Vedran Smailović
Vedran Smailović (born November 11, 1956 ), also known as the cellist from Sarajevo , is a musician from Bosnia and Herzegovina . Smajlović is the son of the musician Avdo Smailović.
He was one of the population who remained in the city during the siege of Sarajevo . During the siege, from May 28, 1992, he played for 22 days in honor of 22 civilians who were killed by a mortar the day before and who were waiting for bread in front of a bakery on today's Ferhadija Street. He also appeared at funerals, which were often the target of Serbian snipers , and in the National Library, which was destroyed in August 1992. These signs of resistance became symbols for those trapped in Sarajevo. During these days, the American singer Joan Baez, known for her anti-war songs, also visited him . In the 1997 film Welcome to Sarajevo , a cellist resembling Smailović played a supporting role.
In 1993 Smailović left Sarajevo and worked for a while as a composer, performer and conductor in Northern Ireland . Today he lives in New York.
The composer David Wilde wrote the piece The Cellist of Sarajevo in honor of Smailović , which was recorded by Yo-Yo Ma . The concept album " Dead Winter Dead " by the band Savatage is clearly inspired by the story of Smailović.
The Canadian author Steven Galloway published a novel in 2008 entitled The Cellist of Sarajevo , which was also published in German as Der Cellist von Sarajevo in the same year .
Web links
- David Sharrock: Cellist of Sarajevo, Vedran Smailovic, is wounded by words. In: The Times, June 7, 2008
- The My Hero : Vedran Smailovic project
- Vedran Smailović's sound carrier in the WorldCat bibliographic database
notes
- ^ The cellist from Sarajevo. Novel. Translated by Georg Schmidt. Luchterhand, 2008 ( The Cellist of Sarajevo. ) Text Publishing Melbourne, 2008
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Smailović, Vedran |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Bosnian cellist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 11, 1956 |