One more post for this month! ;-)

Hi there readers!

Well, it's been a month of sorts. I started this blog. Very good! Serbia spectacularly WON!!! the Eurovision song contest fair and square, NO doubt about it! No more practical work for my college course, in fact, it will be finishing soon next month!

And as for June, I will be travelling to Croatia!!! YIPPEEEE!!!

That's all ... for now! Hehe...

Hi there!

Any of you visiting my blog - if there is anyone - as you can see, I haven't been updating by blog lately. Been busy with other things, like my college course, which I will finish soon. I've been doing practical work these past months at the college, in the café and restaurant area. Cashier work and sometimes tidying up at the till in the café; welcoming guests at the door, computer work behind the reception and dealing with guests' coats and helping them with their coats in the restaurant.

Today - rather Thursday the 24th, since where I am it's early Friday morning, the 25th - I worked in the restaurant at lunch during noon and the afternoon and at dinner in the evening. And tomorrow - or rather, today (see above) - I'll work again in the restaurant at lunch for the final time.

I'll be writing more soon, and I hope more people will visit my blog, and actually leave comments!!!

It's quarter to two, and I should be going to bed.

So, all the best to anyone reading this!

Was "Moltiva" (Serbia's winning Eurovision song) a copy?

Recently on the internet there has been a fuss over whether Marija Šerifović's song Moltiva was a copy of another song, namely the Albanian song Ndarja by Soni Malaj (Ndarja means "separation"). I've made my opinion clear on this comments page on YouTube. These are comments regarding the video "Serbia's Eurovision Song Stolen", and you can see my comment below:

Note: I begin the comment with "Shame on who, sorry?", because at the end of the video, if you choose to watch it, the words "Shame on you!" appear, namely aimed at the Serbian Eurovision team that won.

The Sun Online has an article about this in Victoria Newton's Bizarre section: Serbia 'stole' winning song (look at the comments).

Soni Malaj herself has said in an interview (you can watch here, on YouTube (from the same channel that produced the above-mentioned video), "When I heard the refrain of the Serbian song, I froze". (The interview is in Albanian)

Well Soni, you lovely young lady, you need not feel so petrified!

The two songs sound similar in some parts, like the beginning of the chorus for instance, but are not identical. And in my opinion, there is really no big deal about the two songs sounding similar. Afterall, these are both songs from the Balkans, specifically, two nearby countries. For instance, with regards to traditional folk music, Serbian and Bulgarian folk songs sound similar, but of course, both have particular aspects as well. But most of all, like I said in my comment on YouTube above, both songs are about love, and love is a universal language.

If you haven't heard Serbia's winning song in this year's Eurovision in full, watch and listen here (YouTube, again!).

As for Soni's song, I'll send you to a Macedonian site, with an article (not in English!) in which the composer on the Albanian song, a Macedonian chap himself, admits similar tonality, but nevertheless confirms that it's not the same. You can read it here, plus you can listen to Soni's song in full there! ;-)

As you may have seen from the comments to the "Serbia stole blah blah blah…" video, people can't help themselves but bring recent history into the discussion. You'll find on the one end accusations of brutality and war crimes committed by one or the other side, and on the other end desires from the participants from both sides to commit brutalities and war crimes!

In my humble opinion - and wherever you are reading this post, I hope you remember what I have to say - these are comments that come from hooligans from among the Balkan nations. Many of them are individuals who are on the one hand so convinced of their nation's … innoccence in a recent conflict or two, and yet are on the other hand prepared to sacrifice that innoccence that they as members of that nation "naturally" have, to commit acts of appaling nature on the nation of their hatred. Of course, as an act of revenge, as has been the way of resolving many issues in the Balkans.

I suppose such verbal fighting is very amusing to Westerners, and I don't feel too patronised about that. In fact, I am relativley happy about them seeing what kind of idiots you can find in the Balkans, where I come from. I'm just unhappy about how some of my fellow Serbs can't help themselves but contribute to such appalling displays of hooliganism. :-(

Now, this is all appalling behaviour displayed by these individuals of the Balkan nations. However, one must remember that all of this dispicable behaviour does stem from the recent history. And in fututre posts, I will discuss this negative phenomenon. Hopefully, as understanding as I can be.

Such phenomena have made footholds on the internet. Fortunately though, wisdom has always had a wide foothold on the internet. Indeed, long before these participants of such internet fighting had even put the tip of their index finger on any of the buttons of the computer keyboard. Verily, the computer keyboard itself is a work of genius.

Considering how I began this post by debating how one romantic ballad was apparently a plagiarised version of another and then later mentioning the interethnic intolerance you'll find on the internet between Balkanians (this will not be my last post about such things, unfortunately), it's sad how two songs about love can bring about - indirectly, of course - so much manifestation of hatred.

I mean, since we now know about these two very pretty songs, why can't they be bridges of music between us Balkanians, in particular us Ex-Yugoslavs?

I wish all of you reading this post peace of mind and universal love!

PS: When I left that comment you can see above, I got responded to by someone who obviously didn't like me telling it how I saw it. One of the things we were discussing were … let's say, "animals"! :-D

Dobro došli! Welcome all of you who've come here from forum.hr or Serbian Cafe!

Welcome all of you from ... wherever! Doesn't matter; as long as you're here :-)
Dobro došli svima vama iz ... bilo gdje! Nije važno; samo da ste tu :-)

As you can see this is a new blog. Nevertheless, I hope what I already have here will give you loads to ask and loads to say!

Još jednom vam želim srdačnu dobrodošlicu!

PS: Ovo mi je profil na forum.hr: Licanin Gracanin
A ovo mi profil na Serbian Cafe: LicaninGracanin

And now, let's talk Eurovision!

Hey! Did you hear?

Serbia, one of six former Yugoslav republics, has won the Eurovision Song contest! See BBC News, CNN and B92 (in Serbian). The song that received well over two hundred points to reach first place - 268 to be exact, which means they were receiving a lot of douze points! and I heard all of them!!! - was Molitva, meaning "prayer" and the singer of this magnificent ballad was Marija Šerifović (see an interview of her on eurovision.tv).

I am so happy about it! I really am. That is really one of the nicest things that have happened to Serbia in recent years. It is something that has made Serbs throughout the world rejoice. And no doubt it will continue to do so in the future, in both the foreseeable and distant futures.

Now think about this.

This is the first Eurovision that Serbia has entered as an independent nation. It previously took part in the 2004 and 2005 contests in union with Montenegro, and both times did very well, taking 2nd and 7th places respectively. Now this is the first ever Eurovision Song Contest it took part in on its own, and in its very first entry it won! That's just amazing! And that contributes to the joy that all Serbs feel in the wider diaspora and back home in the Balkans.

Personally speaking with regards to Marija's song Molitva, I actually did not think it was going to win. I thought it would do well, very well - specifically be in the top ten highest-scoring entries. Then came the moment of truth, it actually took first place!

You see, I watched the Semi-final of this years Eurovision, which was aired on Thursday 10th May on the satellite channel of Radio Televizija Srbije, in which Serbia succeeded in securing its place in the actual final on Saturday night, the 15th. And believe it or not, all of you former Yugoslavs out there, having watched the Semi-finals, I actually thought Slovenia's powerful operatic entry, Cvet z juga by Alenka Gotar (see eurovision.tv) had a chance of surpassing Serbia's entry! Even winning the contest!

Still, next year Serbia - woohoo! - will be hosting and presenting this wonderful song contest, giving another country the chance to win as spectacularly as Serbia has done.

But until then - and let's hope the songs and the show will be as fantastic as this year's has been,

Živjela Srbija i živjela nam Marija!!!

PS: Do you guys think I'm contradicting my anarchistic ethos by saying "Long Live Serbia"? :-D :-$

A little introduction and some of my intentions

My name is Alan Jakšić (pronounce "yack-shich"). And as you can see from my profile, I come from Croatia and I'm living in England. At the moment, I'm finishing a course in NVQ Front Office/Reception Level 2. I will be posting some pictures of myself in the near future.

I've been meaning to establish a blog expounding my anarchistic beliefs (see the name of my blog!) since well back in 2006 - last year, when I basically discovered the ideology of Anarchism. And being from the Balkans, I bring the two things together here!

So my political beliefs are basically these:

• I don't believe in states - I've stopped believing in them last year!
• I generally don't agree with voting to elect people to make decisions for you for four-to-five years, since doing so is a form of acquiescence (or to put it in Serbo-Croatian, dati nekome da ti upravlja kućom za određeno vrijeme),
• I am also critical of Representative Democracy, as you can tell from the above point, and don't believe it should be promoted as the ideal or norm,
• I don't agree with centralised governments that are by their nature so far removed from ordinary people, in particular from communities in more far-flung regions/areas of a given country,
• I think too much blood has been spilt creating states and borders, and
• I do not believe in Nationalism and I am appalled by the extreme forms of hatred that can be seen in the Balkans, in particular from the Former Yugoslavia where I come from.

If there is anything else you want to know about me or my policial beliefs, feel free to leave comments at the end of my posts.

Also, have a look at my YouTube account here, as in the future I will hopefully be creating Video logs of myself and even films.

Thanks for reading!

Hello and welcome to my Blog!

Dobar Dan/Добар дан! Dober dan! Добър ден/Добар ден! Mirëdita! Bună Ziua! Kushti/Lacho Divvus! Buon Giorno! Καλημέρα! İyi günler! Jó reggelt!

I hope you all understood! :D

EDITED: 11th MARCH 2008