![vratite_nam_snove](https://meta.mk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/vratite_nam_snove-696x392.jpg)
Young Montenegrin singers Milica Radan and Komnen Vuković, together with the choir D-mol, published a video clip for their antiwar song devoted to the children of Ukraine “Vratite nam snove” (“Bring back our dreams”) on March 17.
The song is a message demanding an end to the war and promoting empathy for the suffering children. The video clip includes subtitles in English.
Stop the bombs, bring back our dreams,
Our sunflowers, that are scared of the dark.
We are the army of the Sun, we are the army of happiness,
It’s because of us that the planet of peace revolves.
The video clip was published by the media company Vijesti, publisher of eponymous newspaper, TV andd website, which are among the most influential in Montenegro.
The author of the lyrics for the song is Marijana Kadić Bojanić, while the music was written by Danijel Alibabić.
In an interview for Balkansmedia.org, Kadić Bojanić stated that the images of the war in Ukraine, the children left without their loved ones, destroyed homes, refugee columns, the suffering and uncertainty awoke inside her the deepest kind of sadness, but also sprung desire to do something, even a little, that would incite understanding by all people of good will and spur them to take action.
“Images of suffering brought back to me the suppressed memories of what all of us from the area of former Yugoslavia suffered during the 1990s when my own quiet and fairytale childhood ended due to horrors of war.
On the other hand, the media I work at have antiwar activism at their root, from the weekly Monitor, as well as the newspaper, TV and internet portal Vijesti and the Center for Investigative Journalism. Their founders have always raised their voices against injustice and the aggression of the mighty. This all influenced me to write the song almost at a stroke, at the time when I prepared a humanitarian action to help the children of Ukraine with my colleagues…”
The song “Vratite nam snove” was first performed at the International festival of children songs “Zlatna Pahulja” (Golden Snowflake) in Rožaje.
The festival has a tradition of 28 years, and this year took place on March 4 and 5, consisting of two evenings, the first for domestic, and the second for international performers, featuring children from neighboring countries.
Vijesti use the song for promotion of humanitarian actions to help Ukraine. The first such action was donation evening in Podgorica on March 10, which gathered 10.000 euros.
At request of local population, a similar action was organized by local civil society organizations in Bijelo Polje on March 23, as a way to help Ukrainian refugees housed in that town after the Russian invasion. Local hotel hosts 14 families with 36 members, who thanked local citizens and businesses for the initiative.