24.05.2021. » 10:16
OP ED - Ilda Krama
Since childhood, I wanted to play music and sing. I didn't grow up in a "musical family", but in one in which education comes first, and the word singer is out of the question. For that reason, I was never musically educated and playing music was reduced to "in the shower" and in the room. However, family was not the main "negative factor", but there was something that made me different from the others. It was a fact that I live in a city that fills journalistic articles about interethnic conflicts and political instability, and I am a child of an ethnically mixed marriage, the so-called collateral damage in the conflict between Serbs and Albanians.
Since childhood, I wanted to play music and sing. I didn't grow up in a "musical family", but in one in which education comes first, and the word singer is out of the question. For that reason, I was never musically educated and playing music was reduced to "in the shower" and in the room. However, family was not the main "negative factor", but there was something that made me different from the others. It was a fact that I live in a city that fills journalistic articles about interethnic conflicts and political instability, and I am a child of an ethnically mixed marriage, the so-called collateral damage in the conflict between Serbs and Albanians.
Living and attending a Bosnian-language school in the southern part of Mitrovica, visiting a family in the north of Mitrovica, caused me as a child who just wanted a normal life, a feeling of confusion, anxiety, demotivation and that I would never be accepted. Questions were often asked in my head: If I was about to become a singer, in what language would I sing ?; Which side of town would accept me ?; Why can't we all create music together and enjoy it? This last question seemed impossible to visualize and that is why I decided to continue my dream in my room, until one day in August 2016..
That summer, I was invited to be a part of the "Musicians Without Borders" project, by Mitrovica Rock School. After the end of the war in Kosovo, the Mitrovica Rock School was among the first initiatives to build bridges between young people on the north and south sides of the divided city.
I could not miss the opportunity that presented itself to me, so I briefly disguised myself as a rebel, opposed my parents, and went to Skopje, where a music camp was organized.
At that time, Skopje was a neutral ground for us musicians of different nationalities. The first meeting of young musicians was strange, as every first meeting with a new person. But, the thought that we are all here because of our love for music, common creativity, the desire to break down political barriers, the need to express ourselves, from rehearsal to rehearsal, connected us more and more. We have formed the so-called mix bands, created music, wrote songs, but most importantly, formed lasting friendships. For us, from now on, there was only a musical identity, and no other.
Young generations on both sides of the bridge in Mitrovica generally do not speak the languages of "the others", so, apart from music as a universal language, English was there to help communicate during musical creation because all songs were original and in English. Over time, we have learned to talk with our hands and feet, and in all possible ways.
At the end of that week in Skopje, a concert was organized, which, in addition to us musicians, brought together the audience from both sides of the river Ibar, who came to listen to the new bands of the Mitrovica Rock School. And even if the music camp in Skopje is later organized every summer, for me and many other colleagues, this one will be unforgettable, because it was the first time that we all felt the harmony, happiness, friendship and life we always wanted to have. The world was ours!
After the camp, we continued with socializing and rehearsals, and decided to convey that feeling from Skopje to all those who were not able to feel it. We organized concerts in Mitrovica, Pristina, Gracanica and later in Vienna. Journalistic articles of that period contained less and less articles about interethnic conflicts, and more and more about young people who managed to break down barriers with music, connect Serbs and Albanians, and prove that music, and art in general, knows no borders, politics, nation and religion. Author
Ilda Krama
Ilda Krama is a singer, songwriter and interethnic relations activist in Kosovo. She is currently a graduate student at the Faculty of Technical Sciences, Department of Architecture.
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