Program Note
Bread, Salt, and Basil is an audio-visual project, based on a newspaper photo-image of the recent NATO bombings in Yugoslavia. As a Belgrade-born composer, it describes my reaction to the ongoing physical destruction of my childhood memories without engaging any direct political statement. It attempts to curb my feelings of shame, guilt, and despair with the help of bread and salt as the traditional symbols of peace and hospitality, and basil as an Orthodox symbol of spiritual tranquility. Furthermore, it represents a bridge between my 'old' life in Europe and the 'new' one in the United States. Dominique Pelletey's photograph cycle "Quoting the Unnamable" provided the foundation for the visual elements of the project, and Milos Crnjanski's poem "Lament for Belgrade" for the electronic sound.