Who are we ?
WELCOME TO BALKANZUG !
JOIN THIS ADVENTURE : 20 YOUNG MUSICIANS FOLLOW THE TRACK OF ORIENT-EXPRESS TRAIN HIJACKED BY GERMAN EMPIRE DURING WWI TO CONNECT STRAßBURG TO CONSTANTINOPLE.
Our «music–on–the-road» project , called BalkanZug , selected by OFAJ=DFJW for anniversary of WWI, is also financed by ERASMUS+ European founds. It is run by association Ballade and is part of BalsiKa project (BALkans-ALSace-musIKA). Travellers are a multinational team of twenty young students, in the same time musicians (Bosnian, French, Turkish and German). This multicultural orchestra is searching on their way clues about history of Balkanzug over the period 1914-1918.
HISTORY
During WWI, German Empire hijacks Orient-Express coaches and creates its own company, Mitropa, and thus a direct connection between German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires : the Balkanzug. It symbolizes Mitteleuropa and is used as a propaganda tool in a conflict which serves military but also scientific and technologic purposes. At that time, Alsace is part of German Empire ; Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia belong to Austro-Hungarian Empire ; other countries of Balkans are independent or Ottoman conquests.
OUR PROJECT IN 2014
They are students in political sciences, journalism, law, sociology, sciences, biology, computer engineering, design, theatre, cinema or music. They are musicians and aged 18 to 22. For nine days (from August 23 to 31) they travel along this 2 500 km railway track, pass through seven countries from Strasbourg to Istanbul. They stop in Frankfurt, Vienna, Budapest, Beograd, Sofia. They visit museums and historical sites. Where ever they are, they play and sing festive music : in front of train stations, in coffee shops and of course on the train. In each country, they meet other musicians but also officials and talk about historical past and future of Europe. One hundred years later, what do they discover ? Did Balkanzug leave some traces in these cities?
Aim of this musical travel with this Youth multi-communitary Orchestra, is to federate. Balkanzug project can also be seen as a study of a failed attempt, based on military domination, to unify Europe one century ago, contrasting with this team of young Europeans, linked by culture, friendship, brotherhood and mutual understanding, and achieving together a multi-ethnic, plurireligious, international project. Future Europe built step by step on reconciliation, culture, “civilization."
WHY THIS TRIP?
- Celebrate the centenary of WWI and speak with young generation about duty and abuses of remembrance.
- Create exchanges between citizens of countries that still have sharp tensions (for example Bosnia, who lived last year its first census of the population since the 1992).
- Put forward the rather unknown historic links between France, Bosnia, Turkey…
- Show that "young Europeans" fraternize all over Europe, not just in the European Union.
THEREAFTER
Our friends will be able to follow this adventure webcasted through our site. Ceremonies are scheduled from 6th to 13th November in the 4 countries. On this occasion, a symbolic diplomatic pouch will be given to officials. A film and a Wikipedia article will be realized.
Our Godfathers and godmother
Alain Beretz, This president with a unkempt and enthusiastic look !
President of the University of Strasbourg and President of the University of Upper Rhine.
Jean-Paul BLED, Professor Emeritus at the University of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) specialist in Contemporary German History of and Germanic worlds.
Marianne JAMES, singer, songwriter and actress. In the world of this inimitable that no further introduction, three watchwords: talent, humor and creativity !
JOIN THIS ADVENTURE : 20 YOUNG MUSICIANS FOLLOW THE TRACK OF ORIENT-EXPRESS TRAIN HIJACKED BY GERMAN EMPIRE DURING WWI TO CONNECT STRAßBURG TO CONSTANTINOPLE.
Our «music–on–the-road» project , called BalkanZug , selected by OFAJ=DFJW for anniversary of WWI, is also financed by ERASMUS+ European founds. It is run by association Ballade and is part of BalsiKa project (BALkans-ALSace-musIKA). Travellers are a multinational team of twenty young students, in the same time musicians (Bosnian, French, Turkish and German). This multicultural orchestra is searching on their way clues about history of Balkanzug over the period 1914-1918.
HISTORY
During WWI, German Empire hijacks Orient-Express coaches and creates its own company, Mitropa, and thus a direct connection between German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires : the Balkanzug. It symbolizes Mitteleuropa and is used as a propaganda tool in a conflict which serves military but also scientific and technologic purposes. At that time, Alsace is part of German Empire ; Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia belong to Austro-Hungarian Empire ; other countries of Balkans are independent or Ottoman conquests.
OUR PROJECT IN 2014
They are students in political sciences, journalism, law, sociology, sciences, biology, computer engineering, design, theatre, cinema or music. They are musicians and aged 18 to 22. For nine days (from August 23 to 31) they travel along this 2 500 km railway track, pass through seven countries from Strasbourg to Istanbul. They stop in Frankfurt, Vienna, Budapest, Beograd, Sofia. They visit museums and historical sites. Where ever they are, they play and sing festive music : in front of train stations, in coffee shops and of course on the train. In each country, they meet other musicians but also officials and talk about historical past and future of Europe. One hundred years later, what do they discover ? Did Balkanzug leave some traces in these cities?
Aim of this musical travel with this Youth multi-communitary Orchestra, is to federate. Balkanzug project can also be seen as a study of a failed attempt, based on military domination, to unify Europe one century ago, contrasting with this team of young Europeans, linked by culture, friendship, brotherhood and mutual understanding, and achieving together a multi-ethnic, plurireligious, international project. Future Europe built step by step on reconciliation, culture, “civilization."
WHY THIS TRIP?
- Celebrate the centenary of WWI and speak with young generation about duty and abuses of remembrance.
- Create exchanges between citizens of countries that still have sharp tensions (for example Bosnia, who lived last year its first census of the population since the 1992).
- Put forward the rather unknown historic links between France, Bosnia, Turkey…
- Show that "young Europeans" fraternize all over Europe, not just in the European Union.
THEREAFTER
Our friends will be able to follow this adventure webcasted through our site. Ceremonies are scheduled from 6th to 13th November in the 4 countries. On this occasion, a symbolic diplomatic pouch will be given to officials. A film and a Wikipedia article will be realized.
Our Godfathers and godmother
Alain Beretz, This president with a unkempt and enthusiastic look !
President of the University of Strasbourg and President of the University of Upper Rhine.
Jean-Paul BLED, Professor Emeritus at the University of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) specialist in Contemporary German History of and Germanic worlds.
Marianne JAMES, singer, songwriter and actress. In the world of this inimitable that no further introduction, three watchwords: talent, humor and creativity !