Composition description:

The author of the composition and the performing violinist Nikoleta Pavlovic about the
composition itself:

The composition is named Balkan. Why Balkan? When I started working on the composition
and after I came up with the first theme I was immediately inspired. The character of the
melody reminded me of a storm, a great tempest, some sort of a calamity. Thus it the name
Balkan dawned on me immediately. One might even say that this composition came about in
one breath. From this theme the first part of the composition came into being and from it
other parts sprang up. Balkan has three parts, with the middle part itself divided into
multiple parts differing in character. The first part, which carries the theme of war, is
repeated three times throughout the composition. This is by no means a coincidence and is
quite deliberate.

Before anything else I must say a couple of words about the Balkans. The Balkans has been a
key point of interest for many men and women across the centuries. As a crossroads
between the East and West it has drawn many inquisitive minds but it has also been a place
of ever-present conflict and upheaval. There is no place as beautiful as this, nor are there
any people fairer than ours on this, God’s green Earth, yet despite the beauty and wealth
that surrounds us we are fated to be unhappy since as the Fortunes have placed as on the
battleground between East and West. Thus We, the peoples of the Balkans, fight and die, we
send our sons and husbands to war after war, while we wallow in squalor, suffering plagues,
famines and sanctions. The periods of war and suffering are interrupted by periods of peace,
until the wheel turns again. A fiendish, cursed circle, from which there seems to be no
escape.

This is the reason why the first part of my piece deals with the plight of the peoples of the
Balkans and this is why it is repeated throughout the composition, mimicking the turning of
the wheel of our history.

After the first part comes the second, bathing in the light of the sun, completely different in
character and tone from the first part. This middle section is also subdivided into further
parts, which differ from one another. The first part is more emotional, as though it depicts
the Sun which shines over the Balkans and its denizens. The next par is more rhythmic, to be
more specific a dancing melody, which is an homage to the resilience of our people in the
face of adversity, who are despite it all full of optimism and hope, ready to dance, to sing
and to celebrate the joys of life. This central part of the middle section is the image of the
peaceful periods of our history, when fortune, love, song and unity reign.

The first part from the top now comes again, with its dark undertones and destructive
atmosphere, a stark contrast to the middle section. The third part comes after this part and
it is quainter, melancholic and really emotional, thus different from both the first and the
middle section. This part of course is full of sadness over the destruction which comes after
battle. However it is also full of optimism and hope for the future, heralding a new period of
blossoming from the ashes of the destructive past, with life, love and youth triumphing in
the end.

Alas, the peaceful parts are few and far in between in our history, so the first destructive
part follows suit after the melancholic and hopeful third act. And the wheel keeps churning,
and so it shall for ages to come and so could this song. However it is a song nonetheless, so it
must have an end.

This is a short description of my work which is a tribute to the Balkans and my people, the
Serbian people, a brave, bold, fighting nation and a willful people, sometimes stubborn, but
a nation which has never lost hope or a will to live and survive, despite countless trials and
tribulations it has suffered throughout the ages.