Cello

I was in the studio on Monday and we had a cellist come in and play some parts for a couple of my songs. It was absolutely beautiful and I was really moved and encouraged by it. We did a couple takes where we gave her the opportunity to just be creative and play whatever she was feeling along with the song. There was some really pretty things that came from the cellist freestyling it. I fell in love with the cello all over again.

As I drove home, I remembered this story about a cellist that I read about a long time ago:






Vedran Smailović is a famous musician in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Smailović is the son of musician Avdo Smailovic. He played in the Sarajevo Opera, The Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, The Symphony Orchestra RTV Sarajevo, and The National Theatre of Sarajevo.

After the start of the war in Bosnia,in 1992, Vedran Smailović, just like hundreds of thousands of other residents who witnessed the Siege of Sarajevo, survived the cold, food and water shortages, the constant bombings and sniper fire in the street.

After his Opera theater was destroyed and twenty two of his neighbors were killed by a mortar while standing in a bread queue, he dressed in a full evening suit, and refused to stop playing his cello on the streets of Sarajevo. Smailović played his cello for 22 days to honour the 22 people who had been killed. He was seen on television all over the world. When asked by a CNN reporter if he was not crazy for playing his cello while Sarajevo was being shelled, Smailovic replied, "You ask me am I crazy for playing the cello, why do you not ask if they are not crazy for shelling Sarajevo?".



Just thought I'd share.