LéLé Mam Concert Kicks Off
New Project, “Od Žene Do Žene” (“From
Woman to Woman”) in Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina
The Inner Wheel is the women’s organization affiliated
with Rotary, the international service organization. 2008 marks
the 50th anniversary of The Inner Wheel chapter in Aerdenhout
(near Haarlem). Inspired by our work with children in Srebrenica
and with women choirs in the Netherlands, they have adopted
our new project in Srebrenica as the focus for their fund-raising
this year. To kick off their efforts, they invited LéLé
Mam to perform a concert during their opening celebration.
In addition to their concert artistry, all of the women of LéLé
Mam have experience in singing, dancing and leading workshops
for women in stressed situations, including in Bosnia. Through
Muzicari bez Granica (MwB BiH), LéLé Mam will
work with women choir directors and singers from Sarajevo and
Tuzla, who will then accompany LéLé Mam to Srebrenica.
One of choir directors, Tijana Vinjevic from Sarajevo, will
recruit and prepare the other singers from BiH. Our colleagues
from the Music Bus, who work in Srebrenica and the surrounding
collective settlements and villages, will support the project
with logistical organization, publicity and invitations to women
to take part. We will spend a week singing with mothers of Music
Bus children and other women and performing small concerts for
the public. We will evaluate the week’s effort for possible
follow-up with a long-term plan in which Tijana and the BiH
singers and choir directors will play the leading role. We hope
to plant a seed that can be nourished and grown with local talent.
For the first phase of the project we need € 12,000. The
opening concert raised nearly one-third of that amount.
The Bosnian Ambassador, Mr. Fuad Sabeta, was an honorary guest
at the concert. He addressed the audience with the following
speech:
Ladies and gentlemen, Dear friends,
I will tell one small story. When I attended a concert by Musicians
without borders for the first time here in the Netherlands,
they were singing in the Bosnian language and I thought: the
ladies are Bosnians, but one of them is black, but not absolutely--
I was a little bit confused. We do not have black people in
BiH. I thought to myself: maybe she is a Roma from BiH.
What I want to say is that the performance of MWB
was so excellent, that I believed they were really Bosnians.
It is my pleasure to be here today on behalf of the
embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Kingdom of
the Netherlands, in honor of INNER Wheel’s anniversary.
I read on the WEB site about small beginnings in 1924. Currently,
Inner Wheel has more than 100,000 members in over 101 countries.
Congratulations.
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What especially impressed me from
Inner Wheel’s program issues is Personal Understanding
as the basis for a better future for
all people, although they come from different regions, cultures
and religions.
This event represents an opportunity to remind visitors to this
concert about my country BiH. The country of the „good
Bosnians,“ as our neighbors would call us, was for hundreds
of years mostly a good example of coexistence. Mutual respect,
tolerance for the other and acceptance of differences, openness
and good neighborly relations were the rule, not the exception.
It was not easy to accomplish all that in this region.
We were destined to live at the meeting point of
different peoples, ideologies, religions, interests and everything
else that is common to all people, but slightly different between
them.
This means that our predecessors invested in coexistence, that
they not only tolerated each other,
but that, under trying times and different regimes, they
found a way to provide themselves with a normal life
to the extent that, as we sometimes say, the circumstances allowed
it. They did not organize
round tables about the expansion of horizons and the
benefits of a pluralistic society. They simply lived
together and mostly attempted to make their lives
easier.
In our times which are times of uniting, exchange,
cooperation, communication, and meetings, this task
appears far easier. One inspiring example
is Musicians without borders.
They gather musicians from all ethnic groups to make
music together.
MwB found partners in local music, peace and
human rights organizations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and worked
together on
many cooperative projects.
MwB participates in the peace and reconciliation process in
such a special way; performing concerts; giving classes; making
music with our local musicians, singing and dancing with children
in schools and
refugee camps . I am sure that
people who did not live through all the tragedy we did could
not
imagine how important this work is for people who were
traumatized during the terrible war. At the end I
would like to express my personal gratitude to
Musicians without borders for their engagement in the
region in this special way and with a special attitude, but
SO helpful
Finally, my wish for all of you is that you will enjoy the concert
of Musicans without borders
Thank you! |
