Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Filip Visnjic, the blind 'gusle' player

Filip Višnjić (VEE-shnyeech) was a popular Bosnian Serb poet and gusle player, known by some as the "Serbian Homer," both because he was blind and for his poetic gift. Last Sunday my son took me for lunch 'abroad,' i.e. in Bijeljina (BEE-yell-yeen-ya) Republika Srpska, the Serbian section of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which lies only 1 1/2 hours from Belgrade. In this town, also incorporated on the town's coat of arms and on one of the country's banknotes, stands this statue of Filip Višnjić. He was a lyric poet, who accompanied his ballads on a gusle. If you go to Youtube and type in gusle, you will hear some samples of contemporary songs/poems accompanied by this instrument.

NIKOLA TESLA MUSEUM

 There is always a crowd in front of the  NIKOLA TESLA MUSEUM  and visitors seem undaunted by the extreme heat. If you do not know, Nikola T...