Art Bridges the Divide Between Countries at the Eastgate Cafe

Great Art Bridges the Divide Between Countries and Culture Natasha and Boris Bartula and friends connect Montreal and Chicago

On Saturday, Sept. 21, internationally acclaimed authoress Natasha Bartula and her brother, musician Boris Bartula will be featured in a unique dinnertime presentation at the Eastgate Café, 102 Harrison St., Oak Park, IL. The evening will also showcase the talents of narrator Milka Kovachevich and artists Gordan Nenadovih and Slavica Momakovich.

Natasha was born in the former Yugoslavia, in Sarajevo and studied Serbo-Croatian Linguistics and Yugoslav Literature at the University of Sarajevo. In May 1992, Natasha and her family had to flee Sarajevo due to the war. Living in Serbia as a refugee for the next four years, she graduated from the University of Nis and worked as a journalist for Radio Ivanjica. In August 1995, she immigrated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where she now lives with her family and teaches Serbian at the Saint Sava School.

After completing her first autobiographical work, “Refugee Tears,” Natasha wrote several other books including a collection of fairy tales and short stories for children. Commenting on her work, Natasha’s editor wrote, “As I read your poignant story in your moving poetic style, I wept with you and felt the pain vicariously through your words.”

Now, in an original program, Natasha’s stories, along with the music of her brother Boris, will delight Chicago audiences with its insights into the universal values of love and friendship.

Boris Batula, singer and pianist Boris Bartula, is Natasha’s brother. He studied at the Sarajevo Music Academy, learning to pay everything from Mozart concertos to western pop songs to ankle-twisting Macedonian folk dances. Following the three-year siege of Sarajevo, he escaped to Montreal where he met up with his old friend Goran Jezdimir. As Jezdimir explains, "Of course we started playing together at once, and that's the beginning of Les Gitans de Sarajevo [the Sarajevo Gypsies].

"Our name comes because we are wanderers, free spirits, and also because we play a lot of Roma music from the Balkans," he continues. "We are not Roma, but the Roma were not partisan in the conflict between Bosnians, Serbs, and Croats, and that's how we feel as well. In the current band we have musicians with all three backgrounds, but we are all from the same culture and speak the same language."

The band enjoyed considerable success in Canada and has recorded several albums already.

We are delighted that Boris has joined his sister at Eastgate to present some of the best of Serbian culture and celebrate the vibrant creativity of their homeland.