adela Peeva thanks to Seviyesiz.

Adela hears a song in Istanbul while dining with friends from all over the Balkans and they all claim the song is theirs in a heated discussion. The movie is about Adela’s following trip across Turkey, Greece, Albania, Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia and Bulgaria in search of this song. The tune is everywhere but the lyrics couldn’t be more different: in one country it’s a love song in the neighboring country it is a call to arms…

It is a story about the unfortunate and sad Balkans, where the Serbs and Bosnians were fighting each other to death just a few years ago, where bloody religious and nationalistic wars have been almost constantly waged since the end of 18th century, where Adela almost got beaten by the Serbs and threatened with death by her countrymen, just for suggesting the song could have originated from another country, where the flag-waving fools who claim they are different and better than the ‘others’ are the same, even in their hatred, with their enemies.

As Adela puts it so beautifully: “When I first started searching for the song I hoped it will unite us. I have never believed the sparks of hatred can be lit so easily.”

So, here is the work in question, all 70 minutes of it:

P.S. the song, of course, is originally turkish…