Choral tribute to the victims of genocide

A CHORAL collaboration during lockdown has been forged between Welsh and Bosnian choirs to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide.

The Sarajevo National Theatre and Cardiff choir Cardiff Ardwyn Singers along with string ensembles have been working hard on a joint performance of the song White Flower, which was written by a survivor of the Siege of Sarajevo.

The international collaboration overcame a host of practical problems due to the Covid-19 pandemic to produce a moving video which will be shown across the world during Srebrenica Memorial Week this week.

The collaboration was the brainchild of Remembering Srebrenica Wales’ co-chair Abi Carter, who is part of the Cardiff choir, and Elvir Solak, composer of White Flower and member of the Sarajevo National Theatre.

Abi said: “The project has involved 136 people including the musicians and creative professionals to complete the painstaking work – entirely on a voluntary basis.

“It is a beautiful piece of music written about the soul of a victim describing his mother’s heartache and depicts the charity’s emblem, the White Flower, which has a very poignant meaning behind it.

“Wales wanted to show Bosnia and Herzegovina that we are remembering what has happened in their history and we are not forgetting this important anniversary... I hope it is clear what a wonderful act of remembrance and unity this project has created.”

In July, 1995, 8,372 Muslim men and boys were murdered over five days in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, purely because of their religion. UK charity Remembering Srebrenica was founded in 2013 to raise awareness of the atrocity.

The charity’s chairman Waqar Azmi OBE said: “Welsh choirs have a long history of raising social justice and human rights issues and this song White Flower will be seen across the world as another example of this deep-rooted commitment to human rights.”

White Flower will be launched on Wednesday during the Welsh online commemoration of the 25th anniversary.

See www.srebrenica.org.uk/ or follow @SrebrenicaWales on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.