It all started as an idea of a French guitarist Jean Claude who went on an enlightening journey through central Africa for a few years. There he discovered something in music that was not taught in any conservatory or music academy he attended, listening and learning by ear, transmitting the music through the people rather than through paper. He fell in love with this concept and when returning back to Europe he found a music branch which actually roots itself in the same principles throughout the world and truly embodies the universality of music as a human language- traditional music. He dreamed of uniting Europe through sound, celebrating differences and learning about each other. He was quite struck by the devastating war of Yugoslavia in the 90s and had a wish for this music revolution to start right there, in the middle of the post conflict zone, bringing art and peace. ''What about Bosnia and Herzegovina as a starting point?'' he said. And that is how our story started.
BalsiKa is a mix of three words, Balkan, Alsace and orchestra. The name represents the regions from which the first participants of this big project came from. After arriving in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jean Claude and his partner Perrette met with a revolutionary guitar professor Nedim Tinjić who took the project as an incredible idea for building the future of the Blakans. Many youth exchanges later, in Strasbourg, Paris, Tuzla, Sarajevo, Kotor and so many more, something incredible was born! A transeuropean orchestra of traditional music, the dream came true! Nowadays two orchestras function on a weekly basis as a continuation of this project, one in Strasbourg and one in Tuzla, although the one in France was first called PapyrosN and now Ballade, and the one in Bosnia and Herzegovina is still called BalsiKa, whole heartedly honoring the movement that created a big influx of culture and art in Tuzla region.
There are a few main columns on which the roof of this project stands:
-transmission of traditional music from the source
-transmission of music by ear
-peer to peer methodology
-no first nor last musician, everyone on the stage is equal.
What was born from these principles are friendship, mutual respect, intercultural dialogue, love and so much knowledge, both musical and cultural. All of this was achieved organically and just following the logic that music truly is this universal language connecting us all, where words stop music commences but where the world stops, music is a strong enough force to keep it spinning.
After more than fifteen years there has rarely been a missed rehearsal for orchestra BalsiKa in Tuzla, more and more projects are born and created, more and more young people are joining to share and learn traditional music from all over the world. The older generations, now in their twenties, are constantly travelling and bringing back traditional pieces for the orchestra to play. Our leader Nedim and Jean Claude are also very active, although many young educators joined the team! Many youth exchanges are still organized with our partner: association Ballade from Strasbourg. When it comes to orchestra BalsiKa in Tuzla, we do not intend to ever stop, maybe soon we just might have to find more rooms for the rehearsals since the number of musicians is rising to be over one hundred. What is in front of us? Well probably many more projects, friendships, travels, laughter and more than all MUSIC.