From September 17th to October 2nd 2016, we were staying on the tour in America. We had 7 concerts and several smaller performances in 6 cities, in the most important centers of the eastern and central part of the US. Now, when the impressions began to settle, finding its place in the mosaic of memories, we want to share some nice paths, faces and landscapes to all of you who support us on our music “search”…

Concerts were held in Philadelphia, Patterson, New York, Detroit, Akron and Chicago (two concerts). We also introduced ourselves on the Saint Sava Academy in Chicago, where were royal couple Karađorđević, then in the Russian church in Chicago and the Greek Orthodox Church in New York. The Bishop of Eastern America Irinej and Central Amarica Longin took the time for coming to our concerts and their blessing gave our tour special spiritual dimension. Of special importance for us was a benefit concert for the Serbian Orthodox Church St. Sava, which burned down on Easter day last year. In this way, we tried to build our stone in the reconstruction of this holy place.

The initiator of the tour was Vladislav Radujković, who is originally from Banja Luka, but now he is a priest in New York. With several enthusiasts, he was making a lot of effort and wasted a lot of energy to present our music, on the one hand to the Americans and on the other hand to our people who are living in a completely different world and circumstances, in some way separated from tradition. Our mission were to make them closer to the tradition, but also to break the prejudice, that ethno music is obsolete and outdated music for the older generation. The fact is, it is just the opposite. Ethno music offers plenty of potential in the modern era, especially in combination with modern genres and instruments.

Free time we used to travel around and meet some of the biggest and most beautiful American cities, but also to expand our horizons in the music and professional meaning. We visited very interesting places and events. We had the opportunity to be in the oldest Hard Rock Cafe in New York, where we could see exposed guitars some of the biggest rock stars. We were also in one of the oldest jazz clubs in Chicago – the legendary Green Mill, where once was coming the famous gangster Al Capone. We listened to some great jazz, blues and pop concerts, which are very common even in the streets and parks of American cities. Thanks to the wonderful and friendly hosts, we visited some of the most significant American museums, such as New York’s “Metropolitan”, “Museum of Art” in Cleveland, “Museum of Science” in Chicago, etc. In the middle of the New York hustle and Chicago bustle, in the most frequented places which pulsate with incredible speed and in a strange way, pull in and devour the individual in civilization and cultural vortex, where there is essential individuality less and less, in spite of potentiated cult of personality, we tried to stop time and call our Krajina Hyperborea with the song.

We are very thankful to all those people who recognized the need and supported in many different ways realization of our tour.

We had the support of the Agency for the protection of copyright „AMUS“, the Representative office of Republic of Srpska in America, companies „Lanaco“, the Banja Luka Stock Market, „Nektar“ Brewery, „Gold“ and „Smiljić“ agency, and some others who wished to remain anonymous. In a similar way we were supported by the friends of the group “Trag” in America, who recognized the importance of preserving tradition on the way of preserving our national identity.

We collected many stories and memorable moments in American cities we had visited:

Philadelphia

In Philadelphia we were staying only one day. After our concert and night party, we woke up at 5.30 AM. Thanks to our wonderful hosts, who were willing to take us to the city tour, we managed to at least cursorily go around the city. In Philadelphia you can sense history of America more significant than in other American cities.

Philadelphia, or as its residents affectionately call Philly, is the largest city of the US state of Pennsylvania and the sixth in the United States. Its name comes from the Greek Φιλαδέλφεια, what means “brotherly love”. In the 18th century, the city had greater social and political importance even than Boston and New York. Before the American Independence, Philadelphia was the second largest city in the British Empire (after London). The American Declaration of Independence and US Constitution were drafted and signed in Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

Paterson (New Jersey)

Paterson is the largest city of the state New Jersey. It is known as “Silk City” because of its dominant role in silk production during the second half of the 19th century. Today, it is a main destination for Latino immigrants, and immigrants from the Arab and Muslim world.

Parishioners of Serbian Orthodox church and school municipality of “Začeće of St. Jovan Baptist”, led by the father Vladislav Radujković (former pastor) and the father Đokan Majstorović (current pastor) were our wonderful hosts several days, who organized us a nice concert and socializing, led us into interesting tours of New York and lavished us with incredible attention!

Serbian Church in Paterson was founded in 1975, where today’s temple was bought by the Syrian Orthodox Church. Since 2012, our Vladislav Radujković from Banja Luka was placed for the priest, who, in addition to regular duties, put the focus of its work on the renewal of worship space and the beauty of worship. it was also founded the Sunday School, which works at the program of the Ministry of Education of Serbia, which makes it such a unique institution in the American continent. In 1995, it was bought 50 hectares of land for the purpose of gathering thousands of our people from all over the east coast. Here, near the world metropolis New York, on fifty acres of beautiful nature waved Serbian flags, play Serbian dances, sing Serbian songs.

New York

New York (New York City) or “Big Apple” is the city towards which it is difficult to remain indifferent. Like it or not, it has an amazing energy and specific pulse. It is true that this city never sleeps and we were spending four days there, what flew imperceptibly, although we were not resting. This is, in the true sense of the word, the city in which contrasts and extremes collide and touch in unusual way in any time and space dimension. In the middle of the frustrating city bustle and hustle, constant noise, crowds of people between skyscrapers, which often block the view of the sky, in the midst of concrete, glass and stone, there are incredible oases of peace and seemingly untouched nature of parks in New York. As soon as you enter the park, as if you take a step in a privileged space of fairy tale and there are different rules: the calmer and more cheerful people walking or lying on the grass and reading, in every corner there are relaxing jazz or blues music, squirrels, birds, lakes , bicycles and the sun. Whenever we were fed up with the lights of the city advertisements, noise, sirens, various of smells and flavors, we sought peace in these parks.

When New York City was taken from the Dutch, its original name New Amsterdam was renamed to New York after the English Duke of York in 1664. New York was an English colony until it gained independence in 1776. It is the largest city in the United States and one of the largest cities in the world, well known for the major museums, galleries, international corporations, and stock exchanges. New York is the most populous city of the United States. New Yorrk City consists of five city municipalities: Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. In the city there are numerous universities and colleges, among which the most famous are: Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, which are among the top 35 in the world. Most of the city is built on three islands: Manhattan, Staten Island and Long Island.

Detroite

The first part of the tour we were in New York and in the places around New York, and the second part in and around Chicago. Unfortunately, we did not have enought time for sightseeing in those cities, where we had concerts on the way from New York to Chicago. Detroite and Akron, where we had two very nice concerts, we saw mostly from the vehicle, becouse we were too tired for sightseeing after the concerts. Distance between the cities in the US are large, and most people travel by plane. Because of transporting instruments and our adventurous spirit, we rent a van and one more vehicle like lorry. So, we could fully experience the charms of American roads and travel. Although organized in a very short time, a concert in Detroit was very successful. We owe our gratitude to the organizer Milorad Škorić!

Detroit is the largest city in the US state of Michigan, located in the north of the United States, along the border with Canada. It is located on the Detroit River, opposite the Canadian city Vindsora. Today, it is the most known as the center of the car industry and one of the most economically developed cities of the United States.

Akron

After visiting Detroit, we had a concert in Akron. The Organizer Goran Debelonogić and his great assistants were spending months preparing our concert. That was truly one of the most beautiful concerts of the tour on what we are very thankful to them. It was real pleasure performing in front of 400 people, using the exellent sound system and having professional sound technicians. Children’s choir “Cvjetovi klivlendske bašte” joined us on stage and embellished that evening.

Akron is a city in the US state of Ohio. Today it is known as the “rubber capital of the world”, and there are the headquarters of the companies „Goodyear“ and „Firestone“.

Chicago

Chicago, as an beautiful american city, has left the strongest impression on us. We can not be objective writing about Chicago, because we were spending the most time of our journey in this city, sightseeing, concerting and meeting very interesting people there. The fact is, the city is really imposant and offers plenty of entertainments. Compared to New York, Chicago is far cleaner, more orderly and quiet city, with the wide, less crowded streets. The lake Michigan, like rough, endless sea during windy days and wild winds makes this city romatic and special. There live a lot of our people and it is not unusual to find a restorant named „Beograd“. In some way, Chicago is one of the centers of Orthodox spirituality. Unbelievable energy, heartiness and sincerity of bishop Longin and his brothers, monastery staff, and all of students of theology are something, that made us feel we had known each others for very long time. Some of the nicest imressions we brought just from the beautiful monasteries Gračanica and Sveti Sava, Chicago theology, Sveti Sava academy in Libertyville, but also I have to mention that love and hospitality we felt with our hosts and members of ansamble „Dukati i biseri“.

After New York and Los Angeles, Chicago (The Windy City) is third the largest city of the USA. It is situated on the western shores of lake Michigan, that is bigger than many seas. The name “Chicago” is derived from an Indian word shikaakwa (the species name of the wild garlic, called “chicagoua”, which grew abundantly in this swampy area. In 1795, Chicago was turned over to the United States for a military post by Indians. In 1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 350 and the City of Chicago was incorporated in 1837. The city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. In 1855, the altitude of the city is raised by 120-210 cm under the shorelines of lake Michigan. The Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed thousands of buildings and killed many people, but reconstraction efforts began after fire and in the following years it continued and stimulated great economic development and population growth. The world’s first skyscraper was the Home Insurance Building in Chicago, erected in 1885, using steel-frame construction. During the twenties and thirties, a large part of the city was controled by the gangsters Johnny Torrio and Al Capone.