Soa Nebeska
The project Soa Nebeska (Sky girl) will be presented as a contemporary opera. The idea arose out of the desire to show the traditions of the country where I was born and where I live. My work does not depict political and religious issues that are currently in focus in Montenegro (nationality, two churches, language, anthem, long-term rule by one party…) but aims to depict Old Montenegro and the traditions that are still preserved in to the people (knowledge of the regions and tribes, male and female costumes of Old Montenegro, chivalry, dancing (silent circle dance) and wailing, specifically because the man wails. Soa Nebeska (Sky Girl) is the fourth highest peak on Durmitor. Soa means a GIRL in the old Montenegrin vernacular language. Photography by Vladimir Popović.
The opera contains six images:
I image picture:
Đetić and Đevojka. We see body parts, Đetic spreading his arms as a sign of pride and dignity, and the Girl Sitting, the pillar of the family.
II image of the Tribe:
A girl who represents Montenegro through play. Old Montenegro represented the historical core of Montenegro around which the Montenegrin state was created. It included the area of today’s Montenegro, between the valley of the river Morača and Skadar Lake on one side and the Bay of Kotor on the other side, as well as the area around Ostrog in the north to Sutomore in the south. It consisted of four nahijas: Katunska, to which most of the territory belongs, then Riječka, Crmnička and Lješanska. Each of these nahijas was divided into a larger or smaller number of tribes. The film lists all the nahijas and their tribes by name, status, origin of the name and the first mention of the same.
III image:
Men’s costume of Old Montenegro.
IV image:
Silent wheel and popcorn.
V image:
Showing the battle through a stylized step. The hero plays the same step, as a symbol of struggle, torment, determination. Eventually he goes into the dark, he is killed. In the background, a part of the verses of the Battle of Martinić of Peter II Petrović Njegoš can be heard.
VI image:
Women’s costume of Old Montenegro. The woman takes off her costume and stays in black.
VII image:
Howling.
The opera was shot on the theater stage of the Cultural Center “Vojislav Bulatović-Strunjo” in Bijelo Polje. I want to thank my sister Ivana Cvijović, Ognjen Cmiljanić and Mr Vesko Maksimović.
- Music: Thomas Ankersmit “Figueroa Terrace” [Touch]
- Music: Miona Cvijovic
