< SWITCH ME >
Have you ever wondered what life in Sofia, Bulgaria is like? Or rather, what the feel of the city is? Thanks to Velislav Ivanov there's now a unique way for experiencing just that. When you listen to 'The Eye of the Beholder', a musical tribute to this fascinating city and his latest album, you can imagine wandering the streets at night, breathing in the city life. Velislav sings in Bulgarian, but fear not - when you download the free album from his website you'll also get an English translation of the beautiful lyrics. The music can be melancholic or dreamy, it explores and describes many different sides of the city and I can promise it will get you hooked and ready to plan your next trip to Sofia!
E&M: You're a one man band. In what situations do you decide to sit down and make music?
VI: It's not a conscious decision, really. At any single moment when I have ideas, inspiration, time, and the necessary equipment it just comes naturally to me. Making music all by myself basically means that I take care of everything, from the conception of the melody to the final mastering of the song, and that process is incredibly time-consuming. I may actually write a song in minutes when I sit at the piano, but it takes dozens of hours until it reaches the state in which you hear it.
E&M: Do you ever miss getting inspiration from other band members?
Two European topics have dominated the Polish election. The first was the next EU budget – the multiannual financial framework 2014-2020 which will be a key factor in modernising the Polish infrastructure in coming years. A topic which of course also shimmered on the Poles' TV screens. The second, somehow suggesting itself and linked to the previous one, is how Poland should react to the current financial crisis in the EU and the dynamics which it has catalysed. It is clear that the fact that Poland is currently presiding over the European Council right now has urged a greater focus on European considerations in this campaign.
Not wanting to interfere too much in the politicians' joyous film making that I talked about earlier I preferred to talk to a few young political and social scientists to get some answers about the role of the European questions in the ongoing Polish parliamentary campaign.
The Körber Foundation and E&M are launching “Debating Europe”, a discussion series that will be held twice a year in Hamburg. Each discussion will be preceded by a funded article about the topic for debate. This article will also be published in the magazine. The first debate will take place on the 7th of November, in which Benita Ferrero-Waldner, former European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, and Adrian Lungu, E&M author, will reflect on the inside/outside dimensions of the EU dilemma in Croatia, and its possible meaning for other south-eastern European countries.
E&M will be sending Sixth Sense & Brain editors Matt Shearman and Carmen Kong to attend the discussion and present the magazine at the conference. Andrian Lungu's text will be available online on the Sixth Sense shortly.
When I first went to Croatia, nine years ago, I was struck by how many Croatian flags I saw in Zagreb. On my trip to the Croatian capital in October 2011, I was already expecting lots of chequered flags all over the place, as Croatians seem particularly patriotic. On my way from the airport, I counted 13 Croatian flags - five of them accompanied by the blue twelve starred flag of the European Union.
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| Photo: Adrian Lungu |
| EU and Croatian flags share protagonism on governmental buildings. |
Croatia is not yet a member of the Union but has finished the lengthy negotiation process, during which it adapted its legislation and internal rules under 33 key chapters. In early December, under the first Polish presidency of the EU, Croatia is due to sign its Accession Treaty to the EU. After that, the Croatian Parliament is widely expected to call for a referendum in which Croatians would be able to decide whether they want their country to become the 28th member of the EU in July 2013 or not. But do Croatians really want to join the Union? Some EU flags fly on governmental buildings, but others burn in the hands of disaffected citizens.
Seeing EU flags in a non-EU country was not new to me. I had seen plenty of them in my own country, Romania, hanging from government buildings long before Romania's accession, in 2007. In Croatia's case, apparently it was former PM Ivo Sanader who gave an informal order to have all institutions display the blue flag. But on my last visit to Zagreb, for the first time I saw people resenting the presence of the EU flag on their official institutions. At Ban Jelačić square there is an EU flag, paired with a Croatian one, each on one side of the statue of the revolutionary leader of 1848, Ban Jelačić. The Ban (local ruler) holds a sword, like all the statues of European kings who fought their neighbours at some point in history. The blue flag is no older than six months, as it replaces one that was torn down in April, when protesters were infuriated by the decision of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to condemn general Ante Gotovina to 24 years in prison. Gotovina is widely regarded as a hero by Croatian society, but he was condemned by the UN tribunal in Hague for "persecution, deportation, murder and inhumane acts" in the war that led to Croatia’s independence - a war that Croatians feel they did not provoke but had to defend themselves from.
Another EU flag burnt in Zagreb in March. The police pressed criminal charges against a 25-year-old who burnt the flag during an anti-government protest. The flags of the two biggest parties, both in power and opposition, were also burnt.
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I’m really excited to introduce a band from my hometown Cologne, Germany for this week's music for the weekend! Beeline is a band who seem to never get tired of reinventing their sound. You just have to love the mix of guitar and drum alongside computer generated effects. Despite all band members being busy working, studying or travelling the world, they've somehow managed to get out a couple of fun new songs and an amazingly artistic new video that you shouldn’t miss out on! Read on to find out where these guys find inspiration for their songs and what the echo of the snow means to them.
FLEXOR & EXTENSOR by beeline
E&M: "Beeline" means 'the most direct route'. Does that somehow describe your sound?
Benji: Rather the contrary actually. To pursue a direct route means to have a determined goal right from the beginning. Yet all the songs we write start with an initial idea that dynamically evolves within a quite long and mazy process.
E&M: How did the band come together?
Poland has just elected its new parliament. There are three things that should be noticed. Firstly, the governing party 'Civic Platform' won its second parliamentary election in row. This has not been achieved by any party in the short history of post-communist Poland and so is worthy of note. The new government should be formed by the same parties i.e. the Civic Platform (39%) and Polish People’s Party (8%). Secondly, the relatively bad result of the Democratic Left Alliance which received only 8% of the votes despite being predicted about 12-15% and were tipped to become an essential part of the new governing coalition. Thirdly, the seemingly stable 4-party political configuration has been ruined by Palikot’s Support Movement, a populist party that got 10% of votes and came third overall. Law and Justice (30%) remained the main opposition party.
It is true that the election turnout was rather low. Only about 49% of voters decided to take part in the election. Nevertheless, such a low result is typical for Polish parliamentary elections. Once again Poles proved the social scientists’ theory that they turn out for civil duties more eagerly during the presidential and local elections. But then the election campaign was irritating. It seemed that the candidates were more interested in testing the voter's resistance to ascetics or challenging their intellectual abilities than encouraging them to vote the 'right' way. Let me give you a small image of the Polish campaign. Don’t worry if you cannot speak Polish – you’ll get the same amount of priceless information as any other Polish voter! So here you have a young Polish leftist’s campaign clip or its political friend’s one, soft pornography! But there were also some really touching moments were available, some thrillers and something for family cinema’s fans, too.
But you do not have to be a prophet to guess that the politics in Poland isn’t all about making terrible films. There are certain issues that which should be discussed. Moreover some of them, if not the majority – are related with the EU.
More about these issues later this week, only in Under Eastern Eyes!
Finally, I get to introduce a fantastic new band from Spain. Thanks to E&M reader Hannes Brandt I came across the Barcelona based group OLIVEMOON – a band you have to check out if you’re into folky, beautiful music and ready to dream yourself to lovely places in nature. From sound collages to melodies that will get stuck in your head for hours, this band has its very own way of experimenting with sounds and melodies. Give them a listen and read on to find out what they think about creating album concepts, experimenting with unusual instruments, and, of course, living in Europe.
E&M: From your lyrics I take it nature is an important source of inspiration for your band.
OM: We often find ourselves missing the words to adequately illustrate the emotions we encounter in life. By drawing metaphors from nature, its scenery and its grandeur, we can provoke the senses in a way that is accessible to all. We use nature as a tool to convey our feelings and their intensity.
E&M: I usually ask bands about their favorite city in Europe, but I'd be interested what you guys think the most beautiful spot in European nature is?
I just got back from the Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit, held in Warsaw, 29-30 September. Even though a few months ago I made some critical points on the project's realisation, my first impression of the gathering is really positive, especially when it comes to the conference that proceeded the actual high profile political meetings and decisions.
"The Eastern Partnership conference: towards a European community of democracy, prosperity and a stronger civil society" was the topic of the all-day discussions organised by the Polish Institute of International Affairs, The Centre of Eastern Studies and The EaP Civil Society Forum (CSF). The combination of conferences and workshops attended by politicians, civil activists, independent political analysts, as well as strategists either from the EU and EaP countries, is a traditional component of EaP summits (a similar debate took place in the Czech Republic, a day before the Prague Declaration that launched the EaP project in 2009).
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