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Describe the atmosphere and live music at a local pub, restaurant, festival, church or temple, club night.... inspire other people to check it out!
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Musician: Téa Hodzic
Location: London
Instruments: voice, guitar
Music: Balkan
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HOW I CAME TO THIS MUSICÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýWHERE I PLAYÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýA FAVOURITE SONG |
  
Listen to Tea and fellow-refugees perform with Eliza Carthy at
This story includes material from Celebrating Sanctuary: Conversations with
Refugee Artists
(London Arts, 2002) |
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 ÌýÌýListen (4'55) to Sonja sung by Téa Hodzic
ÌýÌýListen (37'41) to Téa, Vanya - Bronislav Krawczyk and Dylan Fowler showcasing at the World On Your Street tent, WOMAD 2002
ÌýÌýListen (31'04) to Téa playing with Romany Rad playing at WOMAD 2002
Where I Play:
It was terrifying coming to a new country. It was a shock, a complete shock: different culture, different mentality, different language. It was tough. To start with you cannot express yourself, you’re really frustrated, you feel like you’re stupid because you cannot express simple feelings. And then you start to relax and enjoy the people around you and appreciate different cultural backgrounds, especially in London. It was fantastic.
My sister and I started singing again at a big show in St James’ Church in Piccadilly. It was called ‘Acting for Sarajevo’ and many famous names were involved. People like Sir Ian McKellen, David Threlfall, Vanessa Redgrave, Kika Markham, Juliet Stephenson and Corin Redgrave combined with artists from Bosnia then living in England. Then we got involved in a play written and directed by a young director called Edward Bloom at the Southwark Theatre. We did the music and performed. Eventually we met up with Dave Kelbie, through a mutual agent, and started working with Budapest Cafe Orchestra. Later the band became Szapora and, now we play Balkan and Gypsy music internationally.
 I think the audiences here are really brilliant - very patient with things with which they’re not familiar, and very supportive at the same time. Playing over here has made me appreciate my music much more. As I get older I realise it’s very important to guard this musical treasure. We do traditional music from all parts of former Yugoslavia, and the Balkans. If we don’t do that, it’s going to eventually die anyway. It’s a mission. I love doing it and it’s a much more emotional experience than it would be if I were there in my former home.
After we’d finished playing at the last Celebrating Sanctuary Festival on the South Bank, someone came up and invited us to play at the big festival in Switzerland celebrating 50 years of UNHCR. There, we met up with fantastic musicians from all over the world. It was a beautiful experience. And I think that now I see myself as a kind of musical citizen of the world, because I don’t live in Sarajevo, the place where I was born, anymore. I would like to keep on touring new places, meeting musicians from all over the world and exchanging experiences.
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