On a parchment that is more than half a millennium old, a sevdalinka is written in the form of a text that was sung together by the Montenegrin organization The Books of Knjige and the Belgrade band Artan Lili. Their intention is to convey this wisdom to a wider audience through the joint single "Kad zorom ustanem", which will be available on YouTube from 10 am today, in order to contribute to the awakening of awareness of the moment in which the modern world finds itself.
"The fact that this song comes at the right time is evidenced by the fact that before it was released, it won the hearts of audiences across the region and that it already occupied the top of the charts, as well as a place on the playlists of the biggest regional DJs. The post-punk sevdalinka with concrete elements 'Kada zorom ustanem' was declared the song of the year by critic Robert Weis, even though there are still about thirty days until the end of 2025. And the story of the centuries-old song began quite by accident, in an abandoned Montenegrin village," the Buks PR service said in a statement.
As pointed out, Soldo Palmotić, a member of an archaeological expedition that searched for the remains of the Ark on Ararat at the end of the 19th century, found a parchment with an inscription in an unknown script in a small rock.
"He had no idea that after one hundred and seventy-three years the text would be deciphered and a song based on it would be made that was destined to win the hearts of devotees of the ancient wise words of ancient civilizations. Soldo jealously guarded the parchment and after his death, with the help of his sister, the one-armed grandmother Stana Mihaljinec, the recording was purchased by the late Mario Urela, who accidentally brought it to the studio of old Rifat Alubegović. Rifat deciphers and translates the text using artificial intelligence and, shocked and delighted by the prophecy, offers the sevdalinka to bands that, according to him, are the only ones who have the strength to convey the wise messages of ancient peoples," the statement reads.
According to the same Rifat called Aleksandar Radunović from the TBOK organization, telling him that the song must be recorded in collaboration with a group that, along with the TBOK organization, is the only one who knows shortcuts to the ancient prophets, telling him that he will be cursed if he does not fulfill the prophecy.
"Radunović, fleeing from the prophecy, goes to Belgrade on foot, lives the life of a petty roommate, gets drunk with night ladies, mourning his native Cetinje. The restless artist is constantly searching for the band that Rifat mentions, not suspecting that these are the people in whose entrance he slept for half a month. Bojan Slacala from the band Artan Lili stumbles upon a sleeping Radunović in late October. Thinking he is a beggar from the provinces, she asks him if he needs help, offering him food and cigarettes. Radunović recognizes in him the kindness but also the strength he has been searching for since he fled Montenegro. Slacala takes him into her chambers, where Radunović meets Roman Slačal, Marija Đorđevića Noyza and someone Stevan Tribasović, who, recognizing the runaway beggar, realize what must be done to help the frightened artist. After giving him a drink and hearing the story of the ancient parchment, the five of them contact the rest of the TBOK organization via a free video call, arrange cooperation, and the sevdalinka begins to pulse in the hands of the excited artists. The rest is history,” the statement concludes.
Bonus video:
