On the export of bad words, but the most common is bribery
The birth certificate is a derivative.
City on the river, city on the Ibar
Where bullets fly, while souls are sold for a pittance
Where you have to tell the children - the state does not protect anyone
(Song lyrics – On the map)
"I grew up in Mitrovica and every meter of it had an influence on my creativity. When you're a kid in such an environment, you're used to something bad happening around you every day. And then you grow up, meet people from other cities, visit them and realize that it's not quite normal, that it shouldn't be like that, that you didn't have anything nice around you," Mitrovica rapper Sara Keljanović tells "Vreme"
Her lyrics talk about To the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, about childhood, the town on the Ibar, about coexistence with Albanians, simply about the rest of my life Serbs in Kosovo.
"None of us is asking for others to feel sorry for us, but for them to understand, to take a look at our lives. What has been happening to us for many years, unfortunately, is now happening to everyone," says our interlocutor.
Photo: Stefan DrljačaMitrovica rapper Sara Keljanović
Her creativity, she points out, is influenced by everything she looks at when she turns around. "That's the only good thing that the current policy has done for me - it made me reconsider and see things."
The air is dirty, nothing can be seen from the horror
Compassion is nowhere to be seen
It is obscured by the keros and av av state
Get off the chair and kneel in front of the victims
The children drew their wishes for Christmas
And most of them are the same, to stop being afraid
You would send the Cobras, we should save ours
We know who needs to go to make it better for us
(Lyrics of the song - Thick fog)
The reality of Kosovo Serbs is harsh and difficult
Keljanović says that the reality of Serbs from Kosovo is harsh, difficult and thrown into the background.
"The worst thing is that it is taken for granted. We live on the border between 'this and that', between fear and anticipation, between rejection and separation. Simply in uncertainty."
He adds that a man lives in KiM in such a way that he does not know from which side he will be "hit", nor does he know what may happen tomorrow. "When I say this out loud, a lot of people don't believe it. However, it's interesting that the same ones aren't allowed to come to us."
Or, as she wrote in one poem: Belgrade hates me, but it cannot follow me across the border.
Her neighbors tell her she's brave for what she does, and some say she's "not normal." "It is certainly a fine line," says the "Vremena" interlocutor.
However, she hopes that her neighbors will finally stand up and choose not to be silent.
"I am grateful to everyone who supports my work, but I would like all of us as individuals to do as much as possible for a better future," emphasizes Keljanović.
Why the tail?
For her, rap is a genre that doesn't embellish anything. And that gives her the opportunity to present everything that bothers her with her soul and tell it in the "folk language".
"My music won't be played in a club, but it will make every person who hears it ask themselves: 'How did we get here and what can we change to make it better?'" Keljanović points out.
Among her verses, she singled out verses from the song "Dense Fog":
Serbs, you behave badly during the war
Houses, villas, cars, parking, business, good salary.
And we are your proof that it's not all about money,
Here we also have chains, only they are not made of gold
And, from the song "There's No Going Back":
I go to them to understand them better,
But I'll come back quickly because my conscience won't let me.
I don't want to cry, but I have to ask
Who are yours and where is your grandfather from?
They will release new songs soon. "I plan to tell the truth," says Sara. "To preserve tradition and face and remind people that we are still here."
