Zora - Kultur Shock

Such a hauntingly beautiful and heart wrenching song.

Kultur Shock was founded in Seattle, Washington in 1996 by former Yugoslav Gino Srdjan Yevdjevich who had immigrated to the US (with the help of Joan Baez) following the Siege of Sarajevo.
 
A loose English translation of Zora:

The red sun is still not rising. 

The tree leaves are still not falling off in the mountains. 

The nightingales song still can't be heard 

Announcing the sunrise

The sound of axes can't be heard 

Nor the song of the shepherd 

Silence is all around 

All that lives is resting

Sometimes the dewy flowers bloom, 

Let spring adorn itself with them 

I won't pluck it anymore 

Because it's not for me

I won't pluck it anymore

I don't have anyone to give it to
The one I used to give it to
Is now covered by earth
Every blade of grass on the mountain ranges
Now feels my sorrow
Happiness is running away from me
Far away

Zora by Kultur Shock from the 2001 album "FUCC the I.N.S."

Kultur Shock website

Kultur Shock on facebook

Kultur Shock on myspace

Auschwitz - Margita Makulová

Porajmos.  The Devouring.  The Roma name for the Holocaust. 

"At Auschwitz-Birkenau, officials set up a separate "Gypsy family camp" for Gypsies in Section BIIe of Birkenau: From the wooden barracks, the gas chambers and crematoria were clearly visible. During the seventeen months of the camp's existence, most of the Gypsies brought there perished. They were killed by gassing or died from starvation, exhaustion from hard labor, and disease (including typhus, smallpox, and the rare, leprosy-like condition called Noma.) Others, including many children, died as the result Of cruel medical experiments performed by Dr. Josef Mengele and other SS physicians. The Gypsy camp was liquidated on the night of August 2-3, 1944, when 2,897 Sinti and Roma men, women, and children were killed in the gas chamber." --  Sinti & Roma: Victims of the Nazi Era

Today is International Remembrance Day, honoring and remembering the victim's of the Porajmos.

Auschwitz, sung by Margita Makulová (Aushwitz survivor) in the movie "Latcho Drom"

Opre Romale!

I Left the Wolves Behind That Night - The Tiger and Me

Our (Juana Ghani) accordion player turned me on to this band a few weeks ago.  This is the video he showed me.  It's all shot live and in one-take by the amazing Australian video team, Side Show Alley.

Based in Melbourne, Australia, The Tiger and Me released their first album, "From a Liar to a Thief" in 2010 to wonderful reviews.  Since then, they have released 2 of a trilogy of EPs ("The Howling Fire" and "The Silent City") with the 3rd part due out this year.  This trilogy explores "a descent into madness, the ensuing struggle, and the ultimate embrace of insanity."  (Sounds like similar theme to the stuff my band does.  Yay, for descents into madness!)

I Left the Wolves Behind That Night by The Tiger and Me from the 2010 album "From a Liar to a Thief"

 The Tiger and Me website

The Tiger and Me on facebook

The Tiger and Me on myspace

The Tiger and Me on twitter