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IVO ANDRIC, the writer

“That one who doesn’t know to read is not stupid. Stupid is the one who thinks that all what he read is true”

Ivo Andric, the Nobel Price Laureate

The only Serbian Nobel Price laureate was born on 9th October 1892 in Travnik (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) during his mother’s visit to her relatives. Ivo Andric’s parents were from Sarajevo: his father’s family had been established in the town for decades, engaged in the brass working trade. Primary school he finished in Visegrad, town that was to mark his creativity more than any other place, gazing daily at the slender arches of the bridge over the Drina River; then he returned to his mother in Sarajevo. In 1903 he enrolled in the Sarajevo Grammar School, the oldest secondary school in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During his secondary school days Andrić began to write poetry and in 1911 the Bosanska vila (Bosnian Fairy) published his first poem, “U sumrak” (At Twilight). As a secondary school student, Andrić was a fierce advocate of the Yugoslav cause, a member of the progressive nationalistic movement “Mlada Bosna” (Young Bosnia) and a zealous fighter for the liberation of the South Slav peoples from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After having received a scholarship from “Napredak”, the Croatian cultural-educational society, in October 1912 Andric began his studies at the Royal University in Zagreb. In this town on the Sava River, he studied a bit, visited salons a bit, and socialized with the Zagreb intelligentsia; the writer Antun Gustav Matos, twenty years his senior, had the greatest influence on him. The next year he moved to Vienna where he attended lectures in history, philosophy and liteature. The weather in Vienna did not agree with him; owing to his hereditary burden of sensitive lungs he often suffered from pneumonia. Turning to his secondary school professor and benefactor Tugomir Alaupovic for help, the next year he went to the Faculty of Philosophy of Jagiellonian University in Cracow. He studied the Polish language intensively, became acquainted with the local culture and attended lectures by excellent professors. All this while he was writing reflective prose poems, and in June 1914 the Croatian Writers Society in Zagreb published six of his prose poems in the anthology Hrvatska mlada lirika (Young Croatian Lyricists)…
On 13th March 1975, one of the greatest creators in the Serbian language left this world, a writer of mythmaking powers and the wise chronicler of the Balkan cauldron.

Nobody described the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina better than Andric and when this war years started, I was reading over and over again his books to try to understand. My famous book “Na Drini cuprija” (The Bridge over Drina River) helped me so much.


“Ivo Andric stayed as the reservoir, deposit of our intelligence and wisdom. His books are Bible of our existence”.

Emir Kusturica, film director

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BISHOP BASIL

Bishop of Zvornik-Tuzla Serbian Orthodox Church’s Eparchy Basil (Nikola Kacavenda) was born on 19th December 1938 in Sarajevo (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). First time I had opportunity to talk to him, six years ago, he left very strong impression on me. He told me that until he is alive, every village in his Eparchy will have the church. I asked: “Every?”, and he answered: “Every”! During the communist time, it was almost forbidden to build a church, but Bishop, from the time he become the head of Eparchy in 1978, until now, built more than a hundred.

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EMIR KUSTURICA, the filmmaker

Famous Serbian director was born in Sarajevo (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina), 24th November 1954, where he finished primary and secondary school. Hi graduated at famous FAMU in Prague.
First film “Sjecas li se Dolly Bell” (Do you remember Dolly Bell) he made in 1981 which was rewarded with Gold Lion in Venice. For the film “Otac na sluzbenom putu” (Father on the business trip) got Golden Palm in Cannes 1985, and in 1989 film magazine “Premier” put it at the 17th place of the films in eighties by the selection of world directors and producers. Film “Arizona Dream” with Jerry Luis and Fey Danaway, was also rewarded with Golden Palm in Cannes and Silver Bear in Berlin. The third Kusturica’s Golden Palm was for the film “Podzemlje” (Underground).
At the moment, he is finishing a new film (still without the name), documentary film about Diego Maradona and, together with Ridley Scot and other UNICEF ambassadors, 12 minutes film.
On the journalist question what he would like to when he was a kid, he said: “Sweeper”.

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BRANIMIR DZONI STULIC, the musician

My favorite musician was born in Skopje (F.Y.R. of Macedonia) on 12th April 1953 and he spend his first five years there. After that, Dzoni’s family moved to Jastrebarsko, close to Zagreb (Croatia) and spend two years there. In 1960, they moved in Zagreb where Dzoni finished schools and Philosophy.
In January 1977, with some friends, he established group “Azra”. First single “Balkan” and “A sta da radim” (And, what I will do) was edited in 1979. First LP he made in 1980 named “Azra”.

Discography:

“Azra”;
“Suncana strana ulice” (Sunny Side of the Street), two LPs;
“Ravno do dna” (Right to the Bottom), live, three LPs;
“Filigranski plocnici” (Filigree Pavements), two LPs;
“Kad fazani lete” (When Pheasants Fly);
“Krivo srastanje” (Wrong Interfusion);
“Izmedju krajnosti” (Between Extremities);
“Zadovoljstina” (Satisfaction), live, four LPs;
“It Ain’t Like in the Movies at All”, in English, two LPs;
“Balkanska rapsodija”, (The Balkan Rhapsody), two LP’s;
“Balegari ne vjeruju sreci” (The Dung Beetles Don’t Belive in Luck) and
“Sevdah za Polu Horvat” (Sevdah for Pola Horvat);
“Anali” ( Annals);
“Blasé”.

First time I heard for him was when I saw his picture in, in that time very popular teenagers magazine, “Zdravo” with a topic: “Snimicu pjesmu ‘Poljubi me ravno u dupe’” (I will edit the song: “Kiss Me Directly in My Ass”) what was out of every limits in that communist time. From that time, even I was a kid, he was my favorite musician.

“The games are found to amuse the children,
You know that, don’t you?
And that there is on the children to change the thing,
And that you know, don’t you?
It’s on the others to think instead of you,
You don’t care, you become habituated.
And that there are the rules stronger then ascribed,
You don’t know that,
That was the heroes talked when they were kids.

To be powerful in the bed and with the gun,
We heard that, didn’t we?
It’s a nice to deceive dumber then you,
And that we heard, didn’t we?
To see the chip in the other’s eyes and don’t see the balk in yours,
And that you know, don’t you?
And the courage is defending yourself from the other, but humanity others from yourself,
Ooh, that…”