Music heals wounds, gives hope and keeps a person close to their roots.

"We carried our heads in our bags and somewhere along the way we lost our bags, so to speak, and we were left without heads," lyrics from the song "Izbjeglica" by the band Zoster that perhaps best describe the state a person finds themselves in when they have to leave their home.

The decision to leave is not easy for anyone, it means giving up family, friends, everyday habits, language... A departure into complete uncertainty, in which one must find a way to adapt to a different society and new rules. Those who make it face the need to rebuild their lives in a foreign environment.

He described life in exile in a poem

This is exactly the decision that a Bosnian musician made more than three decades ago. Emir Bukovica who fled Sarajevo during the war years to New York. He dedicated the song from the beginning of his career, “Sarajevo, New York, Roma,” to that period, which was recently featured in the documentary film “Bosnian Knight,” which was recently presented at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

“In the film 'Bosnian Knight' my song 'Sarajevo, New York, Roma' appears, which is essentially my first song in English, which I wrote in the first days of my arrival from the hell of the Bosnian war, to what was for me at that moment an unreal paradise called New York. That shocking contrast is in the form of a song, and in absolutely 'broken English', I somehow screamed out of me. A lot of strong emotions, from shock, happiness, sadness, nostalgia, pain, guilt and what not, obviously happened not only to me, but also to the main character of the film 'Bosnian Knight' Sead Delic". So this song somehow found its way to this film, since Sead and I, although we didn't know each other at the time, actually shared the same fate and feelings described in that song," Bukovica recalls the day he left Sarajevo for the "unknown world" in an interview with "Vijesti".

This is the song that the main character of the film listened to “until he was exhausted” when he moved to America. As Bukovica himself says, the song carries many emotions, from shock and sadness to happiness, and he admits that it was not easy to live in a foreign country. The interviewee of “Vijesti” answers how much easier it was to overcome this with music:

"When we met Sead, who is a driver of those huge trucks in America that go from one end of America to the other, he told me that on those long distances he often listened to that song and in a way meditated and thought about his life with it. After we met, the two of us understood each other very easily and quickly, because while going through the adaptation to a practically new life and a new world, we often called on music for help. Music is an art, especially for people who live far from their homelands, which certainly crosses all barriers and borders the easiest, which heals wounds, gives hope and keeps a person close to their roots and those closest to them."

Three cities - symbolic stops on the journey

Bukovica left Sarajevo for New York, and Rome is mentioned in the song because he had a layover in the Italian capital. The three cities - Sarajevo, New York, and Rome - thus represent the emotional and symbolic stations of his journey in the song. Sarajevo marks the starting point and place of remembrance, New York represents the destination and a new dimension of life, while Rome, although only a passing stop, emphasizes the sense of transition and in-betweenness that is part of every long route.

"In December 1993, I flew on what to me is, to this day, the saddest plane in the world. A plane full of lost and traumatized people, women and children. They were victims of war, with half-alive looks and worried faces, on their way to uncertainty, to the other side of the world. Sometimes I think about that sad flight and how it seemed to me at the time that the plane on that journey to a 'better life' would simply crash from the overwhelming weight of terrible human destinies and hardships. And yes, on the way to New York there was that one short break in Rome," said Bukovica, who, after a year and a half spent in wartime Sarajevo, decided to go "across the pond" and take advantage of the US government's program to help victims of the Bosnian war.

"The program was quite demanding and a strict procedure for verifying all facts and information had to be followed. It was not an easy decision for anyone, not even me at the time, because the uncertainty and risk were still great. Going to the unknown and different, far from home, with a certain human feeling of guilt for leaving and abandoning your country, regardless of the terrible circumstances at the time, increased some restlessness in me. The decision was risky, but in the end it still turned out to be good and smart," he admits.

The song always “brings back the movie”

As songs are testimonies of certain moments, this one is about that move, about moving from one continent to another and the feeling between parting and a new beginning. Whenever he hears the aforementioned song, it takes Bukovica back to the “old days”, to the time when he was carrying suitcases, remembering every city and every moment that marked his journey.

"The song 'Sarajevo, New York, Roma' always brings the film back to that period of my life and the feelings are mixed. The lyrics of this song literally somehow found me after I walked through Manhattan the morning after landing at 'JFK Airport' in New York and when, from that overwhelming shock and emotion, I started seeing visions of the people I left behind in Bosnia and Herzegovina - mom, dad, brother, friend... Later, I tried to portray that feeling through the video we shot for the remix of the song 'Sarajevo, New York, Roma'," said Bukovica, who, thanks to his lived experience, experienced the story told in the film "The Bosnian Knight" more emotionally.

The film “Bosnian Knight” follows Sead Delić, a survivor of the Srebrenica genocide, who moves to the United States after the war and pursues his dream of becoming a truck driver. However, his past continues to haunt him, and he embarks on a journey of self-discovery and healing through the medieval history of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"The film 'Bosnian Knight' only recently began its life at the Sarajevo Film Festival. And although I am in a way too subjective, because in addition to my song, I also gave my heart and love, organizing filming on locations in America, I think that this work will enter the annals of Bosnian and Herzegovinian cinematography as a film that was created out of love and care for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The authors and everyone who participated in the filming and production leave this film as a legacy to the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a document that reveals the true historical facts about Bosnia and Herzegovina. I am sure that watching 'Bosnian Knight' will one day enter school curricula as something that will be mandatory for the younger generations of this country. The film speaks of the deep connections of all the peoples of today in Bosnia and Herzegovina and their common history in these territories of ours. About everything that stupid politics, for its selfish interest, has long been trying to spoil and destroy," notes Bukovica, who had a hard time living abroad. As he says in the song itself, he had to "hide that pain".

Music as therapy

"No one, absolutely no one, leaves their own for someone else's for some beauty. Especially not if it happens in the middle of a war. It's not Aleksa Santic "I wrote "Stay here" for no reason, people have been leaving since ancient times, that is, fleeing from some trouble and pogrom. My departure is no different from other similar departures. But, fortunately for me, I have been in the Balkans almost constantly for over 25 years and in a way I listened to Aleksa Šantić's advice", Bukovica proudly points out, who founded his band "Emir & Frozen Chamels" upon arriving in America. But soon after his first album, he also gathered the Balkan team Kamila. When asked why he decided to balance between America and the ex-Yugoslavia, considering that he recorded songs in both English and our language, he agrees:

"At first, my involvement in music in America was pure therapy. I played and wrote music and in a way maintained continuity with what I had been doing before the war. At the urging of American musician friends, I formed the band 'Emir & Frozen Camels'. We started playing and recording songs for the American market. The first songs were 'Frozen camels' and 'I need you now'. And then a record label offer came from Croatia that I couldn't refuse. I signed a record deal with Dallas Records, we released our first album 'San' and the rest is history," says the interviewee of "Vijesti", and reveals what he missed most from leaving Bosnia and Herzegovina until his return:

"After five or six years in Florida, I made contact with record labels in Europe, and even then I had a plan in my head that in the future I would take the best that these two worlds have to offer, that is, America and the Balkans. I am not naive to think that everything is great there and everything is terrible here, that is why I continued to live both there and here. At times I stayed longer in America, but for some time now I have been more on this side of the Atlantic. I still record most of my songs in studios that are dear to me and well-known in America, but the market for 'Emir & Frozen Camels' and Bukowskie "Definitely much more Balkan than American. Although, I am working on some very interesting music projects in America, but they have nothing to do with rock and roll and are more in the domain of music for films, games and VR. I am increasingly interested in that segment of music and composition," said Emir, who currently lives between Florida and Sarajevo.

"I have maintained very close ties with friends and fellow musicians in America, especially in Florida. My favorite studio is there where I record songs, but above all, Florida is where I really rest and I would say relax the most. All that work in the studio is forgotten when you walk along the beautiful Florida beaches. Especially during the winter, which, even though I am a 'frozen camel', I absolutely do not like," he admits.

Free to choose where to live

He enjoys the feeling of choosing where he will be, rather than being dictated by external circumstances. This sense of freedom gives him control over his own life and space, allowing him to make decisions according to his desires and needs, rather than the pressures or expectations of others. In those moments, he feels clarity and peace, knowing that every step he takes is the result of his own will, not an inevitable fate.

"It is a great privilege to be free and to have my own time. However, I want to say that I earned that freedom myself, through my own work and effort. No one gave it to me or served it to me. There were moments, which lasted, when I first arrived in America, when I normally worked three jobs: from 6 am to 15 pm in a supermarket, then from 16 pm to 23 pm in a restaurant, and in the meantime I sold flowers. But all of that is experience that I gained and which later helped me even in what I do now," concludes Bukovica.

Enjoys the creative process

For a long time, Bukovica has been very attracted to this so-called "applied musical art" or a kind of "custom" music writing.

"I'm enjoying the creative part of music more and more, the studio work, and I'm less and less attracted to that segment, to put it in a totally conditional and unpretentious way - 'rock and roll fame', if you understand me. Something popular, famous, celebrity and all that," claims Bukovica, who has accumulated a lot of "applied musical works."

"You will be interested to know that I made music for the VR (Virtual Reality) application 'Crvena stijena' at the location of the Crvena stijena cave, near Nikšić. This virtual application aims to take visitors to the site back in time and introduce them to this important site in an educational and attractive way," he said.