Karling klub Vukovi

Some very warm November days and high spirits, were good enough reasons on Sunday, November 4, 2018, for the Serbian-Indonesian Friendship Association NUSANTARA to organize a trip for its members, friends, diplomats and staff of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia to the West-Bačka District: Sombor, Deronje and Odžaci.

Thanks to the mayor of Sombor, Dušanka Golubović, the doors of the Županija building – the town and county hall – were wide open, so the members of NUSANTARA, accompanied by the local tourist guide Mile Vojnović, had the opportunity to listen about the history of Sombor and its cultural and historical sights, but also about the richness of its civic coexistence. The guide, afterwards, presented the drawing “Sombor Seen by the Eyes of a Bird”, by architect Branislav Jovina, a masterpiece that took more than a year of intensive labour to be created. It is a synthesis of urbanism, engineering and art. 15,000 buildings of the city of Sombor were drawn by Jovina. The drawing is placed in the Županija building and shows the sheer wealth of Sombor’s greenery – Sombor is the greenest city in Serbia, and one of the greenest in the wider area of Central and Southeastern Europe. What certainly sets this town hall apart, compared to other town halls, is certainly the well-known painting “The Battle of Senta”, by Ferenc Eisenhut, which is the largest oil on canvas painting made from one piece in Serbia. This was an opportunity to remind guests of all the renown personalities, that left a permanent mark on the history and cultural development of the city, such as Laza Kostić, Milan Konjović, and others, and that Sombor gave and schooled two patriarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

The guests then walked through the city center, enjoying the sun and the clean streets and squares.

To the kind hosts from the gallery “Milan Konjović”, and above all to the director Milena Rackov Kovačić, members of NUSANTARA owe an immense gratitude, first of all, as a welcome and a big smile were not absent, and the curator made a true effort to inform the Indonesians and the Society members about Konjović’s opus and assure of his love, shown through his paintings, towards his homeland – Vojvodina, with its plains and colours.

The richness of history, archeology, ethnology, and many other contents, is presented in the Town Museum of Sombor, a cultural institution for museum preservation activities for the municipalities of Apatin, Odžaci, Kula and the city of Sombor. Through the rich collection, guests were hosted by Nevena Živadinović Kusanović, who presented the diversity of Sombor’s citizens’ lives.

NUSANTARA visited the family farm of Sofija and Branislav Savić in the hamlet of the village of Deronje, inhabited by Serbs and Roma, for centuries living in harmony next to each other. The Vasić family cultivates different cultures, but on a property of 6 acres, it is primarily apricots, peaches and vineyards of old varieties. However, what distinguishes his property, not only in Deronje, but also elsewhere, are the two windmills, which were constructed by Branislav Savić himself and supply the property with water. In addition of tasting peach, apricot and grape pomace rakia, the guests had the opportunity to hear what are the advantages of alternative forms of energy and the way they are applied.

In Deronje, NUSANTARE members and friends visited the Art Colony Gallery “Rafailo Momčilović”, where Zora Doroslovac, the principal of the Vuk Karadžić Primary School, introduced them to the activities of the art colony and the cultural content of Deronje. Bearing in mind that the Society of Serbian-Indonesian Friendship NUSANTARA came to the knowledge that the library of the primary school was in the process of renewing its library fund, each of our group’s passengers brought several books from their homes, thus NUSANTARA donated more than 150 books to the renewed school library. This donation was handed over at the gallery of the art colony “Rafailo Momčilović”. Principal Doroslovac did not hide her satisfaction and gratitude about NUSANTARA making this surprise.

The journey continued with a lunch at the restaurant “Lazar” in Odžaci, where on the entrance door stands the inscription “At our place, first of all, we eat well”. Although we were hungry and had fish paprikash, chicken and grilled meat on our tables, though the silence dominated the restaurant’s halls, the members and guests came to this famous restaurant, not only because of the food. The real whim started when the darkness began to fall and a real “gang” entered in the restaurant’s halls, the tamburitza orchestra of Stevica Jovanović from Deronje. It was not easy to book this “gang” to perform, therefore this trip was delayed several times. They rarely play in their homeland, it is easier to find them in Zagreb or Novi Sad. Jovanović and his musicians are the children and grandchildren of Roma musicians made famous by Saša Petrović casting them in the milestones of Yugoslav cinema ” I Even Met Happy Gypsies ” and ” It Rains in My Village “. Masterfully performing songs from almost all of the former Yugoslavia reminded us, for a moment, of the richness of the diversity of the country in which we lived until recently, but also reminded us of the Indonesian motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (unity in diversity). In a cheerful atmosphere, members of the Society and friends from the Embassy of Indonesia danced a Serbian kolo, while the highlight of the tamburitza performance was playing the violin just on a single string by the Stevica Jovanović “gang” from Deronje, as well as playing the tamburitza, with a glass instead of the bow by Stevica’s son, Milan.

Before leaving Odžaci, we also visited an open-air gallery, famous painter’s Nenad Vujnović Nješa, who opened the door of his own microcosm and showed his artworks. Since it is known that paintings need an audience, Vujnović the painter was pleased that for the first time, more than sixty guests at the same time in the yard enjoyed his paintings, some of which done in a special 3D technique.

Marko Jelić

Photo: Oliver Dimić

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