Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

(Photo: Aleksandar Stojković)

The choir “Zvuci u Jabuci” is composed of 20 residents of the “Srce” home for persons with intellectual disabilities, and 20 residents of the village Jabuka. During their five years and seven months under the leadership of teachers Olgica Ilić Mitevski and Ivan Karaklić they had several dozen performances. This year they will face their first international experience: in November they are to perform in Germany.

The long and heart-felt applause, like the one given by the audience for the ethno group “Vrelo” and their guest from Bosnia and Herzegovina Damir Imamović, a performer of traditional sevdalinka songs, was not a surprise for the members of the unique inclusive choir “Srce u Jabuci” when they performed in Pančevo at the 14^th Ethno Music Festival “Etno kom”. They have been regular performers in various cultural events in this town, as well as the village of Jabuka, where five years and seven months ago – as Ivan Karaklić, teacher-sociologist and his colleague Olgica Ilić Mitevski, teacher-special educator, say very precisely and not without a hint of pride – they started implementing an idea that was hard to imagine up until that moment.

They gathered the residents of the Home, persons with intellectual disabilities and members of the local association of Macedonians “Ilinden” and started… singing. (…)

(Photo: Aleksandar Stojković)

Everyone in the choir is an amateur-singer. The majority of the members who are residents of the village of Jabuka are pensioners. The residents of the Home are persons with multiple disabilities; none of them can read sheet music; many suffer from chronic illnesses; some of them cannot pronounce certain letters clearly; others do not know when it is Wednesday, so every day when they meet Olgica or Ivan in the hallway they ask if “today is choir practice”. However, the moment the first rhythms of percussion sound and Olgica waves her hand to mark the beginning, it is as if a melodious magic overwhelms all the choir members.

Nobody can remain indifferent to their performance of the “Rum, dum, dum” song, the evergreen tune of “As the Palms Wave their Fronds”, the extremely difficult Second Garland by Mokranjac, or spiritual songs like “I Sing for Thee”. (…)

Professionals may have objections to the harmony, note the occasional mistake in tonality, or disagree with the fact that the members of the choir are not positioned on stage according to the pitch of their voice.

– They stand so that they are happy with their friends by their side. We approach every performance the same, whether singing here, in the hall of the Home, or before a real audience. They also feel that we sing from our hearths, that the voices and tone are not just a product of our voices, but our emotions first and foremost.

There were cases where even the closest relatives of the residents of the Home did not know of their hidden talent. They often cry after concerts, because they did not know how important singing is for their closest relative. (…)

The residents of Jabuka do not hide their satisfaction with singing alongside the residents of the Home. Miroslava Puškaš honestly says:

– You know, us women in the village, we’re always busy. It’s the household, the family, the garden, the grandchildren, but Wednesdays from six o’clock, all of this must wait! We come to spend time with, as we say, “our children”, and there is no errand too important to wait, she says with a smile.