Sakura

Today Skopje celebrated the traditional japaneese holiday Sakura or The day of the cherry blossoms. Among the different martial arts presentations and caligraphy there was a haiku reading in which I took part with the music of a traditional japaneese flute played in the background.


In cherry blossom shade
there are even those
who hate this world (Isa)

Who's next?

Haiku

Не раззелени
врбата оваа пролет.
Умрела од жал.

No country for poor men

To build on the picture from the last post I just want to say that I'm really glad Liverpool got through and is going to the 1/4 finals of the Champions League. I think this is the first time that 4 english teams will play in the 1/4. I hope we miss Man United and have Fenerbahce instead in the next round. We'll see...Recently Phil brought me a 84 Liverpool shirt. It's great.

Yesterday I finished reading Brothers Karamazov, more than 1000 pages, and I can say it's a masterpiece. It's considered as one of the finest pieces of literature.

Yesterday was the big "Day of the tree" and in our country 2 millions trees were planted. One for each person. We went to plant a tree and after an hour in the bus standing, when we got to the place we found out that the planting takes place 4 km away which is an hour walking. Well, that wouldn't be a problem but my mom was working that afternoon and we needed to go to Veles also, so we came back. I understand including all the people but so many people going to one place just makes a mess and it's not needed. Maybe in 20 years the organization will be better. But now, we were not surprised, this is our country!

The Greeks want us to change our name but it's not only the name but it's the identity. They don't want any Macedonians, they want citizens of New Macedonia, North Macedonia, everything but not Macedonians. They are afraid, cause if they admit that there are Macedonians that will mean that there are at least 500.000 of them living in the north of their country and many who were kicked out of the country during the civil wars who can claim the land that was taken from them. Our government needs to decide, if we want to join NATO we must make a compromise and change the name. Everyone is pressing, EU, USA... Dirty games by the civilized countries who want to teach us democracy cause we are just wild barbarians. But barbarians or not we are not changing the name. Who cares about NATO and EU.

Who would think so?

Кобајаши Иса (втор дел)

Во плитката река,
врз дланките што мијат садови –
пролетна месечина.

Не бркај го еленот
што дошол да ги посети
црешите во цут.

Еј, скакулче,
немој да ги изгазиш
блескавите бисери на росата!

Види го славејот!
И на благородниците
истата песна им ја пее.

Не се предавај
еј, мало жапче!
Иса е тука!

Пепруга во градината.
Детенцето ползи – таа одлетува.
Детенцето ползи – таа одлетува.

Не газете овде.
Синоќа беше преполно
со светулки.

Мачето, за миг,
го згазнува листот
носен од ветрот.

И мојот татко
ги гледаше овие планини…
Зимска осама.

Денес како и вчера…
Над бедната колипка
се шири магла

До секоја порта
пролетта стасува
со кал на наланите.

Есенски ветер.
Сенката на планината
трепери.

"Thou shalt always kill" by Dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip

Кобајаши Иса (1763-1827)

Покрај Мацуо Башо еве уште еден од јапонските мајстори. Веројатно мојот омилен. Направив избор од неговото хаику и ќе го постирам во два дела. Ова е првиот.

Глеј, ене го пак,
до берачите на чај
стои еленот.

Во торбулево
малку ориз и малку
ливчиња од чај.

На богослужба
луѓето замолкнаа.
Пчелите ѕунат.

Месечино над ридот,
осветли го, те молам,
оној што краде цвеќе!

Тивок, сончев ден.
Монахот од планинскиот храм
ѕирка низ оградата.

Светот е полн со тага и бол
дури и кога црешата
ќе расцути.

Славејот си ги чисти
калливите ножиња
со сливин цвет.

Не заминувај!
Колку и да пееш лошо,
ти си мој славеј, мој!

И одлета пеперугата,
чиниш жали
што светот е таков.

Едно девојче
си го избриша носот
со цвет.

Дојди да си поиграме,
врапченце
без мајка и татко!

Црешовиот цвет
го натера и благородникот
да слезе од коњот

Check this out!

GOTH-ROCK!

The Winner fest is over. I must say that I really had a great time and the whole idea of making it as a small tour is great. You can hang out with the other bands, get to know each other, make plans for future gigs. We were not sure what to expect when it came to the organization and the logistics but we were positively surprised by the guys from Lithium records and their attitude and behavior towards the bands.
In the end we were second by the number of votes and in Skopje had a bunch of votes more than the other bands. But what made me happy is that we didn't have as many friends as we had votes which means that people gave their vote for us cause they liked our music, which is good. Also we had so much fun with DJ Rootboy from Struga. It was great! Well, I guess that's about it.

I just lost my operatic virginity

Yes, it's true. I went to see an opera for the first time in my life just few days ago. I have always loved the philharmonic orchestra and been to a couple of concerts but never been to an opera. We saw Pietro Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana" which I must say I really liked it. It was short (just a little bit over an hour), the story was simple, but the whole experience was great. Especially I liked the scenery. I think I might be hooked up on opera. :)

Summon the losers with fire in their eyes and instruments in their hands!

Every year as part of the "Taksirat" festival there is a smaller festival for new bands funny or weird enough called "Loser Fest". This year the festival will be for the first time something like a mini-tour with the bands playing in Prilep (29th), Stip (30th) and in Skopje (1st of December). We applied with Vanity Fair and were very surprised and happy when we got chosen among the eight bands that will play this year. The band that has the most votes is the winner which is not a measure for the quality but it's going to be a great fun and important experience for us.

So everyone is invited because it's time for the show called...VANITY FAIR!!!

P.S. From now on the guys from Lithium Records decided to rename the festival into "Winner Fest".

Buenos noches Madrid!

After six days in sunny Seville we arrived at the Madrid airport but we came a little bit late. Just one day late. Our plane already left so we needed to spend an extra day in Madrid. But I'm glad about that cause if we didn't stay I wouldn't write this song:

Есенска вечер
Уличен квартет ја свири
"Пролет" од Вивалди

Autumn evening
The street quartet plays
Vivaldi's "Spring"

P.S. The photo is the view from our hotel room. Nice!

Haiga

This is the the first haiga I have made and sent to the contest of the World Haiku Association. It was edited for september and you can read the critique if you copy the following address www.worldhaiku.net/haiga_contest/48th/haiga48.htm. You can find some other works there and you will see what's the whole point in haiga. The photo was made by Diane Shipp. Enjoy!

Korab 2007

Even though it was raining the day before, the morning of 8th of September was sunny as we approached the starting point of our climb of Big Korab. Will the mountain let us climb it's summit this time? You can only approach such greatness with humility and respect. The climb was pretty demanding and at times the wind was so cold and strong that withouth gloves and winter cap you think you would freeze. After more than two hours into the climb suddenly we were welcomed by the magnificent view of the slopes of Korab covered in snow that fell just few days prior to the climb. But still the summit could not be seen until later. You could hear the sound of the small streams flowing by the side. Man can only marvel at that beauty. The last hour was mostly walking on snow and was pretty hard but the satisfaction that followed was worth it.

Tired I go back to
my warm home while she stayed
to talk to the clouds.