August 29, 2020 - In Montenegro there are innovative small businesses run by passionate people in a wide range of different areas. One project that stands out for its community concept, and the sheer variety of what it offers, is Pachamama Farmstay and Community Retreat near Radanovići, between Tivat and Budva. I spoke to its founder, Pasha, about his fascinating journey to Montenegro, and what Pachamama is all about.

Tell us a little about yourself and how you came to live in Montenegro. Your background is in catering, is it not?

I was born in Iran, into a pretty academic family, but I realised early on that that path wasn’t for me. I enrolled at university to study computer science, but soon dropped out, and went on to take several marketing courses - a big part of that was about motivation and self-improvement. I started reading a lot around the motivational aspect, and I was really inspired by that. I’d always had a passion for food, and after some meticulous planning, I started my own catering business. I called it Pasha Food Studio, and I started running it entirely from my tiny kitchen. I got quite well-known pretty quickly, catering for private parties and events, with the full support of my amazing mum. My careful planning and love of food paid off, and many embassies, international events and famous people began to use the service. Yet in spite of the success, and of course the partying, I had the feeling that something was missing. I decided to follow my inner voice, ended up selling the business and began travelling, WWOOFing  (WorldWide Opportunities on Organic Farms - volunteering - Ed.) and practising meditation, searching for something that would give me greater fulfillment.

Pasha (L) and friends

 I had always had a dream of opening a hotel, not a five-star one, but more of a place where people could come and feel close to nature, part of a community, and eat good food, of course! It was on one of my travels in East-Asia that ended up buying a folding bike. It was by bike that I first saw Montenegro, on a long journey to Italy to see family. I had travelled through pretty much the whole of the Balkans and loved it, and Montenegro was particularly stunning - although my assumption that I would find flatter cycling terrain near the coast turned out to be completely wrong! After two years Montenegro called me back and I began to understand that this could be the place to realise my dream. After another two years of searching, I eventually found where Pachamama Farmstay is located now. However that was not the end of the story of 2018, as the Universe had one more surprise in store for me. I found my soulmate, Zoe, with whom I was to continue this path of self growth, to fulfil our dream together. For the last 18 months we have been working on the site together to offer a range of activities, and of course the community farmstay. With our WWOOFing experience we know what works for these kinds of projects. We know that the project isn’t ever going to be “finished”, but that’s the beauty of it.

Why then Montenegro? What attracted you to stop here rather than anywhere else?

Montenegro is of course an extremely beautiful country, but also for me it was a question of timing. I had travelled all over the world, and had plans to move on and travel around Latin America, but through circumstances the plan never came about. My love for the Balkans grew, as I say, out of that first cycling trip through the region, and I realised that it was somewhere that I could stay long-term. Beyond finding the right place, the process of setting up the farmstay here has been pleasantly straightforward, and that’s of course part of the attraction as well.

What would you say is at the heart of Pachamama?

Everyone knows that ordinarily there’s no way you could get the USA, Iran, EU countries, Russia, Israel, Cuba, Serbia...the list goes on... in the same room! But here we strive for something different. We are on the path of growth and learning to show love and compassion towards ourselves and all others, no matter where we come from. At Pachamama we live as an international community from all around the world in peace, sharing whatever gifts and skills we have with others - be they creative, meditative, culinary, and learning from one another is at the core of who we are. People are joining us on this journey by coming to a workshop for just a few hours, volunteering for a few months or living with us as permanent members.

And who are the people you have coming to the farm, and to the workshops you run?

Our volunteers are mostly Europeans and Americans, people who know about and understand the WWOOFing concept. Unfortunately so far we haven’t had many Montenegrins or Serbians attending the workshops or applying as volunteers. This may be because some of the workshop concepts aren’t so familiar in this region, but we would love more local people to join us. We’re hoping that this will happen in future, as Pachamama grows and becomes more well-known, and recently we have seen more local interest. When we were just setting up here we also started a Facebook page called Alternative Montenegro to create a platform for other people who are interested in alternative activities to be able to connect and share activities such as yoga, permaculture, conscious dance and so on.

The retreat offers a range of activities

How have you been working through the pandemic and post-lockdown?

Well it’s funny really, but many of my friends back in Iran, and in other places too, have been saying to me “How did you know this was going to happen?!” Lots of people, particularly those living in cities, are starting to understand the value of living with the land, and being more self-sufficient. People are now seeing themselves outside of the city, they want space. At Pachamama we haven’t been affected hugely, as we’re pretty far from our neighbours, and we focused on growing our own food. But of course the number of volunteers has been lower this year. Luckily we have also had some volunteers who chose to stay on the farm at the beginning of the pandemic period earlier in the year, rather than trying to make it back to their home country. Nature doesn’t stop, there’s still plenty to do.

Work on the farm

Can you tell us about how you intend to develop stays at Pachamama in future?

Our priority there is to get the main stone house finished - we’re currently living in a caravan ourselves, which is not amazingly comfortable in winter! We want to be able to offer a wider range of accommodation for our guests, from camping and using basic facilities for backpackers or those on a smaller budget, to en-suite rooms for those who want a bit more luxury as part of their stay. We want to be able to welcome as many different people from different backgrounds as possible, so that we can carry on our learning and sharing journey.

And we wish you and Pachamama Farmstay every success on that journey!

 Pachamama Farmstay

Alternative Montenegro

HRB

As someone who loves both yoga and Boka Kotorska, I was very pleased to be able to catch up with Max from Yogaboka to chat about the studio in Stoliv, his approach to teaching, and why yoga is an ideal remedy for these trying times!

Tell us a bit about your background and what brought you to Boka. Was it to set up a studio?

When we bought our place here, in 2007, I wasn’t thinking about teaching professionally here. When we found what is now the studio, with the flat roof, I thought it would be perfect for my own practice. I love the fact that we’re still quite connected to the community here in Stoliv, yet we’re also separate - the 150 steps to the studio certainly keep you fit, whether you’re coming for practice, or just coming home! I had been practicing yoga for many years when we came here; I started practising martial arts in the 1980’s, and then began practicing yoga myself in the late 1990’s. I was living in Moscow then, with a high-powered job in publishing, and had friends who had moved to Moscow from all over the former Yugoslavia. Many of them are back in the Balkans now, and some live very nearby. We’ve been living here full-time since 2010, and set up the studio in 2015.

What do you like the most about Boka Kotorska?

About fifteen years ago I really fell in love with Boka, it is truly my love! I had travelled a lot, and lived in many places. I was originally thinking of moving somewhere else, maybe the Balearics, but I really fell in love with this place - it was truly a decision of the heart. It’s such a wonderful place to get back to nature, find balance. The birdsong is a great addition to practice too.

What is the idea behind Yogaboka?

I came to yoga from studying Western philosophy, then Eastern philosophy, Indian philosophy and studied for extended periods with some real Indian masters of yoga tradition. Indian philosophy has a much more practical approach to philosophy here in the West. It’s much more about trying things out for yourself, not taking things for granted. The practical aspect is very important, how practice relates to your everyday life. I have a traditional, holistic approach to teaching yoga, including emphasis on meditation - it’s not about acrobatics, or anything competitive. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (15th Century Sanskrit influential text on Hatha yoga) dedicates only one quarter of its content to the physical aspect of yoga, and I think in the West there is too much focus on the physical, the asanas. Working with inner energy and subtle connections in the body is also very important, and this is underestimated in Western practice. So the idea behind Yogaboka is to teach and promote authentic yoga. Of course we do work with the physical aspect, but we connect it to a more subtle, inner level, using traditional techniques to harmonise our energies with nature. This brings much greater and longer-lasting benefits. We try to bring an Adriatic feel to our practice too, and the beautiful surroundings certainly help with that!

Group Class at the YogaBoka studio

What is the usual scheme of work for the studio? Where and when do you teach, in normal times?

Last year we were very busy, with group classes at the studio, and at Porto Montenegro Yacht Club - I even had to turn people away sometimes as there wasn’t enough space! Alongside the regular group classes we usually run retreats, workshops - and arrange accommodation and trips out for the guests as part of the package. Last year we were working mornings, evenings, had guest teachers, as well as running private sessions. It was so busy I didn’t have time to swim! This year things are very different, of course.

 Max also teaches at Porto Montenegro Yacht Club

What is usual demographic for the classes? Do you have many locals joining, or is it mostly tourists?

We have mostly visitors coming to our classes, from the UK, Russia, Scandinavia, Serbia, but also some Montenegrins - our neighbours have joined the classes for example, and we had some very motivated guys from Montenegro last year. I have to say that it is mostly women joining the group classes, but in the private classes - maybe 40, 50% are men. We also did some special offers for locals to join the sessions. We have a local teacher, Sonja, who works with us too. So it is a mix, really, in terms of age, gender and where people are from.

How does yoga fit with the way of life and environment here in Boka Kotorska?

The natural environment here lends itself to yoga, the peace, being in harmony with nature. I teach, and have taught, in many different settings, but the studio here in Stoliv is my favourite. The backdrop is perfect.

How have you adapted the classes and workshops to the current pandemic? Have people been receptive to these changes?

As I said, last year we were very busy with our “in person” classes. This year things are very different. We’ve been running twice-weekly online yoga sessions, and meditation sessions on a Friday. The online setting has its challenges, technically, and in terms of how the sessions are led, but geographically we have a much greater spread now, and that’s great for getting the word out about yoga. The pandemic has really pushed me to go online, which was something I had been thinking of doing for a while. It gives the opportunity to go deeper into practice, into the philosophy of yoga.

How do you think yoga can help people during the COVID crisis?

Here in Montenegro there is less awareness about yoga than in other places, for example big cities like London or New York, but I think that yoga can help people connect - and really, the current situation is the perfect opportunity for people to jump into practice! People’s neuroses are much more heightened now, they need something to bring them some calm. I was very impressed when Queen Elizabeth herself mentioned the benefits of slowing down and using meditation in her recent coronavirus speech.

How do you see your classes and the studio in general evolving during the coming months? 

We’ll be running more online classes from the autumn, alongside the sessions at PMYC. We hope that we’ll be able to share the benefits of yoga with people face to face again soon. We’ll be getting our retreats and workshops up and running too, as soon as the time is right, and we’re working on some new ideas there. We realise that the summer season isn’t going to offer much, in terms of what we usually do, but people here are getting on with life. At first, the local people I know in the tourism industry were really nervous, but now they’re accepting things more, enjoying the bay for themselves. We’ve got a bit more time for that too, alongside having time to think about how we develop the studio, and our retreats. That’s the plan for the moment, and we’re really looking forward to sharing more yoga very soon.

The new retreats page is now live at www.yogaboka.com/retreats

Many thanks to Max from Yogaboka, and we look forward to new adventures in yoga in the very near future! 

At the studio in Stoliv

 www.yogaboka.com

November 14, 2019 - Steve Arrick has been Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy Podgorica since June 2019. Helen Reynolds-Brown spoke to him and his partner Meriem about their experiences learning Montenegrin, and how it has helped them since their arrival in the city.

TMN: How were you prepared in terms of the language, before you arrived?

Steve: I was quite fortunate because in the summer of 2018, I went on a short course organised by the Montenegrin Ministry of Foreign Affairs that included regional and cultural activities, as well as language.

Meriem: To be honest, I didn’t know much about Montenegro before Steve got the job, but then I found out that it had been part of Yugoslavia, and also found out a bit about the local language. I also managed to get free language lessons through the UK Foreign Office before we came here.

Steve: Generally, for us, there are ten months of training in London, and then one-month immersion. We want to do this in Montenegro, but as we don’t have many diplomats here, we tend to do it in the region instead. I spent two weeks in Banja Luka and two weeks in Mostar living with families.

TMN: Do either of you have a language background?

Meriem: I am Algerian, and speak Arabic and some French. China, where we lived for six years, was the first completely foreign country where I was forced to learn a language. After China, nothing is as scary. People here speak great English. China was very different from that, and you were basically stuck if you didn’t speak any Mandarin. We got pretty good over the six years we were there.

Steve: Before I transferred to the Foreign Office, I had school-level French. Mandarin was the first language I took to a decent level. The Foreign Office has “language slots” and “non-language slots”. Both here and China for me were language slots, but even for non-language posts, there is some optional language training provided.

TMN: So how much do you use your Montenegrin here in Podgorica both personally, and professionally?

Steve: I use my language every day, but not as much as I’d like to. I’ll often introduce myself in meetings, but I’d like to be able to make all my speeches in the local language. In a personal capacity, we use the language every day in restaurants and shops, so it’s super-useful. I’ve never found that people feel pushed to switch to English with us, but I’m not quite pushy enough myself to insist they speak their language to us either. People are always pleased to hear you’re learning their language, even when you make mistakes.

Meriem: I’m a teacher of English as a second language in an international school, which is what I did in China. I don’t use the local language at work at all, as we all speak English, however, I do use it a lot in taxis and shops. I’ve only had one or two instances when people have got frustrated with the speed of the conversation, but other than that people are really understanding. We’re also trying to keep up with the Mandarin, which we speak with some friends who are still in China.

Steve: I think the Mandarin was something that we were worried about losing. I had grand plans of signing up for weekly lessons, but I haven’t got round to that yet!

TMN: What do you find most difficult about learning the language?

Steve: It’s the grammar for me. Even in school, that was the part that I didn’t really like about languages. With Chinese, there is some grammar, but not very much. So when you start a Slavic language, well, there’s a lot of it! Cases (padeži) are the worst. Our press officer told me he frequently questions himself if he got it right, so I know it’s not just me!

Meriem: I would say the grammar as well. I try to get it right, and end up spending more time thinking than actually speaking. By the time I’ve worked out what I want to say, people are like, “Look, we’ve already figured out what you want…!”

TMN: Have you had any proud moments learning the language?

Meriem: Well, I’m taking my driving theory test in Montenegrin, which is a challenge! I do evening classes, and the teacher doesn’t speak any English. I did a sample test recently, and I did pretty well on it, so I felt very proud of myself! It’s that immersion style of learning, and you just have to get on with it.

Steve: I hadn’t had anything as impressive as that, although a couple of days ago, one of our local members of staff from Tirana took me for a local here when I spoke the language. That felt good, but my local colleagues found it hilarious! You get the odd moments like that, and it feels like the effort’s paying off.

TMN: What, in your opinion, is the general impression of the UK and the British here?

Steve: It seems very positive. People seem to have a lot of respect for British history and culture and there’s generally a very positive image of what the UK does here, which I’m sure is in part because of the work of the Ambassador and her predecessors.

TMN: And do people ask you about your background, Meriem?

Meriem: Yes, because a lot of my colleagues had never met an Algerian before. I was pleasantly surprised, people know more about Algeria than I expected. From what I know, our previous president Boumediene was very good friends with Tito and that’s one of the reasons. A lot of the small cultural things are also similar. I don’t know whether it’s a Mediterranean thing, but there are lots of everyday things that remind me of Algeria.

TMN: How much of Montenegro have you managed to visit together since you arrived here in June?

Steve: We’ve done quite a bit, but there’s still a fair list of things we’d like to see. We’ve been on road trips over the summer, to the coast, and then up into the national parks, but many places we've only visited for a day. I’m keen to try the skiing here, but we’ll see how the winter goes (looks at the rain outside).

Steve and Meriem have very much enjoyed their time in Montenegro so far, and are looking forward to what more the country, and the language, have in store for them.

Helen Reynolds-Brown

15 October 2019 - The following article represents the personal perspective of author Stevan Perović on cryptocurrencies and the views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Total Montenegro News. Stevan Perović was born and lives in Montenegro, and he is currently working as a Market Developer for Southeastern Europe in Kyrrex, a company that serves as a crypto exchange platform.

A cryptocurrency exchange or digital currency exchange (DCE) is an exchange where one can buy or sell cryptocurrencies. They can be traded using electronic monetary units, tokenized fiat currencies, or other digital assets. Modern technological solutions such as encryption (cryptography) make sure that the transactions are ultra-secure. Cryptography is the art of creating and deciphering code.

"Cryptocurrency has come to change things once and for all. The advent of the internet has created an entirely new dimension, and the new digital population now has children of its own. The crypto environment is quite young, but it has stirred quite a commotion during its decade-long history. It is not about the tech framework alone: we are witnessing the rapid growth of a qualitatively new community, with its own values, beliefs and socio-economic particularities. Community is the spine and support for the healthy development of any industry. But in the case of crypto, the sentiment of classical financial moguls matters a lot. It defines the pace in which the domain moves forward," pointed out Viktor Kochetov in an introductory speech for Kyrrex.

TMN: How crypto exchange generate revenue?
SP: We generate revenue from trading fees, withdraw fees, MAM account management fees, payments for new tokens listing, and subscription fees for the advanced + modules of the trading platform.

TMN: What is your vision?
SP: Our vision is to become the first world level regulated and licensed сrypto exchange and wallet. Maximum openness, trust, transparency, institutional level of liquidity, high technology trading instruments, and payments are our main priorities in this market.

Read more news about business in Montenegro at TMN's dedicated page.

Natasa Pejic, a Master of Philosophy from Belgrade, has been spending summers in Tivat, where she owns an apartment. She spoke with TMN about her view of this Bokelian town:

 "I have been coming to Tivat for the past three years, mostly during the summer. I enjoy it immensely and try to really relax and recharge for new challenges for the whole of next year, and it means great pleasure to me."

Natasa's first encounter with Tivat happened 30 years ago, of which she says:

"It was nice. I mostly went to Meljine at the time, and it was one of the few excursions outside of Herceg Novi that I accidentally made. I remember a wonderful experience as we, as young people, swam completely spontaneously and by chance to the settlement of Sveti Marko on the island across the town, where Club Mediteranne was at the time, and then the three of us went on foot around that club and it was really exciting for us and we returned swimming as if it was a complete joke. It's my first experience, my first encounter with Tivat. Then, about ten, or 15 years later, I came by boat to the waterfront Pine and I was completely impressed by how royal it looked, these palm trees, extraordinary! Now everything is fine in Tivat, I don't mind anything, which is quite unusual for me. I love the sea the most, sitting in a cafe and watching the bay, the sun shining on these waves, magical."

This is not something easy to compliment, as Natasha travelled around the world and lived in New York for several years, where she earned a master's degree in philosophy on "How to Define Mental Illness".

When it comes to this topic and in this region, Pejic says: “I think that it is not easy at all for us, it is mostly difficult for us to live, and our mental health is much worse than for many years ago, when we lived in a more serious state. Tivat reminds me of some seaside towns in Croatia where I used to spend time as a kid. I have some associations on Jelsa, at sea in the former Yugoslavia.”

Natasa Pejic worked for fifteen years as a journalist:

"I've worked for the Beta News Agency for the longest time, and I'm very proud of that. It is an independent news agency, which I have worked for since its founding in 1994. It was a pioneering venture amid a terrible regime, which imposed itself there, and Beta did a really mining part of the work in the media and contributed to the overthrow of the regime. I don't think Beta has ever been recognized enough for this, the glory went to B92 and some newspapers, and Beta was a fundamental contributor to independent journalism during Milosevic's time.

Natasa Pejic has been in the publishing business for the last few years and has her own small publishing house "Mali vrt":

"I've been in publishing for fifteen years. It is a small publishing company, which I own, and I do not have big ambitions. I publish what I would normally do, do English translations and have three editions so far. One deals with psychology, where I mainly translate the work of Carl Gustav Jung's followers. The second is an edition of poetry, there are classics of world poetry, which I enjoy, which my associate Aleksandar Šurbatović is doing and relatively recently I have an edition that deals with socio-political and economic topics. ”

In Tivat, Natasa is taking a break from Belgrade, where she has a lot of work, and if looking forward to seeing us next summer.

Nina Labus, a make-up artist from Rome, who spends summers in Boka Bay, tells us the story of her entry into this popular profession, related to the brilliance of the film industry:

“I work as a look maker. In recent years, it is a profession, which has started to advance, because the intention is to unite the knowledge of makeup - not just beauty, or fashion makeup, which is used for beautification, but also totally the other side of stage makeup, where characterization is done, where we have scars, beards, moustaches, and we also do hair, so that is where the hair goes with that character.

For the last six, seven years, one person has been doing all this, with assistants. The size of the project depends on how many people work - the more actors, the more workforce. ”

Nina has been spending summers in Tivat for 25 years: “I spend at least a month in Tivat in the summer. It has made a lot of progress in recent years, I like how everything is tidied up and how it works on landscaping parks and the city in general.

 Porto Montenegro is a special part of the city, which I like… In comparison to the years when my family came here, I think in ninety-two, it is a huge difference. New town! Although, I see that my husband and my friends, who come from Italy, prefer the old part of the town."

Nina has worked on more than twenty films so far. As a girl, she chose and completed management studies in Belgrade and Paris:

"It was the nineties in our country ... I went first to Paris, where I graduated in 1995 and never returned to Belgrade. I also had a somewhat adventurous spirit and fate took me to Florence. While I was studying in Paris, I hung out with the son of the famous writer Antonio Tabucchi, who kept calling me to Florence. When I went to Florence, I liked it and stayed, and then love took me to Rome, where I have lived for twenty-two years now. ”

Thanks to one love, our make-up artist arrived to Rome and later found another love in Rome:

"Something like that. I got married to my current husband, who is Roman, ten years ago. If someone asked me when I was 18: Would you like to live in Italy, or in Rome, that was never my goal. I dreamed more of other parts of Europe - Amsterdam, London ... When I came to Rome, I fell in love with the climate, since it is warm, the sea is twenty minutes away and of course, the charm and beauty of Rome, since it has such structures, history and culture. Every day something new is discovered ... When my friends and relatives come, then I am their guide through the city. In three, four days, the main can be toured, but Rome still has so much to show. The centre is huge.”

Nina especially wants to tell her story about how she entered the world of makeup and glamour to young people: “I never thought of that either. I was maybe too young and didn't see myself in management at the age of twenty-one. Then in Rome at twenty-four I graduated from a school of makeup, which immediately gave me a way and a profit. It went on gradually, I did not immediately enter the film world. There were also fashion shows, shoots with photographers, but when, after 4, 5 years, I got into that first film project, where I was in charge of our entire section - reparto, I felt that that part of the world belonged to me. "

Charming and in good shape, full of energy, with cute "French" r in pronunciation, the make-up artist does not hide her age: “Today, at the age of forty-five, I work in the film world, where I have progressed. In addition, I became a maestra, a teacher in my environment. I teach about make-up and hairstyles at a private Academy in Rome. ”

How much did she make friends with famous actresses, stars and film personalities in general:

"The world of actors is different, it's a mondo aparte, as the Italians would say, a world unto itself, unlike ours. I work and collaborate with stars such as Maria Grazia Cucinota, Asia Argento, however I look to maintain that professional relationship. I don't want to be a personal make-up artist. It's a figure in my business, usually it's the lead actor, and then some weird dynamics can be set up. I prefer to be in charge of the whole movie and not to go too much into the intimate world of people. "

In addition to Italian films, Nina has worked in a number of international projects, which have taken her to China, Argentina and other distant countries:

"That's the beauty of my job, which has taken me to different continents. In Buenos Aires, we made a movie about Maradona, so we went to his neighborhood where he grew up ... In China, we were a month and a half in Chengdu, which is the third largest city, at least in western China. We toured Italy all over, Paris, across European countries… Last year I did an international project with Canadian director Ken Scott. There were Indians, French, Belgians ... In these co-productions, usually part of the film happens in Italy, in Rome, and they usually shoot in the center of Rome - the Vatican Dome, Spaniard Square and I was the main and responsible for the Italian part of the filming. "

The last movie she worked on was “Piccirida con piedi nudi nella sabia” - Girl Barefoot on Sand, directed by Paolo Licata, with Lucia Sardo and Marta Castiglia.

Although it is not easy to enter and stay in the world of film makeup and the seventh art in general, where connections are paramount, Nina advises young people to be patient. As a sign of encouragement, she adds that she entered this world without anyone. Volere e potere! If we want something, it is indeed possible. It takes time, and nothing happens with the magic wand…

Danijel Cerović, one of the leading Montenegrin performers in the domain of classical music, a touring musician and pedagogue, signed a contract recently with the prestigious publishing house Les Productions D'OZ of Canada, which will soon issue two books of his transcription of music by Silvius Leopold Weiss (London the manuscript). The release will contain a CD program for Naxos Music Group which he has recently recorded. Danijel started performing his “Only Weiss” programme this spring in Tivat. It marked the Early Music Day (March 21) on the small scene of the Culture Centre Tivat and he continued playing this programme in Trebinje, Bosnia, Cetinje and Sudbury, Canada. His project is dedicated to the composer and lutenist of the late Baroque, Sylvius Leopold Weiss.  

Danijel Cerović speaks for TMN about his musical voyage and career.  

- Four years ago, you held a concert "Only Bach" in the Summerhouse Buća in Tivat with Goran Krivokapić, also in honour of the Early Music Day. This spring you performed in DTV Partizan, turning your attention to Weiss. How do you find this new, small scene of the Culture Centre?

"Thank you for linking these two concerts. I just remembered about that concert, which was in 2015, time passes so quickly. As a result of circumstances, I played for the same anniversary then, and the “Only Weiss” programme is the backbone of my new project, that is, I had to record music and perform this programme. It was a great pleasure for me to share it with dear people and the audience in Tivat in the new hall, which is very comfortable. I was very comfortable and I hope that the audience felt the same. I know it's difficult to gather people out of season, especially when talking about classical audience and classical guitar, so I'm glad it worked out well."

- What about the program itself? Sylvius Leopold Weiss was a great lutenist, who lived at the end of 17th century, until the mid-eighteenth. You have transcribed his music for guitar and what else would you say about your interest in his music?

"He was a contemporary of Bach and there are indications that they were socializing, and perhaps they also had some joint projects, which is very interesting. It is a rich opus, from which only a few works are played. I'm glad that I have and that I had the opportunity to deal with his opus, researching and trying to transcribe it for classical guitar. This is the music of uncovered beauty, richness and harmony for me, of counterpoint and various kinds of atmospheres. It's probably more receptive than Bach's, or Telemann's music, and at times intimate, as well as rich in different characters, all of which are features of this baroque style, ornaments and various procedures." 

- You have recorded 2 CDs with 6 transcribed Bach's English Suites for Naxos before and you have also recorded Weiss's compositions for Naxos now. Your concert in Tivat was actually the first among your performances dedicated to just Waiss’s music?

"That was the beginning. Such concerts are, of course, a holiday for me, and I'm using them to have a better look at that music outside of my exercise area, where I keep repeating some details, trying to get to some perfection. Concerts are a real challenge for me each time, as it was also in Tivat and I'm glad to get some feedback from the audience and after all from that sound, which I make out of myself, I can listen to it in some space, which is brand new and challenging, like that one. I'm glad that the theme of this project is what it is and that I continue to explore this music, which takes a special place in my art, not to say in my biography, for the sake of not being too formal, but it makes the backbone of my music, especially in the last few years. I am very glad that I have continued in a similar direction after Bach. It's like when you discover Rembrandt, and since he has an incredible opus, you begin to discover his contemporaries, who may not be so familiar and you discover new microcosmos that you enjoy equally. In this case, Weiss was a part of that great Dresden art scene. There is a pleiad of great composers - for that era, who are out of the mainstream and those historical textbooks we deal with today, they are not on the playlists of radio stations playing classical music, yet their music is really fantastic. In the bombing of Dresden in the Second World War, together with the Dresden Library, a bunch of papers and proofs of their creation, as well as the notes themselves, went unchallenged. All in all, I'm glad that we can still find this art, which is really worth it." 

- You have an extraordinary international career, which has stretched over three continents - Europe, America and Asia. You perform as a solo musician, as well as Danijel Cerović and Goran Krivokapić make Montenegrin Guitar Duo, you also collaborate with the chamber and other ensembles…What would you say about your career? You are also a lecturer, jury member, even a founder of festivals?

"I had been lucky and privileged that my career has been developing in this particular direction in recent years, not only planned, but also unplanned, where this Weiss story also belongs. So with music, before any business and formal career and success, which is measurable, both with money and social networks, there should be some kind of relationship between the artist and what he is dealing with. A deeper connection should exist for something to happen necessarily and to succeed. I am pleased because I have had and I still have the opportunity to constantly keep in touch with top music, which I am trying to transfer to my instrument and to what I am skilled for. That's why I am also particularly pleased that in the last few years I have exclusively performed my own arrangements of that music, which has not been written in the original for guitar. Even the lute, which is the precursor to this instrument and which should have some touchpoints, believe me, that this is not the case. Then it takes a lot of work to make that music sound on that instrument as it should. So I get to know the possibilities of the instrument and I can look at this performance issue in a non-traditional way. For me, it is the process which I enjoy, which I look forward to day by day."

- An important part of your work is dedicated to students, young generations. You are one of the founders of Montenegro International Guitar Competition, what would you say about it? 

"I am incidentally one of the organizers and founders of this event and I am glad that Tivat has recognized the value of the project and that it has given its support. I mean, above all, the people in the Culture Centre, who are unselfishly in this and in many other projects. The lucky circumstance is that Tivat has become one centre, which has the means, enough financial and sufficient conditions, spatial and organizational, and that people who live in Tivat and who are only visitors have the opportunity to see some of the best productions, especially in theatre, which, I suppose, is the main cultural offer in Tivat, because it is recognized for it. Of course, there are others, including the Guitar Festival, which is a part of EuroStrings. I am always happy when I can be in Tivat, because I have in mind that this is a wonderful place with wonderful people, where things work like anything that goes beyond the borders of Montenegro, in more developed areas. Tivat has its cover face in the form of art projects and I am happy about it!"

The Montenegro International Guitar Contest 2019 was especially successful, bringing great guitar names such as Aniello Desiderio, Juan Canizares. Was it difficult to organize all and what are the plans for next year?

"It was a great pleasure to organize this event in Tivat. We agreed with Culture Centre Tivat and Music Centre of Montenegro to participate in this great collaboration between festivals all around Europe – Eurostrings (European Guitar Festival Collaborative)... There are more than 17 festivals that are collaborating, exchanging artists and the prize winners of the competitions. Besides the great responsibility and challenge that we experienced organizing the event, it is a great pleasure to do it and it means a lot to me personally and to our organization. I am not in a position to discuss programmes for next year, but I can assure you that it is going to be yet another great event that will include classical guitar world masters, as well as the young upcoming musicians from all around the world, that are the winners of the festivals that we are collaborating with."

Danijel Cerovic is continuing his musical voyage with his one and only guitar. The next stop will be in Berlin on September 13th, 20.00hrs, where he will perform together with Goran Krivokapic (Montenegrin Guitar Duo) at Michael Batell's guitars gallery. This December in Miami, Danijel Cerović and Goran Krivokapić will record a CD with Astor Piazzcolla’s music, with the producer Norbert Kraft, marking 100 years of Piazzolla’s birth, which will be celebrated next year.

Jovana Popović Benišek, an academic painter from Sremski Karlovci, Serbia, has presented herself to the Montenegrin audience at the Modern Gallery in Budva, the Buca Gallery and other exhibition spaces in Tivat, also in Kotor, where she showed her works at the Festival of Light “Shining Palaces” last summer. She is on a brief visit to Boka Kotorska this summer.

The painter's eye is particularly fond of how Tivat has progressed in recent years, but is still more attached to the old stone houses in Boka, as the stone is a motive for her painting:

"After several years of not coming to Tivat, I noticed that it was progressing at a galloping pace, especially Porto Montenegro. The transition from the old part of the city and the entrance to Porto, as well as all these wonderful residential and commercial buildings, integrated with nature, are well done. Aesthetically pleasing and enjoyable to see! However, I love stone and this is my current preoccupation, since in the meantime, since my last stay here, I have mastered mural painting in Belgrade. At the moment I am doing mosaics and this stone is very inspiring to me. Before that, I have been doing a very interesting, and somewhat neglected, sgraffito technique, which belongs to wall painting. It is done in wet plaster - a very beautiful decorative technique, which decorates the facades, and can also create beautiful works for the interior. "

Jovana started coming to Tivat as a participant in the "Friendship Chain", a painting colony of Marija Rabrenovic, which lasted for a number of years. She has been working as a school teacher for ten years, then as a curator and PR in a gallery, and for the last ten years, she has been a freelance artist. She teaches still and runs workshops with children, especially with children with disabilities: “I also practice art through art therapies. It has been imposed on me spontaneously, because I have been working with children all my life, and psychology has interested me, that is, the person has always been in my focus, although not in my pictures.”

The versatile artist is widely known for the Match Museum in Sremski Karlovci, which she owns. Part of this collection was first presented to the public under the title “Light My Fire” on the eve of the Museum Night at the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection in Novi Sad several years ago, and has since attracted a great deal of attention from the media and visitors.

"It's a really beautiful and rare collection that grows every day. I inherited it from my step-mother, the famous actress Jasna Novak, who started collecting matches in her fifties when she lived in Prague. In the 10 years she spent there, she collected nearly 20,000 different specimens from around the world. Now the collection has almost 40 thousand copies from all over the world. This is something that people can really see almost only in Sremski Karlovci, because there is a private museum only in Germany and Sweden, which is unique because it is where the matches came from.

Sremski Karlovci are considered to be a treasure trove of Serbian culture and spirituality, they are also known for their wine, and several years ago for the matches, ” Jovana says.

The last box of matches, which arrived at the Museum a week ago from Croatia, belongs to the time when the Yugoslav Drava factory from Osijek produced matches for export. The matches were exported to Europe, the Middle East, and Egypt. Thanks to Mr. Branimir, visitors have the opportunity to see this beautiful specimen.

"The wonderful idea that beautiful things are not lost in the vortex of the past," is one comment on the museum's FB page.

"An unexpected, thrilling experience, highly recommended," says the other.

These thumbnails can really light our imagination and take us on different trips in no time.

Simon Des Etages is a seasoned attorney, working as Deputy General Counsel, Global Retail Banking & Wealth Management at HSBC Bank USA in New York. He has extensive international experience advising on a broad range of legal and regulatory matters, with particular expertise in wealth management and private banking. He is also proud of being a team player with a commitment to developing experienced teams of attorneys.

 Apart from his profession, he is also a musician (plays and composes), a poet, who also likes to draw and paint. His father had come from his native Trinidad to England, where he had met his future wife of Serbian descent and they made their family nest in London.

His site is called "Simon's Place", where he says about himself: “Born in London, UK in 1964 and currently living in New York City.  My adopted spiritual home.” 

 But another faraway place was responsible for building up his spirit as it is. A tiny place on the coast of Montenegro, in Boka Kotorska, just opposite of Perast - Stoliv, (meaning 100 olives), where he used to spend his summers together with his mother, brother, and relatives on his mother’s side.

He spoke about this exclusively for Total Montenegro News.

 “This was another life, a parallel existence, where people lived forever and the little "chocolate boy" was loved unreservedly by his favourite uncles, mother and sisters, the colourful fish that swam in his front garden and sea squids, starfish,  neighbours and strangers, where he’d walk barefoot on baked roads next to the Adriatic, growing hard blisters like tortoises emerging from soft sand, traverse high mountain passes into emerald green vistas, slip around dried snake skins hanging like old socks in the bushes and duck away from large metallic green beetles while nervously passing ancient graveyards full of bleached, weather worn headstones and bones.  He was the strange beloved one that people liked to pinch, the little dark boy they’d squeeze until he’d wince, these were days of goat’s milk and honey, cream cheese (kaymak), home baked bread, muscle rice, home grown water melons, sweet grapes and deep red cherries, sparkling water (kisela voda) and jellied orange peel (slatko) for breakfast, where he lived like a prince and where his most valuable asset was his broad smile and innocent difference, days when love was not questioned but assumed, whether it be an expression of some deep trauma, the breath of god or both wrapped up in a goodnight kiss, with the night’s winged minions clinging like limpets to the ceiling, they mesmerized by the light above and he by their milling throng and diversity, she would stroke his face and say goodnight Sammy my love, sleep tight, remember you go fishing early tomorrow with Chika Juro (Djuro), I love you.”

 Years, even decades have passed since Simon has visited Stoliv and Boka kotorska. Some other kids are playing now, where he used to play with his cousins and friends. Their games have changed, but maybe some of them still exist. Chika Juro passed away a long time ago and there is nothing left of his old wooden boat, which he used for fishing with Simon and other kids. The old stone house, about three centuries old is still there, but with new owners. Maybe some of them will try to preserve the true meaning and old fragrance of Stoliv.

Meanwhile, this parallel existence is still there, in the mind of this serious grown – up with preserved child’s soul. Cheers, bro.