 Hi everyone and welcome to our real conversation in English. I'm Liz Wade and this is Adam Navas. Hello. Hi, Adam. And today we are going to have a conversation about our program called Music in War. And this is kind of a complicated program, but if you have not had a chance to listen to it, there are a couple different ways you can do that. You can go to our website at www.spotlightenglish.com. You can listen to it on our podcast where you can find that almost anywhere that we have or that you can find podcasts. And also you can go to YouTube at Spotlight English One as our channel. And so you can check that out there, follow that along. And of course, if you are already on YouTube, you might notice right underneath this video there's a Join button. And we encourage you to press that Join button. That doesn't make you pay right away, but it does give you some information about becoming a member of this channel and all of the resources that you are able to get as a member, including free PDF scripts, a few of those a month, additional video content, your name in every video, and some other really cool things as well. So we really encourage you to click that Join button. And also if you're on YouTube, please just take a little second right now to hit that Like button. And that really helps us spread Spotlight English on YouTube. So now that that housekeeping is done, so, right, Adam, that's what that's the housekeeping thing that we're doing. The little bits that we do every time. Yes. Now that that housekeeping is done and you know where to find that program, take a listen and then join us in this conversation. So Adam. Yes. In this program, I always feel like when I hear a program like this, it is so sad. And sometimes they're really difficult to listen to because you're really talking about war. And one of the things that really hit me in this program is that it wasn't a one time thing where music in war was an important thing. This program goes all the way from World War II to the 1990s to the late or mid-2010s. And I imagine that it could continue on into many generations. And that is, yeah, that is really something that I noticed in this program. Yeah. I noticed a similar thing. So I had two things. I have never lived through a war and I'm very appreciative of that. That affected our area. And for any of our listeners who have our hearts, of course, go out to you. And if you're listening to this and you're actively in a war zone or a conflict zone of some kind, we hope and pray that you are safe. But the second thing that I thought about this program, which really walks through just one example of music in war and music as a form of protest, it reminded me of all the other examples where music or poetry or other kinds of creative painting murals or things are an act of protest or an act against war. And I just think sometimes you think of art as fun or entertainment. And I don't think I spend enough time thinking about art or music specifically as a way to say something important to protest. And of course, there's a long tradition of that. Right. So I was going to add sometimes people think art is not important, right? So not only is it just for fun or beauty, but it's just it's not important. And clearly here, it has been important. I think for me at the beginning of this program, when it talks about this composer who walks through the ruins in Dresden, Germany, and is inspired to make the song, what is the song called? I'm forgetting the name of it, Albinonis Adagio. Oh, OK. So this this composer is inspired by this, these ruins to make this song. And then then the program goes into the 1990s, into the former Yugoslavia, into that war in Sarajevo. And there's a siege and Vydran Smilovic, that is a very easy to remember name, he is in that siege. We should pause and talk about is siege. Well, first of all, it's a very hard word to say, but do people or siege, I think both are good. I think both are OK. So a siege is like a war that isn't active, but is active. So if you surround a city and stop all people going in or going out, you've kind of created a siege environment. So it's it's war, but it's not like there's there's some fighting, but it's it's defined by that kind of locked in can't nothing's moving. No people often don't have food. They often don't have medical supplies. It's very hard to live in those kind of conditions. Right. So the story concentrates on this bomb attack in Sarajevo, where people are waiting in line at a bakery and this bomb is set off in that line and 22 people are killed. And the Vdron Smilovic Smilovic is in that city and he decides to as a form of protest, but also as remembrance. He plays his cello, which is a very big stringed instrument. It looks like a like a large violin or a little bit like a guitar, a large guitar. He plays his cello for 22 days, and that is remembering each day is for a person who was killed in that bombing. And I, yeah, I think he only played that Adagio, right? Yeah, I'm not. I think that's right. I think that was what he was saying. Yeah. So, yeah, I thought that was that was, you know, when you when you hear something over and over again, it can maybe be frustrating, like, you know, like, but this is a way to use that frustration, I think, to like remember, like, you know, if you're getting if you walk by the same place and he's playing his cello and it is the same thing every day, it reminds you of that of that constant loss, right? Right. Because of course, it's very easy to forget. It's very easy, especially when something so painful happens, you want to kind of move on and say you're all right and not not be in that place of pain. But it sometimes it's important to remember sometimes it's important to because we can't we can't move on, we even if we convince ourselves that we can we have to just be in that painful place. I don't like to be there and I don't think you do either. But it's it's necessary to give honor to the people who've died, but also to call people to account, you know, to say like, this isn't right, even if there's no one person who you can find to say, Oh, what you did was wrong. If it's just it's just to, you know, I think there's a line in it in the program that says it presented something beautiful in the middle of death and destruction. It was a song of hope. And I really like that. I like I like thinking about it didn't change the situation, but it did offer hope. And I think sometimes that does change situations if you have hope. Yeah. Yeah, that is that is an interesting thought. Like it's a symbol that that not everything is lost, right? That there's still beauty. There's still hope, which can feel it can feel hollow when you're in that situation. So you might feel like there's no hope. And I think even if you, I mean, obviously this is a if you have been in war, that's a different feeling. But I think even if you have had a crisis in your life or something very difficult that you've gone through, it can be hard to remember that there still is beauty in life. So yeah, that is a that's a good thing to remember. Well and we can all make art and we can all express ourselves. I think that there are times in all our lives where we find ourselves not knowing what to do or not able to make things happen at the speed or we don't have total control, right? But we can sing, we can dance, we can create something with our hands and our minds. And I think that the act of creation is sometimes a very human thing, a very we may have been told we're not creative or we're not artistic. But just the simple act of even sketching something with a pen and paper can help express and help get something, get that pain out of you and offer you that kind of hope. I don't know if I would say if you're watching this and you have found a way, if you have a way of expressing yourself, if you have either had to process something hard or maybe you consider yourself an artist, tell us about it in the comments. I would love to hear about that. I know that I like to, I often keep a journal. I'm not a musical person, but I like to do that. I don't know, Liz, do you do anything that you would say that gives you hope or that you'd think of as creative or centering or something like that? I wouldn't have to think about that. I wouldn't say that I'm a very artistic person, although I do really like creating art. I like making things with my hands and I do think that that is, it's healing for me in a way that just thinking about things isn't. But I do always think that I should journal more because that actually is very helpful. We have a program about that I think about journaling or handwriting is actually a good way to get your feelings out and work through those. I think that's a really beautiful thought that even if you are in a period of suffering, and I think many of us, some of us in war who may be watching this, some of us who are just in pain, but everyone who is watching this has been affected by COVID and that has changed everyone's lives. I think it's a really beautiful thought to say if that is affecting you, make some art. Put some beauty into the world. Even if it's not the most beautiful beauty, even if it's not the most beautiful poetry or words, put some out and see how it makes you feel. I would really love to hear about that in the comments if you have done that. Even if it's just with your phone, that's okay. But I mean, take a picture and share it or draw something or just figure out a way that you can add a little hope to the world. Yeah, I love it. And I think that's a really good and positive note for us to end on. I think so. Yeah, so leave us a comment below. Please press like on this video if you liked it. Check out the program Music in War if you haven't already. Check us out on our website so that you can follow along with programs and listen to them at the same time. That's www.spotlightenglish.com. Make sure to check us out on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. And thanks for joining us. Until next time, listen, watch, practice, learn. Spotlight out.