UNMIK ON AIR
02 January 2003
Dija. A Voice from Kosovo
(luan Qorraj)
Hello and
welcome to UNMIK on Air:
Music
Dija:
“I could
have been born in Paris
And
girlishly kiss with lesbian Sena
To be the
seventh wife of a fat-bellied Sheik
Who prays
to god during the day and to her husband through the night
For a
little bit of loving, once a week”
The voice
of Radije Hoxha or simply Dija - a poet, journalist and writer. The author of two collections of poetry and
one novels, she is a unique voice in Kosovo. Unlike most poets and writers from
conflict situations Dija’s work is characterized by the complete lack of
political connotations. There should be only one force that drives artists
forward, she says:
Dija:
I sing to love. I often say, at literary meetings,
that I am not a poet. I do not know how to sing of my homeland. I do not know…
I definitely know how to sing to love only, within my possibilities, of
course….
Music
Dija:
me and you
Are divided by one church
One mosque
God
Where do we find condolence?
Dija spent a
part of her life in the Arab peninsula and says that it has been one of the
best experiences of her life.
Dija:
I lived in Iran for almost three years. I went
there to learn Persian , a very interesting language. And a very rich culture.
I went there to learn more about middle-eastern poets, poets who inspired Naim,
Naim Frasheri, Goethe, Heine and many other world artists.
Music up
Dija:
I am in contact with a lot of different Kosovar
artists, since we lack inter-ethnic communication. I try to discover new
artists of different nationalities and communicate with them
Dija:
I am planning to translate a book which will
include various Kosovar authors from different ethnic backgrounds. The poems
will be translated into Bosniak or Serbian-whichever you prefer…into English as
well. Every artist will provide his contact details - e-mail address and the
phone number so that wherever the book goes people, who would like to contact
us, artists from Kosovo, will at least have the possibility to send us an
e-mail.
MUSIC
Dija:
To be a woman
To be fed by the father
Divorced by the husband
Taken by god
Because you like the ones who are brave
Dija:
I plan to organize an “Artists without borders”
meeting where I wish to invite all real artists from different backgrounds and
styles. I will try to bring people from the art world together, in order to
tell the others that art should survive because art is the only way to join
people, it is a much more powerful weapon than any politics.
Dija:
I could have been anything
A dwarf, a gipsy or an insect
A man of power, a woman of the world
Like Cicollina
A prefect or a defect,
A contagious disease, a coma, a question or a
surprise mark
I could have even been the wife of a god
To walk through palaces where no one else can,
To raise churches and mosques, keep you as a
hidden hostage under lock and key
But, accidentally, I am Dija
And I do not know what to do with you….
Music up and under
Radije Hoxha, Dija… our guest today on UNMIK on
Air.