WAY TO NOWHERE - An Oratory for the Refugees, From the Musical "BRIDGE" / "MOST" (official Video)
Channel: New World Classic
Date: 2021-02-19

Have you ever lived through a night not knowing if you will be #alive in the morning? Have you ever #feared #murder, #imprisonment or #deportation simply because of your name? 

We have experienced it first-hand. The lucky ones #survived and set out into uncertainty, with no time to look back at their #hometown, property, memories and all the people dear to them. They set out not knowing where they are going or what awaits them, running from hell to freedom. 

The great question is whether we will ever forgive the “non-humans”, but rest assure we will never forget and that my grandchildren Leon and Tin will know what happened to us and who made us leave our homes. 
The #oratory was created by a group of, above else, exceptional people, #philanthropists, but also exceptional artists, to whom I express my endless #gratitude, with the #hope that this piece will serve as a reminder to all those who doubt what happened to us that the same thing can happen to them.

Therefore,

NEVER AGAIN.

Pula, 13th January 2021        
Emir Kulenović

#RefugeesInMusic #OratoryPerformance #MusicalVideo #EmotionalJourney #PowerfulStorytelling #MusicForChange #HopeAndResilience #ArtisticExpression #HumanitarianMessage #InspiringPerformance #VoiceOfTheDisplaced  #SocialAwareness #BridgeToHope #MusicWithPurpose

Music by: Emir Kulenović
Arrangement & Orchestration by: Aleksandar Valenčić
℗&© https://newworldclassic.com/ (a trademark of Instant Music Licensing GmbH/ Zeljko Lopicic)
Video produced & directed by MEDVID http://www.medvid.hr/
Director: K. Radetić
Director of photography: K. Burlović
Camera: I. Burlović 
Film editing: I. Štifanić 
Producer: Boris Plastić

SOLOISTS: Marjan Krajna (accordion), Francesco Squarcia (viola), Aleksandar Valenčić                  (piano)
Lyrics: Voljen Grbac, Slavica Lončarić and Antun Zanetti
Reciters: (Croatian version) Olivera Baljak and Petar Baljak
(English version) Susanne Weber and Herwig Thelen
Singers: Vivien Galletta and Voljen Grbac
Performers: Ballet group - Almira Osmanović, George A. Baldovin, L. Kukor i Alan Gotal; Leon Brčić, L. Valenčić and Tin Lekić Kulenović
Choreographer: Almira Osmanović
Actors: Olivera Baljak, Petar Baljak, Aleksandar Valenčić, Marjan Krajna, S. Krajna
(Croatian), Susanne Weber and Sandy Lopičić (English)

Special and sincere thanks to director Jakov Sedlar for giving explicit consent to the use of footage from his movie „Requiem“

Translated by Pavao Palaversić 

WAY TO NOWHERE (Lyrics)

To leave behind the rosy glow of morning light
In the sleepy eyes of a suddenly awakened child 

To leave the noonday scents of street stands 
Bathed in spices that transform the plainest food
Into a royal feast. 

To leave behind the walls of ancient forts 
Older than the reach of human imagination

To part with dear friends that heal your deepest wounds
Better than the strongest cure 

To walk through desert ravines, to tread on scorching stones
To sail over unsailable seas with inhuman strength  

To cross seven mountains and seven valleys and seventy-seven
more treacherous winding roads, over hawthorn, over thornbush,
Beyond silence, beyond darkness, and yet not reach the shores of the blue river. 
To cross over bridges and bridges, to walk by ghostly dark
Fences, closed gates, darkened windows…
To reach with one final effort, dying of thirst, one last well 
Now gone dry. 

In icy nights to gaze humbly and timidly 
With weary eyes upon distant stars, asking those in heavens above 
Why? 

To travel and travel, infinitely, lethally, with suicidal resolve, 
Towards an aim that should be called by the most beautiful name
“home” 
Only to end up nowhere. 

It matters not where you were born,
what name you bear,
nor which god you praise 
It matters not which letters you spell
nor by what word you call out love’s name, 
when the serenity of your dreams is taken by a harsh hand.

All of a sudden your tiny piece of sky
becomes another man’s commodity,
instead of rising to the song of morning birds,
 
you are dragged by a river of equal misfortunates,
who leave their yesterday in despair
to walk in rows of hope today, 
hoping that tomorrow somewhere far away,
where sky meets the Earth, they will come upon better days. 

Where have you gone world
do you have a plan
can a single child
walk down a bloody path?

Many will fall along the way,
we all know that too well.
Move, stop the flood and dismay,
don’t let it be too late.

To understand each other,
as if we were brothers,
let us all pull together 
to put an end to war forever. 

You have no confines,
what is the matter then life
who writes your lines
and who picks your notes? 

Thus, my heart beats with a desire, 
let this cry rise to the Heavens, 
may all the wisdom in the World come together,
to purchase a plot of land on this Planet,
for those who must go away to a place,
where no one is allowed to hurt them, 
where the Laws of interest do not apply, 
where peace reigns
and all you hear
is a happy child and a mother’s song.