Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Hava Nagila Rings Out With the Trio Balkan Strings in Sarajevo

Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is a compact city on the Miljacka River, surrounded by the Dinaric Alps. Its center has museums commemorating local history, including Sarajevo 1878–1918, which covers the 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, an event that sparked World War I.

This week it was also the location of Guitartfest, a festival of guitar music, with a program that included Trio Balkan Strings playing Hava Nagila. We have posted more than 50 versions of Hava Nagila, but this is the first Sarajevo version that we have encountered. 

Living in a country once marred by sectarian conflict, Jewish leader Jakob Finci says his 1,000-strong community ‘feels safe’ 20 years after the end of the Bosnian War.

As Anne Joseph wrote in The Times of Israel,

Although the small Jewish community currently only numbers approximately 1,000, Finci said that Jews are also equal partners amid a majority Sunni Muslim population because of their long tradition and presence in the region.

“I think this is very important, especially taking into account all the activities during the last war when we were able to help non-Jews,” he said. “We really did our best to help everyone without questioning who they were, what was their religion or anything else.”Finci’s office is located in Sarajevo’s Jewish community center. Unusual for a Jewish institutional building in Europe, it has no security.“Here, [in Sarajevo] we feel very safe,” he remarked.

Enjoy!


(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)