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Shhhumigrad

2015

The Symphony of Savamala

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Shhhumigrad (“HummmingCity”) is a project for which neither musical background nor experience is needed. Based on the idea that every corner of the world can become a musical instrument and every human a musician, it consisted of a series of creative workshops that prepared participants to perform popular tunes and improvise using only objects found on spot (parts of facades, furniture etc).  This project’s main objective was discovering a creative potential of abandoned and neglected places as well as achieving positive results arising from mutual collaboration between strangers. Moreover, this project strived to establish deeper and more personal bond between a participant and the environment and demonstrate the power an individual might have when it comes to achieving a common cause within a group.  Shhhumigrad workshops were open to all participants regardless of age, occupation, interests and needs. In addition, the audience also had an opportunity to take part in public events. During the workshops’ length, participants had a chance to learn about different ways of capturing sound on the field, possible options for editing the re­cordings, but also about online activism, project planning and event organizing. The final outcome of the workshops were public concerts, the biggest one performed in June 2015, in the Spanish house as a part of the mutual Guerilla event entitled G:DAY. The Shhhumigrad project was a fruit of labor of Maja Bosnić, a Guerilla member and a PhD candidate in Music Composition at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she researched creative potential of audience, amateurs and non-musicians. Maja, the author and the workshop leader has so far conducted a row of successful projects in this vein in collaboration with Association “Zabuna” from Belgrade, Association 4,99  from Poland and City Guerilla itself. It is with the latter that she established Guerilla Trashophonic Orchestra in 2011 which consisted of workshops for building instruments out of recycled material. It also involved a band which used such improvised instruments to perform popular tunes, participating in various festivals in Belgrade, Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina.  The goal of Shhhumigrad as a module of City Guerilla was dealing with the problem of alienation in a city, both among its citizens and on the citizen-city relation. The module’s objective was to, by means of workshops and concerts, turn attention to those problems as well as connecting people who had never met before via common topic. The underlying idea was that a positive experience stemming from being a part of such performance would eventually give the participants and the audience a feeling of self-accomplishment and an opportunity to continue to contribute to the site and society overall. Shhhumigrad presented its work in a series of events. To name but a few: Shhhumigrad Pitch'n'Nosh, the Fifth and the Sixth Belgrade Incitement in Impact Hub in Makedonska Street; Fair of Volunteerism held in front of the Faculty of Philosophy etc. Regarding concerts and jam sessions in the open they were held in the Spanish House, the Danube port, on the roof of the Wats building in Lomina Street, the most prominent of which was the concert held in the Spanish House during a mutual Guerilla presentation entitled G:DAY and held in June 2015.   

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