PRIŠTINA (AA) - Sixty professional musicians from the former Yugoslavia, calling themselves "No Borders Orchestra", formed to overcome hate and nationalism in the Balkan region, performed at classical music festival, Kamerfest in the Kosovan capital Pristina on Thursday.
Premil Petrovic from Belgrade set up the orchestra "because there are a lot of negative emotions in our region." He says he was inspired by the Jewish-Palestinian orchestra set up by Argentine-Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim to promote understanding between Israelis and Palestinians and pave the way for a peaceful and fair solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
"The idea of the project is to break the stereotypes and prejudice that we have because we do not know each other, and actually to overcome huge nationalism, racism, xenophobia and homophobia in the region," says Petrovic.
Stanko Matic (Serbian), first concert master of the Orchestra says that arrival in Kosovo for him was very emotional, especially at the passport control in the airport when he had to show his passport, even though all his life he was learned that Kosovo is a part of Serbia.
The aim of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is to promote understanding between Israelis and Palestinians and pave the way for a peaceful and fair solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
"The war did not happen between the people, it happened between the politicians. We are trying to depoliticize the situation," says Matic adding, "No Borders Orchestra is an art team of 60 professional musicians from former Yugoslavia." Orchestra initiator and bandmaster Premil Petrovic from Belgrade speaking to AA says that while initiating the Orchestra he was inspired by the Jewish-Palestinian "West-Eastern Divan Orchestra".
He explains that the Orchestra members were selected at auditions held in the former Yugoslavia capitals.
The idea was, says Petrovic, to form an ensemble that will be the best in the region.
On the other hand, says Petrovic, the main idea of gathering the artists was to overcome the hate and nationalism.
"This project has a strong political, social and human impact because there are a lot of negative emotions in our region."
He adds that the presence of the Orchestra in Kosovo is very important for the politics.
"We want to show the presence of some kind of normalization, to show that we came freely to Priština, spent some time, enjoyed and had a concert," he says.
Although they were afraid to come, musicians from Serbia are amazed, says Petrovic, mentioning that on their way to Belgrade they will share positive experiences from Kosovo.
"The war did not happen between the people, it happened between the politicians. We are trying to depoliticize the situation," says Matic adding that their focus is on integration of Kosovo people into the society of the former Yugoslavia.
In his opinion, "No Border Orchestra" is the best example of the regional orchestra.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
