Patriotic songs in Sarajevo

Mujo is swinging on the swing in the besieged Sarajevo and enjoying the moment.
Haso comes by and asks:Mujo, what are you doing?
Mujo replayed: Nothing important, I am just messing with the snipers.

In the beginning of the 1990's people of all six republics that used to be united under
the banner of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia took part in their first multi-party
elections and referendums where they voted for or against staying in Yugoslavia. They all
said yes to independence of their own republics. Events that took place afterwards, were a
result of a decade-long economic, political and ethnic crisis. The war that started in Slovenia
in 1991, expanded to Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina during the next couple of years and
affected millions. And so, instead of playing in the courtyard, swimming in the sea and
sunbathing, people of those newly established democratic countries were hiding in the cellars,
waiting in lines for bread and listening to the radio that transmitted reports from the battlefield
instead of popular music.

Ethnomusicologist Svanibor Pettan researched the functions of music during war in

Croatia and defined three different, but very particular functions of music based on musical
examples. Music was made for those that were under attack, those that were attacking and for
those that were not directly involved (Pettan 1998). In my field work in Sarajevo, Bosnia-
Herzegovina (from 2011 to 2013) I explored the functions of music in the same context, the
war time, but surprisingly came to different conclusions. My interviewees pointed out that
music was made by them, and for them. It was made to serve two main functions their
resistance (muzika kao otpor) and cure (muzika kao lijek). The following paper thus focuses
on these two functions of music music as a resistance and music as a cure. Resistance can
be understood in a several contexts, but the function of music as a cure is very specific case.
That is why there is a special emphasis on this in the paper that includes an analysis of the
wider cultural and musical context.

As the title already suggests I will examine the presence of patriotic songs in Sarajevo
from 1992 to 1995 and present some examples of patriotic songs that were popular at the time
and how the functions of music mentioned above reflected in them. Songs that I examined in
detail were chosen according to the different and varied musical styles they represent in order
to point out the variety of Sarajevan musical production during the war. In this paper I focus

1
mainly on patriotic songs that were sponsored by the government and those explicitly
emphasised by my interviewees.

Firstly I will outline the historical context of the events that happened in the beginning
of 1992 in Sarajevo. In the second chapter I will present the function of music classified by
Alan P. Merriam and Svanibor Pettan, as the first elaborates on several functions of music in
peace time and Pettan in war time. The third chapter focuses on the media, specifically radio
and television in Sarajevo whereby I am interested in their role in the process of
popularization of patriotic songs. After this, I will analyse the lyrics of the patriotic songs that
became popular during the war and investigate their functions, using reflexive semiotic
analysis.

I met my interviewees during my stay in Sarajevo, and they were all of different age,
sex, education, national and religion affiliation. The basic thing they had in common was the
fact that they all lived in Sarajevo in the time of siege. According to Bohlman (1997: 147)
every individual has their own way of remembering the past, sometimes very selectively. In
fact, my interviewees told me almost the same stories of events that happened in Sarajevo, but
the literature written by different authors presented very different histories. In attempting to
familiarise myself with the time period I read the newspapers that were published in the war
time, focusing mainly on a daily paper called Osloboenje.1

Political situation in Sarajevo in the beginning of the aggression in 1992

People of Bosnia-Herzegovina endorsed their own independence on the referendum on

the first of March 1992. On the next day, when the results of referendum were announced,
members of the Serbian paramilitary forces set up barricades in the city and the snipers took
over the streets near the parliament building (see Thompson 1999: 21012). On the sixth of
April, peaceful demonstration took place. Huge crowd of people demonstrated and shouted
Mi smo za mir! (We are for peace!). They demanded that Bosnia-Herzegovina stays
multiethnical and multicultural, and that the government continues to respect the legacy of
brotherhood and unity (Maek 2001: 200). The snipers, hidden in the old Jewish cemetery,
started to shot in the crowd and their first targets were Suada Dilberovi and Olga Sui. In a
couple of days the hills surrounding Sarajevo were full of heavy artillery and the snipers
activities continued around the clock. Water, gas and electricity were shot down and supplied

1
Osloboenje is a daily newspaper written in both Latin and Cyrillic font. I can understand this as a gesture of
promoting mutual understanding, tolerance and pluralistic identity (Hammel 2000: 26).

2
to the households sometimes only for a couple of hours per day. Food supplies were running
out, medical material was gone. People were leaving town and were running away from
insanity, from the war and because they had nothing that could keep them alive. They left the
town disappointed and humiliated (Perkovi 2011: 101). My interviewee Violeta remembers:

In the winter we used books, newspaper, clothes, wood, we cut down the trees,
because we did not have anything that would keep us warm. I lived with my parents in
a three-storey building. We spent most of the time hidden in a cellar with our
neighbours and we shared everything; food, water, coffee, heating. Once per week we
got the humanitarian aid. We never spend so much time together as in four years of
aggression. We had an old guitar, totally out of tune and despite that we sang all kinds
of songs, from sevdalinka, to popular songs from Bijelo dugme, Parni Valjak, Tereza
Kesovija. We did not care about the nationality of the singer.

After four years of bombing, dying and suffering Dayton peace agreement was signed
and the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina officially ended. Stef Jansen observes:

The 1995 Dayton agreement had put an end to the post-Yugoslav wars by
recognising Bosnia-Herzegovina as a sovereign state consisting of two nationally
homogenised Entities that were produced by the military violence: Republika Srpska
(RS) and the federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (the federation), the latter itself
effectively divided between Croatian- and Bosniac- dominated territories. (2011: 46)

Functions of music

According to Simon Frith (1986: 7) (popular) music is important because it permeates

our lives. We, (ethno)musicologists, anthropologists and ethnologists, explore and write about
music, the living and ever-changing organism (Pettan 2002: 181) and its meanings and
functions in our lives. In his work cultural anthropologist and ethnomusicologist Alan P.
Merriam writes and elaborates on ten different functions of music. He developed a theory and
methodology for studying of music from an anthropological perspective with anthropological
methods, where he claims that the lyrics of the songs are one of the most obvious sources for
the understanding human behaviour (Merriam 2000: 149). It is this statement that I will
attempt to support on the following pages where I examine the texts of patriotic songs. Ten
functions of music, as defined by Merriam are presented in the table below.

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The function of human expression
The function of aesthetic enjoyment
The function of entertainment
The function of communication
The function of symbolic
representation
The function of physical response
The function of enforcing conformity
to social norms
The function of validation of social
institutions and religious rituals
The function of contribution to the
continuity and stability of culture
The function of contribution to the
integration of society
(Merriam 2000: 16781)
Music is a part of social movements in which individuals seek
to express their personal and individual emotions.
A matter of philosophical consideration in the history of
Western civilization. It is different in every culture.
Engages a persons attention in something that agreeable,
amusing, or diverting.
Listeners responses an a part of industry, capitalism
Music is not a universal language. It is shaped in terms of
culture of which it is a part.
Symbolizes cultural values, or other group/individual values
(national anthem, protest songs, theme songs)
Music is used to accompany dance and other moving activities.
It often channels behaviour.
Music of social control, used to direct warning to erring
members of a society or indicating what is considered proper
behaviour
Songs for children, including traditional folk or specially
composed songs devised to reinforce the values and ideas that
parents, schools, and society wish to install in young children
Music that emphasizes the (im)proper in a society, music that
tells people what to do and how to do it.
Music is a summative activity for the expression of values, a
means whereby the central beliefs of a culture are exposed.
Invites, encourages, and requires individuals to participate in
group activity.

Analysis of music in the military context covers both the process of making the music
and its final products the songs. Who, where, when, how and why someone composes,
performs or listens to certain music are the main questions explored by various researchers
(O'Connell and Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco 2010). Amongst them Svanibor Pettan
(2001, 1998) investigated into the functions of music in Croatia during the war and outlined
three specific functions of music in war time.

Music as encouragement For solders on the frontline and civilians in the shelters
Music as provocation and humiliation Directed towards the enemy
Music as a call for the involvement To those that are not directly involved (yet)
(Pettan 1998: 13)

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 Of course music can, in a certain context, have more than one function. Therefore, the
fact that Merriam's functions of music were identified in the peace-time does not mean that
they have to be exempted from our consideration. In some occasions it is almost impossible to
define the main function of a specific tune.

During the aggression in Sarajevo music was considered a medium in which

individuals and groups voiced their perception of the situation. With the help of patriotic
songs they expressed loyalty to the Bosnian army, they promoted brave soldiers, battles and
military units, praised successes on the battle field, national heroes and their own county.
With the help of music in general the soldiers and civilians overcame difficult moments,
moments of loss, grief and fear. Neither Merriam, nor Pettan however point out two very
important functions of music reflected upon by my interviewees music as cure and music as
resistance, although they were the main point of focus in the conversations I had with them.
My interviewee Hasiba said:

In the time of aggression a lot of patriotic songs were written and sung.
Because I was a professional singer I sang them to soldiers on the frontline, to patients
in hospitals, to my family and friends. You must knew, that our songs and their lyrics
were not hostile towards the enemy or provocative or even nationalistic. We just sang
about us, our homeland, about our pain, suffer, and how we must survive. There are
full of emotion and pain but also full of optimism and positive thinking. Music kept us
alive.

She points out two functions of music, music as a resistance and music as cure and the
line between two different genres and their function. Patriotic songs served the resistance
side, and sevdalinka was meant to provide a cure. Branka said:

Music helped us survive the aggression. In certain moments I sang. For me

personally classical music saved me in the moments of solitude when I sat down to the
piano and played. I was in the world of music and got the energy to move on. This was
my music therapy. I believe that music has the power to cure.

Another interviewee Nedim pointed out first we need music as a cure, so that we can
function normally, so that we can keep our mind clear, and then we can fight back by using
weapons or music.

5
 Music as resistance serves to label and express a response to the social irregularities
and conflicts. The resistance is reflected in the musical performance, the text of the song and
in the harmonies. The function of music as resistance is manifested in cases, when a group of
people is under attack, whereby defence is not carried out solely with weapons but also with
music and other cultural events, as these potentially have a greater message than the explosion
of a hand grenade. Devad abanigi, the leader of the Sarajevo string quartet explained:

When the aggression started I wanted to join the army. They told me, I should
keep doing what I am doing creating and playing music. So I played my violin. It is
my machine gun in the fight against this barbaric and primitive aggressor.
(Vojnikovi 1994: 4)

Role of media in the time of siege

In the past history electronic media played an important role as a tool for
standardisation of language, raising national feelings and identity, and making everyday life
more harmonic. With the rapid increase of the use of electronic media in the geopolitical
North in the twentieth century, a new era began, the era of youth, popular culture and music.2
Of course, electronic media were not only used to amuse, often they were also abused for
different kinds of political propaganda. Most prominent cases of abuse can be found in the use
of media in Hitler's Germany, during the genocide in Ruanda, Liberia and Uganda (Maek
2009: 136). And as Sugarman writes Yugoslav wars in the 1990s were known by the fact
that all national groups used electronic media, like radio, television, musical tapes and
videos. (2010: 17)

The media in Sarajevo existed and worked in extremely difficult circumstances. In the
lack of everything, I would expect that the radio and TV programs would be depleted and that
newspaper and magazines would not be printed, published and distributed, but the opposite
happened; a great number of magazines were published, and TV and radio stations
broadcasted the program. The newspaper Osloboenje found its way to the people every day.
Transmitting the messages, political and religious propaganda, motivating soldiers and
civilians, highlighting the importance of national identity and general entertainment were the

2
Popular culture (Muri 2000: 22) started in the USA in the 1950s with emergence of rock 'n' roll music and
special social category youth. For transmitting popular music electronic media are essential (Frith 1986: 18).

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main functions of media. Electronic media were much more popular than the newspaper and
magazines because they played patriotic music and sevdalinka (see Maek 2009: 13639).

When people in Sarajevo had electricity they listened to the radio and watched TV.
Some were also listening to old audio cassettes or vinyl records that they owned. Looking at
the electronic media in Sarajevo I can see some differences between private radio and TV
stations and those supported and financed by the government. The main radio and TV stations
were Radio Sarajevo and TV Sarajevo or TVBIH. My interviewee Tamara that worked for
Radio Sarajevo during the war remembers that when she was preparing the program she was
under a lot of pressure because there was no room for mistakes. Lack of labour force
compelled them to play old radio shows because they could not make enough programme for
24 hours. The program mainly consisted of news reports from battlefields, shows where
sevdalinka was promoted and patriotic songs were heard (Karaa-Beljak 20008: 13234).At
that time, Tamara often wondered about the role of the media was it only used to pass on
information? As Lauevi wrote:

There is no coincidence whatsoever that all sides involved in the aggression

have revived their traditional music genres in order to accelerate and awaken
nationalist feelings. They were creating new national sounds while at the same time
exploited the popular music for lifting the morale of young soldiers. (Lauevi 2000:
296)

Censorship was so strong that Serbian popular music was not on the program and
according to Muri (1999: 186) there was another war fought on the territory of Yugoslavia
media-war.

On the opposite side, critical of the government, was Radio Zid, (Radio Wall) the only
radio station in town, fighting against everything considered primitive. Project Rock under
Siege brought together alternative bands from Bosnia-Herzegovina and was held in the
basement of Sloga discotheque. If radio Sarajevo was encouraging young musicians to write
patriotic songs, that sang about the beauty of their homeland, brave soldiers and commanders,
and moral responsibility, Radio Zid supported the opposite hard rock, metal, heavy metal,
punk, dark lyrics sung in English language, songs full of cynical statements and black humour
(Jeffs 2005; Kova 2011). These musical genres quickly became popular and Radio Zid
assumed its role as the main representative of Sarajevan popular-alternative musical scene
(see Hamer 2013: 256).

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 The program of government controlled TV stations was composed from news from the
battlefields, morning programme for the children and repeated shows from the pre-war time,
while other TV stations aired movies, music and amusement shows. My interviewee Branka
said:

I was working on the TVBIH, where we broadcasted a lot of pre-war shows,

because we did not want the program to fall apart. We had to be positive and
optimistic for the people watching us. We made the show Za bolje sutra (For better
tomorrow), because we believed that the aggression will end. Our program contained a
lot of music, including sevdalinka and patriotic songs. We also filmed some videos for
patriotic songs. Why? Like I said, we had to stay optimistic, and that is why this music
(patriotic songs) was made.

Patriotic songs a local musical phenomenon

On the 27th of June 1992 the daily newspaper Osloboenje wrote: Send us songs that express
love and patriotism for your own city and country.(Osloboenje, 27. 6. 1992, page 8) The
response was enormous; from individuals, amateur musicians, folk singers, popular singers
and academic musicians they all decided to participate. According to Krinik-Buki (2007:
509) quite some time passed before people of Sarajevo realised what was going on and it took
even more time before they responded in the only way they knew with the voice of culture
and music. The patriotic songs of all musical genres became more and more popular every
day and their numbers rapidly increased. But how were these songs accepted among ordinary
people? Interviewee Nedim relates:

Patriotic songs were popular, there is no doubt about it, but in some way we
were forced to listen to them, they were constantly on TV or radio. Later in 1994
young people listen to the Croatian group E.T. and their hit Tek je 12 sati. That was
our popular music. Now you decide what is popular what the young people listen or
what is played on the radio.

I had the outstanding opportunity to interview Miroslav, musician who worked in the
Sarajevan opera as a singer of the house choir, recorded sevdalinka for Radio Sarajevo, and
performed patriotic songs with his band. Because people were begging him to do concerts, he

8
worked continuously, and considered the spiritual dimension of music very important. He was
the only one who highlighted the other side to the famous visitors from the West.3 He said:

Western civilizations do not know any shame, they came to Sarajevo to make a
profit out of our suffering. They came under the pretext to help, but they only filled
their pockets with money. But I guess this is how it is in every war.

Miroslav also pointed out the importance of Sarajevan black humour and jokes (see
Maek 2009: 5154) and two functions of music I witnessed in other reports music as cure
and as a resistance. He said: When you listen to music or when you make music, you forget
about the bad things.

Patriotic songs express the love towards one's own homeland. Their texts intended to
speak about the positive and negative events that happened in history. Most of them are
produced and sang in times of war or revolution. That is why we have different names for
them, but their contents and functions are very similar (if not the same); Weinstein (2006: 3)
called them protest songs, others revolutionary songs or patriotic songs. On many occasions
in history revolutionary songs were sung, but the line between revolutionary, patriotic and
nationalist songs is very thin. In my opinion this depends on the lyrics, the subject singing the
song and the context in which the song is sung. Rajko Muri (2000: 119) summarizes
Merriam's words in his work and adds: Music is symbolic. The biggest problem is to
understand those symbols.

To see the differences between Bosnian and Serbian patriotic songs, I asked my
interviewees if they know any Serbian patriotic song that were sung in the times of
aggression. They mentioned Mar na Drino, Kada Srbin Turina uhvati, Ko to grmi, ko to
seva? (see Hamer 2013: 548). Those songs have extremely nationalistic, even chauvinistic
lyrics. In those cases I can borrow a term from Fela Anukulapo Kuti, when he speaks about
music as a weapon (Pettan 1998: 10) and point out that in the case of Serbian patriotic songs,

3
A lot of musicians and other cultural workers came to Sarajevo in the time of siege. Joan Baez, Zubin Mehta,
Bruce Dickinson, Eric Burdon, Susan Sontag. They all led a convoy of food and other supplies with them.
Althought Miroslav's negative view of those visitors, most of the Sarajevans think of them as heroes that dared
to come to town in the war time. According to Miroslav, there was only one exception Bono Vox; he came to
Sarajevo three times, only with food and medicines and did not care about the fame.

9
they might have been used in the function of weapon. My interviewee Aleksandar remembers
how the Serbs played their national narrative songs on gusle. 4

On the Bosnian side songs were aimed at civilians and at the world that was not
directly involved with the fighting. Because patriotic songs bring people together and have
them share the same experience when listening to a certain type of music, they have the power
to establish a common identity of groups and give them the feeling of belonging and equality
(Pieslak 20009: 55). Bosnian, or to be more specific, Sarajevan patriotic songs and their lyrics
are quite different from Serbian songs. One of my interviewee pointed out that Bosnian songs
are peaceful and full of hope for better tomorrow.

To further reflect on this, the next chapter of this paper consists of an analysis of
particular patriotic songs made by Bosnian musicians examines the main functions of their
music. The majority of patriotic songs were written in 1992. In 1993 and 1994 when the war
was raging, most of the songs worshiped unit officers of the Bosnian army. Other motives
often relate the image of Bosnia-Herzegovina, her natural beauty, character of its people
resistance, perseverance, solidarity, tolerance, kindness and understanding, and the songs are
usually performed in the pop rock genre.

Ponesi zastavu Dragane Vikiu by Mladen Vojii Tifa.

Ovdje se tuga iri k'o kuga
samo sloboda donosi lijek
dole niz Drinu dok ljudi ginu
dolazi srea, ostat e zauvijek.
I Bog je od nas digao ruke
sakrio put do mirne luke
dok snovi plove, vatre jo gore
ne razumijem, al' u ljubav vjerujem.
Ponesi zastavu, pobjedu slavit u
ponesi zastavu od Bosne Vikiu.
Ponesi zastavu, pobjedu slavit u
ponesi zastavu Dragane Vikiu.
I Bog je od nas digao ruke
sakrio put do mirne luke
dok snovi plove, vatre jo gore
ne razumijem, al' u ljubav vjerujem.
Here the suffering is spreading like a plague,
Only freedom brings the cure
By the Drina river people are dying
Happiness is coming and it will stay forever.
And even God has forgotten us
He has hidden the way to the peaceful port.
Till dreams are floating, fire is still burning
I dont understand but I believe in love.
Carry the flag, we will celebrate the victory
Carry the flag to Dragan Viki.
Carry the flag, we will celebrate the victory
Carry the flag to Dragan Viki.
And even God has forgotten us
He has hidden the way to the peaceful port.
Till dreams are floating, fire is still burning
I dont understand but I believe in love.

4
Gusle a simple one string instrument used all over the Balkans for musical background of long narrative
poems. In the time of aggression they got the label of Serbian traditional instrument.

10
 Ex-frontmen from groups Bijelo dugme, Vatreni poljubac and Divlje jagode Mladen
Vojii with a nickname Tifa stayed in besieged Sarajevo during the war time. As a popular
singer Tifa was very active on the musical scene. Because Dragan Viki was a member of
special police unit he was very popular among the people and Tifa dedicated a song to him. In
the music video Tifa is standing in a military vehicle and driving through Sarajevo, where I
can clearly see the impact of the war. Looking at the text and context of this patriotic song I
can detect combination of functions of cure and resistance. Both functions I can detect in
lines till dreams are floating, fire is still burning because fire can be understood as a symbol
of hope for better future.

Mnoge e majke by Macbeth

Kad proe ova ratna godina
i sazna pravi raun gubljenja
shvati e da je mnogo drugova
ostalo zauvijek na barikadama.
Kad jednog dana vrati se
domu svom na toplo ognjite
dvije e due, tvoja i jednog heroja
u tebi ivjeti.
I mnoge e majke doekat' junake
da im se vrate iz ratne tame
a neke e same kuama poi
na njima plane oi.
Kad proe ova ratna godina
i sazna nema nigdje nikoga
shvatit e da si od viih ciljeva
puc'o na nekog od bivih drugova.
Kad jednog dana vrati se
domu svom na toplo ognjite
dvije e due, tvoja i jednog heroja
u tebi ivjeti.
When this war year is over
and you find out the reality of losing
you will realize that many of your friends
will forever remain on the barricades.
When you come home one day
to the warm fireplace
two souls yours and from a hero
will live in you.
A lot of mothers will wait for their heroes
to come back home from the darkness of war
some of them will go back home alone
with tears in their eyes.
When this war year is over
and you find out you have no one
you will realize that because of higher ideas
you were shooting at your former friends.
When you come home one day
to the warm fireplace
two souls yours and from a hero
will live in you.

The group Macbeth has been active since 1986. When aggression started all the
members joined the army, but remained active on the popular music scene. In the newspaper
Osloboenje I can read their statement:

All of our songs that were made in the war-time have a patriotic and love note.
In patriotism there is some kind of a protest or rebellion involved. This is how we fight
against horror and how we show our belonging to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
(http://www.macbeth.members.epn.ba/clanak2.htm, 20. 6. 2015)

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 The function of resistance is present in their work, but also a function of human
expression of emotions and function of cure. The fireplace presents a shelter and the fact that
you have no more friends because they are all on the frontline can be traumatic, especially for
young people. Cruel reality of war time is presented through text.

Mogla si bar paket poslati by Mjeseari

Bar paket poslati At least you could have sent a package

I kaem ljeto, mislim na valove,
i kaem ljeto, ume i borovi,
i kaem ljeto, ulje za sunanje,
i kaem ljeto, ne, aha nije stiglo u moj
grad.
I kaem ljeto, kopajmo rovove,
i kaem ljeto, kopam do pobjede,
i kaem ljeto, da doem, do tebe
i kaem ljeto, ne, aha nije stiglo u moj
grad.
Ne, ne, ni preko piste, ne.
A ti, a ti, a ti, mogla si, bar paket poslati.
A ti, a ti, a ti, mogla si, bar paket poslati.
A ti, a ti, a ti, mogla si, bar paket poslati.
I kaem ljeto, dok ekam garantno,
i kaem ljeto, a ljeta prolaze,
i kaem ljeto, popi pivo, pa pobigo.
A ti, a ti, a ti, mogla si, bar paket poslati.
A ti, a ti, a ti, mogla si, bar paket poslati.
joj evo murije,,vojna policija, dobro vee
dokumenta molim Documents please..
tek je dvanajst sati It is only twelve o'clock.
tek je dvanajst sati ..
and I say summer, I think of the waves
I say summer, forests and pine trees
I say summer, tanning oil
I say summer, no, oh, it did not come to my
town.
I say summer, let's dig the trenches
I say summer, let's dig till victory
I say summer, to get to you
I say summer, no, oh, it did not come to my
town.
No, no, not even over the airstrip
Oh you, you could have at least sent a package.
Oh you, you could have at least sent a package.
Oh you, you could have at least sent a package.
I say summer, untill I wait for letter of guarantee
I say summer, but years are passing by
I say summer, drink beer and run away.
Oh you, you could have at least sent a package.
Oh you, you could have at least sent a package.
Wow, look, the police, war police, good evening
it is only twelve o'clock.

Group Mjeseari was one of the most popular groups in time of siege. Why? Because
they were part of special social group formed by the common people of Sarajevo named
sarajevska raja (see Maek 2009: 11213). Song Mogla si bar paket poslati is interesting
because it is different from other patriotic songs. Its style is more reggae that pop-rock, and
one can sense some cynicism in describing the reality of the war. Singing about how
youngsters can not enjoy summer because of the war and how the package still did not arrive,
the song exposes some of the realities of everyday life at the time. The group and their songs
were representative of popular-alternative musical scene. Popular because they were, as
mentioned, part of sarajevska raja, and everybody listen to them, and alternative because of

12
their texts. Their songs definitely feature a function of entertainment as well as the function of
cure.

Jedna si jedina by Dino Merlin

Zemljo tisuljetna My thousand year old land

Na vjernost ti se kunem I swear on my loyalty
Od mora do Save from the sea to the river Sava
Od Drine do Une from the river Drina to the river Una
Jedna si jedina moja domovina. you are the one and only , my homeland.
Jedna si jedina The one and only
Bosna i Hercegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bog nek' te sauva God may protect you
Za pokoljenja nova zemljo mojih snova for our descendants the land of my dreams
Mojih pradjedova, jedna si jedina from my ancestors, the one and only
Moja domovina, jedna si jedina my homeland, the one and only
Bosna i Hercegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The song was written in 1992 and three years later, in 1995, it became the national
anthem of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The words are extremely emotional and talk about Bosnians
as a nation and their affiliation with Bosnia-Herzegovina. Some of my interviewees claimed
that this song is not about religion, but about the land that must be preserved for future
generations. Despite the fact that no Islam is mentioned, Serbs and Croats in Bosnia-
Herzegovina felt pushed aside and in 1998 new national anthem was picked Intermeco.
Luckily it has no lyrics.

Help Bosnia now by Bosnian Band Aid

I cannot understand some people

who kill women and children
and helpless old man
making homeless millions of my friends
I dont want to understand.
I cannot understand the army
which burst down his own country
and destroys the hospitals
and our precious monuments
we dont want to understand.
Help Bosnia now
and save Bosnian people
you cannot only watch and pray
our hearts just want you to say
help Bosnia now.
You cannot only watch and pray
our hearts just want you to say
help Bosnia now.

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 The project Help Bosnia now saw the light of day because of the initiative of the Crno
vino frontman Ser an. In cooperation with other Sarajevan musicians he made a song in
English where the musicians are calling for involvement (Pettan 1998: 13) of foreign
countries. In addition, it was also meant for the locals; in Osloboenje I found a call to all the
people to listen to their radios on the10th of September 1992 at 18.45 so they will be able to
hear this song. The lyrics describe the beauty of Bosnia-Herzegovina and how all of this is
being destroyed. The video was filmed in the Olympic stadium Zetra a symbol of
multiethnicity and multiculturalism that was destroyed in June 1992. The function of music as
a call for involvement and its importance in spreading awareness was also visible in 2014
when catastrophic floods happened in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina and a group of
popular musicians from the region united under the name Band aid za popljavljenu regiju,
(Band aid for the flooded region), and recorded a song Vjeruj u sutra (Believe in tomorrow).

Sarajevo zaboravit nee nikada by Unknown singer

U Sarajevu gradu, Herceg-Bosne ponosne In Sarajevo, capital of proud Herzeg-Bosne

stala raja da odbrane nae domove.
stala raja da odbrane nae domove.
Mi smo junak do junaka, mi smo borci svi,
nedamo u Sarajevo, dok smo ivi mi,
nedamo u Sarajevo, dok smo ivi mi.
Hej junaci, branitelji, iz svih krajeva
Sarajevo zaboravit, nee nikada
Sarajevo zaboravit, nee nikada!
Korak naprijed, puka gotov,
i uz pjesmu mi
za mir, sreu i slobodu,
borimo se svi!
ujte srpski dobrovoljci, bando etnici
stii e vas naa ruka i u Srbiji!
stii e vas naa ruka i u Srbiji!
Hej junaci, branitelji, iz svih krajeva
Sarajevo zaboravit, nee nikada
Sarajevo zaboravit, nee nikada!
Stici e vas boja kazna to ve svako zna
Sudit e vam branitelji, eher Sarajeva,
sudit e vam branitelji, eher Sarajeva.
Tue Thompson, kalanjikov
a i papovka
Baci bombu, goni bandu izvan Sarajeva!!!
Baci bombu, goni bandu izvan Sarajeva!!!
people are defending their homes
people are defending their homes.
We are hero to hero, we are all fighters
no one will enter Sarajevo till we are alive
no one will enter Sarajevo till we are alive.
Hey, heroes, fighters from all places
Sarajevo will never forget!
Sarajevo will never forget!
On step forward, the gun is ready
and so are we, with a song
for peace, happiness and freedom
we are fighting!
Hear us Serbian volunteers, you Chetniks
our hands will strike you even in Serbia!
Our hands will strike you even in Serbia!
Hey, heroes, fighters from all places
Sarajevo will never forget!
Sarajevo will never forget!
God will punish you everyone knows that
you will be judged by defenders of Sarajevo
you will be judged by defenders of Sarajevo
Thompson and Kalashnikov guns are shooting
and the bombs are ready
throw the bomb, chase them out of Sarajevo!
Throw the bomb, chase them out of Sarajevo!

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 The last musical example definitely has a function of provocation. Looking at the text
of another song named Bojna avoglave by a Croatian singer Mark Perkovi Thompson I
found many similarities. This is not a coincidence, because the Sarajevan version is a
contrafactum of Perkovi's song. The text is just a little bit different that Bojna avoglave,
however the author of this song is unfortunately unknown. According to my interviewees this
song was made in the beginning of the siege in 1992 as a provocation to the enemy and to
motivate the soldiers on the front. In addition, the people I talked to explicitly mentioned that
Bosnian did not produce songs intended for provocation, however Aleksandar said that
soldiers of Bosnian army, that consisted of Muslims, Catholic and Ortodox men, shouted
Allah'u ekber (God is the greatest) when they attacked the enemy. In a way, this too could be
understood as a provocation.

Conclusion

Srea na sarajevski nain by Izet Sarajli

u Sarajevu In Sarajevo
proljea 1992. godine Spring 1992
sve je mogue; everything is possible;
stane u red za hljeb you wait in the line for bread
i zavri na Traumatologiji and you end up in the ER
sa odsjeenom nogom. with your leg cut off.
Poslije toga jo kae After that you even say
da si imao sree. I had luck.

In 1995, the Dayton peace agreement was signed and officially ended the aggression,
signalling an end for the Sarajevan patriotic songs. There was no longer a need to encourage
soldiers, or civilians and no need to glorify military commanders or units. According to my
interviewees patriotic song are not heard on the radio or seen on the TV since then. However,
the popularity of sevdalinka grew quickly and this genre soon became an emblem and
identifiable feature of Bosnians. Violeta tells:

When the aggression ended we finally had the opportunity to listen to all the
music that was popular in the world for the past four years, we did not have the time
for patriotic songs.

Dino Merlin, Mladen Vojii Tifa, Hasiba Agi and Faruk Jazi are just some of the
musicians who performed patriotic song in order to express their resistance. Vedran Smajli
used classical music as resistance. Bono Vox, Luciano Pavarotti and The Cranberries

15
composed songs that drew attention of the media and general public to the situation in BiH.
Different musical genres affected my interviewees in diverse ways, but they all agree that for
them, music has been a cure and some sort of therapy, which helped them stay normal and
alive.

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Patriotic songs in Sarajevo

Petra Hamer, ethnologist and cultural anthropologist

E-mail: petra.hamer@gmail.com

Abstract:

The following paper attempts to illuminate patriotic songs in Sarajevo in the period from 1992
to 1995. A common belief may arise that because of the constant threat of death cultural
happenings in general did not exist. But people of Sarajevo proved us wrong. Almost all
professional and amateur musicians sang a patriotic song that promoted some general, some
military unit or the beauty of Bosnia-Herzegovina. They were promoted and supported by the
government. On the other side many new bands emerge the musical scene playing rock and
metal and promoting the alternative musical scene. My interviewees highlighted two
functions of music, music as cure and music as resistance. In the anthropological literature we
find functions of music defined by Alan P. Merriam and functions of music defined by
Svanibor Pettan. His field research was made in the war time in Croatia and I found parallels
with my research and adapted my thesis; music has two main functions in the war time in
Sarajevo; it is used as a cure and as a resistance.

Key words: Sarajevo, siege, functions of music, music as cure, music as resistance, patriotic
songs

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