FOTO: Fejsbuk stranica Goran Bregović„He displayed the flag (cf. of Greater Albania) in the middle of Belgrade in 2014, but Ballist Morina now supports the Serbian singer“ – reads the message published by some Pristina media regarding Ballist Morina’s reaction to the news of Goran Bregovic’s upcoming performance at the Korca beer festival in Albania.
For several days now, some Kosovo media outlets have been extensively reporting about Bregovic’s performance, calling the singer „an inspirer of the massacre in Kosovo“ and „an inspiration and idol of the murderous Serb army during the wars in former Yugoslavia“.
„Ballist Morina is an Albanian who used a drone at the Serbia-Albania match in 2014, and today he defended the Serb singer Goran Bregovic, rumored to perform at Korca,“ Gazeta Express wrote last night.
„Contrary to what the majority of Albanian artists think, not just those who accuse Bregovic of inciting anti-Albanian calls during the war in Kosovo, Ballist Morina claims otherwise“ – the same portal added.
Gazeta Express actually published Morina’s post in which he says that there is no evidence that Goran Bregovic sang to „Arkan’s Tigers“, „Chetniks – as claimed“ or that „he incited the hatred of Serbs towards Albanians through his songs and influence.“
On the contrary, Morina recalls the glorious days of Bijelo Dugme, a popular music group Bregovic was a member of, and the year of 1983, when this group performed the great hit „Rroka Mandolina“, that is, „Kosovska“, in Albanian.
Morina also explained that the dust has actually been raised for something „that does not pose a danger“, stressing that the intention behind this was to „cover something that poses a great danger“:
„Anti-national decisions of the country’s prime minister and the national disturbance caused by these decisions, attention is diverted from important events.“
„I express my opposition when I see some musicians and fans who are not only influenced by fake news but also threaten with violence due to the participation of this singer (cf. at the festival), but when it comes to real things, they lack any kind of reaction,“ he said.
„Personally, I would be grateful to GOD if all Serbs were like Goran Bregovic, and I would be very much in the mood for Albanian-Serbian friendship,“ Morina emphasized.
„Welcome, Mr. Goran Bregovic!“ – he concluded.
Ismail Ballist Morina is a fan suspected of piloting a small drone displaying a map of Greater Albania over a football field during a friendly football match between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade in October 2014.
The municipality of Korca makes decisions on the guests
Previously, several Kosovan portals published statements of the authorities in Korca who claim that this is an issue that only concerns this municipality.
One of the festival organizers, Dimitri Zonja, emphasized that their job as organizers is to prepare a good program for their guests, noting that in the end, the municipality itself makes decisions on the guest list.
Larisa Katundi, from the Media Office of the Municipality of Korca, told Gazeta Express that the participation of the famous musician has not yet been confirmed by the organizers, but that Korca wants Bregovic to come to the festival.
She expressed disapproval of the Kosovo media criticism of the news that Bregovic was invited to perform, saying that the whole topic was „treated more politically than artistically“.
She reminded that this will not be the first time Bregovic came to Albania, recalling that he also held a concert in Tirana in 2006.
„I know that all this was provoked on the portals to discuss this issue, but the Beer Festival has nothing to do with politics, it is art,“ Katundi emphasized.
Negative campaign
After some Albanian media reported that Goran Bregovic will be performing at the upcoming beer festival in Korca, several Kosovo media outlets published a text about Bregovic on Tuesday, describing the Serb singer as an „inspirer of the massacre in Kosovo,“ particularly through his song “Kalashnikov”.
These media outlets then proceeded to publish negative reactions of public figures and highlight the time Bregovic met Radovan Karadzic.
Singer Vesa Luma published a picture of Bregovic receiving a decoration from the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic, earlier this year, ironically congratulating Bregovic, Kosovo media report.
A famous Kosovo singer Blerim Muharemi ‘Blero’ told T7 that Bregovic’s upcoming performance is “complete nonsense.”
„We are not in the phase where we invite them to sing to us. That is absolutely stupid,“ he told Gazeta Express, adding that Albanians in Kosovo are „struggling with a lot of things“ because “only 20 years have passed since the war, not 200.”
Ekonomia Online published several texts about the topic, writing that other festival performers allegedly canceled their performance because of Bregovic.
This portal also reported that „fans of the Albanian national team, better known as the Red and Blacks, joined the avalanche of negative reactions, asking the municipality of Korca to remove Bregovic from the guest list,” referring to requests they received from Albanians to “prevent the performance of a Serbian singer who motivated Serbian paramilitary formations to carry out massacres of the civilian population in many cities in Kosovo through his songs with their bodies.”
„Black and white“ football fans from Serbia also stated that no Albanian singer could perform at any festival in Serbia, adding that radio stations in Serbia even stopped playing songs by Dua Lipa and Rita Ora, because they are Albanian. However, the songs of these two world-famous singers can often be heard on radio stations in Serbia.
In the meantime, some Kosovo portals have expanded the negative media campaign with polls on social networks. Thus, Gazeta Blic asked its readers the following question: „Should Goran Bregovic’s concert in Korca be canceled? React.”
The official website of the festival states that details of the program are expected soon and contains no information on Bregovic’s performance.
The official website of Goran Bregovic also contains no confirmation of his alleged upcoming performance at the Korca Beer Festival. Bregovic’s site opens with the song „Kalashnikov“.
The famous Korca Beer Festival will be held from August 14th to August 18th. The organizers expect 100,000 festival-goers, and they have announced over 100 music performances.
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Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
