WAKE UP, EUROPE!
Historijski Muzej BiH
Menu
WAKE UP, EUROPE!
Historijski Muzej BiH
  • About project
  • Impressum
  • EN
    • BS
Photo by Zoran Kanlić (Archives History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina)
HomeStories Laibach-concert
Previous product
Photos from the personal archives of Simon Glinn
Community Music Sarajevo
Back to products
Next product
“German federal government should officially recognize the Bosnian-Serb Citizens’ Council”, press communique of the Society for threatened people, 28.6.1995 (Archives GfbV)
Serb Civic Council

Laibach-concert

After several failed attempts, the Slovene cult band Laibach and the artists of NSK (“Neue Slowenische Kunst”, New Slovenian Art) succeeded to travel to Sarajevo in November 1995 where they performed for two days at the National Theater, involving concerts, an exhibition and speeches by the NSK-member Peter Mlakar.  At this occasion, they proclaimed Sarajevo as a territory of the NSK state and issued hundreds of NSK-passports to citizens of Sarajevo. “It was as if the Martians had landed in the city after all the horrors we had experienced,” later recalled Zoran Kanlić, who captured the shows of Laibach and NSK in photographs. The performances took place on 20 and 21 November 1995, which were, coincidentally, the days when the Peace Agreement was reached in Dayton, Ohio, ending the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The event was organized by the Obala Art Centar and Radio Zid , with the financial support of the Open Society Fund BiH. Aida Kalender, who volunteered at this time for Radio Zid, remembers: “We were so thrilled that Laibach was playing in Sarajevo that I was constantly filling the Radio program with Laibach music and concert announcements. The promotion was so intense and, to put it mildly, “aggressive” that we had a huge number of Radio calls every day from people who wanted tickets for the concert which were free, but due to the limited capacity of the hall of the National Theater it was necessary to have a ticket. (…) The concert was fantastic, Mlakar’s speech caused enthusiasm among those present, everything was unreal and in this surreality Fico (the bass player Elvis J. Kurtovic) casually said to us at one point in the gallery of the National Theatre: “Guys, peace has been signed!” “Again?”, I commented. No one took him seriously.”

More Information

The venture of Laibach / NSK to Sarajevo is retraced in the documentary film “Sarajevo – state in mind” made by Benjamin Jung and Théo Meurisse in 2019. Trailer:

Extract of the documentary “Occupied Europe Nato Tour 1994-95” produced by Laibach in 1996, including extracts of the speech by Peter Mlakar.

Category: Stories Tag: Culture
Share
  • Additional information
Additional information
How to act

Kultura

Solidarity map

Bosna i Hercegovina, Ljubljana, Sarajevo, Slovenija

Chronology

1995

You may also like…

Letter by Zdravko Grebo from May 1993 (extract), informing about the creation of Radio ZID and asking for international support, May 1993 (Archives MESS Festival)

Radio Zid

Stories
Close
Cover and extract of the 1994 annual report of the Open Society Fund Bosnia and Herzegovina (Open Society Fund BiH, Digital Archive)

Open Society Fund Bosnia and Herzegovina

Stories
Close

100 stories about solidarity initiatives in Europe with citizens of Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992-1995 war.

ADDRESS

History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Zmaja od Bosne 5
71 000 Sarajevo
Bosnia and Herzegovina

See location on map
CONTACT

TEL/FAX: +387 33 226 098
RECEPTION: +387 33 210 416
EMAIL: histmuz@bih.net.ba

www.muzej.ba

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

Funded by the International Relief Fund for Organisations in Culture and Education 2021 of the German Federal Foreign Office, the Goethe Institute and other partners : www.goethe.de/relieffund

2022 wakeupeurope.ba. All rights reserved. DOC.BA.

History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

  • About project
  • Impressum
  • EN
    • BS
  • BS
  • EN