ImprovE 2​.​20 Sounds of Savamala

by improvE 2

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released August 15, 2014

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tags: experimental savamala field recordings improvisation improvisational improvised improvised music sound walk Belgrade

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improvE 2 Belgrade, Serbia

Improve 2 is a musicians' collective, based in Belgrade.
Is a monthly platform for creative performers, experimentators and electro-acoustic-visual communication. The series is devoted to new music performance, by way of concerts, installations, workshops and site specific interventions. ... more

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Track Name: Belgrade sound map - Najstariji savamalski zanat - The oldest Savamala craft
Radili su u Ustaničkoj ulici i radili su u Obrenovcu, pošto je tada, u posleratno doba bilo vrlo teško za sve zanatlije, i ne samo za nas bonbondžije nego i sve zanatlije, morali su da se isele iz Beograda, da l zbog nekih veliki poreskih opterećenja, onda su i kući imali tada veliki problem, pošto su tada radili i živeli na Dušanovcu, Ustanička ulica se proširivala da bi dobila današnji izgled. Onda su oni iseljeni, premešteni su na drugu lokaciju, tako da su šezdesete godine bile turbulentne za nas. Otac je u tim šezdesetim, ranim šezdesetim godinama trebalo da nastavi ovaj zanat, međutim deda, pošto je bio vrlo ljut i vrlo opterećen sistemom koji je uništavao zanatlijski život, on je rekao svom sinu, znači našem ocu, da on nastavi posao koji on želi, da uči zanat koji on želi, tako da je otac po struci mašinac, završio je školu Petar Drapšin, mašinsku struku. Nasledio je radnju, znači '82. godine i to njegovo veliko znanje iz mašinstva nam je kasnije pomoglo jer smo dosta alata, koji je deda skupljao uspeli da vratimo u život, jer za ovaj posao koji mi radimo, alata više nema, čak imate da...možete ga naći po muzejima, po antikvarnicama, jednostavno mi imamo malu proizvodnju, i za sve se koristi ručni alat koji je proizvedem negde u Nemačkoj, između dva Svetska rata, tako da danas novih alata nema. Ratluk je bio, i ono malo ranije kad je deda počeo da radi, najjeftiniji proizvod. On se vrlo lako sprema samo što kuvanje ratluka dosta dugo traje. Znači, ratluk počinjete negde u 7 ujutro da kuvate negde do 1 sat, do 13h se kuva kazan. Otac je to malo uprostio, pomog'o je malo, povećali smo proizvodnju, povećali smo količinu koju je deda radio. Najveći pomak koji smo mi imali jeste da smo mi napravili da recimo jedan najobičniji elektro-motor pokreće mešalicu. Dok je deda u svoje vreme sedeo pored kazana, mešao rukom i, ono, čitao novine. Znači to je bio zaista, vrlo vrlo težak...Naravno, bila je mala količina, al je realno neki veliki pomaci od onog dedinog do ovog današnjeg našeg, su samo eto u tim tim...bukvalno, elektro-motor je najveći, ajde ono što smo mi napravili, jedan korak ispred je to što smo njega ubacili da on okreće vidiš i***** delove za *****i mešalice za kazan. To se nekad sve radilo ručno i svaka radionica je imala po jednog ili dvojicu radnika kojima je posao bio samo da okreću, ili mešalice ili valjke, to je data bilo dosta teško. Naravno, kažem, mi smo to nešto uprostili i malo smo sebi pomogli ali pored toga, sva recptura koja se koristi je ista dedina. Znači na prvom mestu je ratluk, onda bih spomenuo naravno i mlečnu karamelu koja je, da kažem, bila dedin diplomski rad, na koji je on isto bio ponosan, i ja sam isto ponosan, jer sam zadržao potpuno isti ukus, kakav pamti mušterija, i oni to meni kažu, tako da je to za mene najveći uspeh.

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They used to work in Ustanička Street and in Obrenovac, because then, in the times after the war, it was very hard for all artisans, not just for us-artisan candy makers, but for all artisans. They had to move out of Belgrade, I think because of the high taxes. They had another problem, because then they all lived and worked inDušanovac, and Ustanička Street was at the time being expanded,so as to look like it does today. So they were evicted and moved to another location. The '60 were turbulent years for us. In that time, my father was supposed to take over this craft, but my granddad, being angry with the system that was destroying artisan life, told his son-our father to chose a craft or profession of his own choosing. So our father is a mechanic engineer, he finished „Petar Drapšin“ school. He inherited the workshop in '82 and his knowledge of mechanics helped us later on, because a lot of tools that grandpa collected, we managed to repair. For this job that we do, you cannot find tools anymore-you can find them in museums and antique shops. Simply, our production is little, we use hand tools made somewhere in Germany between the two World Wars, so you cannot find them anywhere today. When my granddad started working, Turkish delight was the cheapest thing. It is very simple to make it, but cooking lasts forever. You start cooking it at 7 am and you finish at 1 pm. Father simplified it a little bit. He helped us increase production. The greatest upturn we have had was when a simple electric motor powering the mixer, replaced granddad, who in his time used to stir it manually while reading newspapers. It was a really hard job. Naturally the production was lesser, but speaking of upturns from granddad's times until today, electric motor has been the greatest. It was all done manually and every workshop had one or two workers just for stirring. It was really hard so I say, we made it simpler, we helped ourselves a bit, but we still use only granddad's recipes. There is Turkish delight in the first place, but I'd like to mention milk caramel, which is something like granddad's graduation thesis, that he was really proud of. I am also very proud of sticking to that very taste, that our customers know very well, and when they tell me that, I consider it the greatest success.
Track Name: Belgrade sound map - Svakodnevnica u Geozavodu - A day in life of Geozavod
Ja sam ulazila kao u dvor, kao u crkvu. Sećam se vremena kad su se nosile one dugačke suknje, ja ono kao da sam princeza... ono bukvalno dvor. To je bilo ono kako ih zovu trokrako stepnište, na sredini veliko stepenište pa onda ide levo i desno stepenište pa se onda gore ovako penje, ali to sve mermer onda neke figure velike neke devojke koje drže svetiljke, to je sve bilo božanstveno, isto one pličoce prelepe, ja sam to samo u onim starim filmovima takve pločice i radijatore viđala. Radijatori su bili sve ručno rađeni, veliki radijatori, oni ogromni ovako široki, tučani, ali sve rezbareni, sa onim šaram sa ornamentima, božanstveno je bilo. Sve je bilo božanstveno... to je u stvari rađeno to je bila banka, kao prvo to je rađeno za banku, ta zgrada ima trezore, jedan ili dva ja ne znam. I imala je veliku šalter salu, ta šalter sala postoji i sada ali su bila predivna vrata, staklena vrata, ta vrata više ne postoje, kako se to zove kad su vrata iscrtana. I kad otvorite vrata ona šalter sala božanstvena i unutra daktilobiro u moje vreme, pun daktilo biro je tada Geozavod bio jedinstven i bio je jedan daktilo biro i posle te OUR-i te odeljenja onda počinje odvajnje , pa su se onda i daktilografiknje rasturile, a tad kad sam došla bile su sve tu, recimo njih dvadeset i one sve starinske mašine to je bilo božanstveno, pa ond računske mašine one stare po kancelarijama... sve je bilo starinsko kad sam ja došla, na kraju sam završila na kompjuteru, zadnje četiri godine sam radila na kompjuteru na unosu podataka o bušotinam i uopšte svrstavanje. Inače sa crtala fantastično, retko ko piše kaligrafiju, mislim vi možete da naučite da crtate i da pišete pomoću šablona, ali ja sam pisala kaligrafiju što retko ko piše, tako da sam. Bila me tražila i vojska da pišem kaligrafiju za njih.

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I would go in the way you go in to a palace or a church. Those were the days when those long skirts were in fashion, it was like being a princess... literally like I was going into a palace. There was one of those, what do you call them, three-part staircases, in the middle was the main staircase, with a staircase either side, all climbing up like this, and all in marble with these statues, these big ladies holding up torches, it was all so heavenly. And the tiles were beautiful, I’ve only seen tiles and radiators like that in films. The radiators were handmade, big radiators, those huge ones this wide, made of brass, but with these patterns and decorations, it was heavenly. It was all so heavenly... in actual fact the building was a bank, with a vault, one vault or two, I’m not sure. And it had a great big hall for the tellers, the doors in the hall were wonderful, glass doors, those doors don’t exist anymore, what do you call it when doors are decorated like that? And when you go through those doors, the hall was magnificent, and inside there was a typists’ office. In my time it was full of typists. Back then Geozavod was integrated and there was one typists’ office but later it was OUR this, department that and then the division began so the typing girls were broken up. But back then, when I arrived, they were all there, about twenty of them and all on those old-fashioned typewriters – it was heavenly. And those office calculators in the offices... Everything was old fashioned when I arrived and by the end I ended up on a computer – the last four years I was working on a computer, entering data about drilling and general categorisation. I also used to write fantastically well, not many people can write calligraphy – I mean, you can learn to write or draw with the help of a template but I wrote calligraphy, which not many people can do. Even the army asked me to write calligraphy for them.
Track Name: Belgrade sound map - Priča o jednom od magacina - The story about one of the warehouses
Ova ulica sada je idealan primer onoga što je bila glavna delatnost priobalja a glavna delatnost je bila u trgovini i posredništvu i šta je naravno ovde bilo, bili su magacini. To su bili magacini i Srba i onih koji nisu bili Srbi, nesrba, predratnog, kad kažem predratnog mislim pre 1941. godine Beograda. Tako da ovde je bio čuveni magacin ja mislim da su to... mislim da su to Krsmanovići, da je to neka od njihovih naslednica , da je to bio njihov magacin, imam te papire tako da ću to proveriti pa ću ti reći, to je bio broj 2, vi sad vidite na šta ovo liči, to je bio klasičan magacin, broj 4 ne znam šta je bilo ali možemo zaključiti da je takođe bio magacina gde se sad nalazi KC Grad po tome kako je uređen i kako izgleda na magacina. Oni su svi bili spojeni direktno sa prugom, a broj 6 sadašnji klub Krug je bio magacin Zigizmunda Dajča on je bio moj deda-stric odnosno stric mog oca i praktično tu su oni istovarivali i tu su čuvali kože koje bi dolazile železnicom iz sušaka , koje bi opet pre toga dolazile ili iz Malaja ili iz Argentine. I to im je praktično bio centralni magacin u Beogradu. To je zadržao Zigizmund sve do nacionalizacije, konačno je 1960. godine potvrđena nacionalizacija tog objekta koji je onako kao što videti veliki nije nešto lep, ali ipak zauzima pristojnu površinu. I sada je naravno pokrenut zahtev za restituciju, pa videćemo možda ćemo to dobiti nazad, to bi bilo divno, opet dobićemo samo jedan deo. Trenutnik korisnik toga je je klub Krug, međutim vlasnik koji izdaje u zakup je poslovni prostor opštine Savski venac, tako da su oni to izdali, naravno svi Poslovni prostori umerenoj ali oni uredno vraćaju to za šta agencija za restituciju kaže da je potrebno vratiti starim vlasnicima. Tako da eto to je primer te multietničnosti Beograd predratnog i poslova koji su imali. Znači tu su konkretno bile kože te braće Dajč koji su se zvali: Zigizmun, Markus, David, Jakob i Aleksandar moj deda, tako tu je možda i kraj...

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This street is, of course, the perfect example of life near the rivers in those days; the main activity being trade and representation, this meant that the area was full of warehouses. They belonged to Serbs, and others, non-Serbs, in the pre-war period, before 1941. Here was a famous warehouse, I think it belonged to the Krsmanović family, and now to one of their heirs. I think it was their warehouse. I have it all on papers so I can check and let you know. They were at number 2. You can see what it look like now, it was a typical warehouse. I’m not sure what was at number 4, but I believe it was another warehouse judging by it looks. Now the Cultural Center Grad is inside. All of them were directly linked to the railway. The warehouse of ZigizmundDajč was at number 6, where now you can find the club Krug. He was my father’s uncle. This was the unloading spot, where they kept leather coming by train from the town of Sušak in Croatia, and originally coming from the Malayan islands and Argentina. Practically, this was their main warehouse in Belgrade. Zigizmund managed to keep it until the nationalization, which was officially confirmed in 1960. The object, as you can see, is not so beautiful, but it does cover quite a big area. Of course, we filed for restitution, so who knows, maybe we’ll get it back. That would be wonderful, although we would get only a part of the object back. The current user of the space is the club Krug, but the official owner who is renting it is the Commercial Space Agency of this district. These kind of agencies are of course in a state of moderate panic, but they do return everything that the Restitution Agency considers should be returned to the rightful owners. So this is an example of how multiethnic Belgrade was before the war and how the business developed. There was the leather business of the Dajč brothers. Their names were: Zigizmund, Markus, David, Jakob and my grandfather Aleksandar, that’s it more or less.
Track Name: Belgrade sound map - Dečije igre na pristaništu - Child's play at the docks
E evo ga ovaj spomenik palim borcima tj. obalskim radnicima koji su izgrađivali ovo 36. znaš... A inače ovde je bilo to pristaište, dolazili brodovi, grožđe, jabuke.. znaš šta mi dođemo da pomažemo znaš i onda nam oni daju gajbu i onda ovo moje društvo zadovoljno. Ja se sećam ja kad sam plivao tu, pa dereglija puna lubenica, ja plivam, plivam pa samo izvučem par komada popada u dole, a ne tone, ja samo odguramo do društva i samo jedemo. Onda ovce, koze sve što se klalo u ono vreme sve je išlo Karađorđevom ulicom, tamo je bila teretna stanica i do klanice su išli sve peške i onda oni idu sa strane sa bičevima i čuvaju i idu tako, jer nije bio prevoz u ono vreme znaš... to je bilo 56. 57. 58. Ja znam jedan slučaj meni je naletela koza ja se samo zagradio i otovorio vrata ona uđe , a moj drug bio kočijaš i to mi on kazao da uradim i onda on ode tamo i proda. Mesec dana smo išli u bioskop, jel mi veruješ? To je tako bilo... To je malo ova strana , ali dobro deca. E evo ga ovaj ... ovo je po Jovi Marinoviću čuvenom, on je bio tako građen, rvač. Jova Marinović eto to je po njegovom telu izvajano. Ja sam dobio prvu nagradu za fotografiju, stao sam pored njega i dublirao go , to je u ono vreme JRB organizovao izložbu ovde.

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Here is the monument to the fallen fighters, I mean to the pier workers who built this in 1936... And there used to be a pier here, ships would come carrying grapes and apples... We would then come and help them, you know, and they would give us a case of fruit and we would all be happy. I can remember swimming to the barge with watermelons; I just pulled out a few and they all fell out without sinking, and I just pushed them to my friends and we enjoyed eating everything. And also the sheep, the goats, they all went down Karadjordjeva Street from the freight station to the slaughterhouse. They all had to walk, guided by boys with whips on the side, because there was no transport at the time, you know... it was in 1956, ’57, ’58. I remember one time, a goat came into my yard, I just led it to my door and it came in. My friend was a coachman and he told me to do it. Later he went down there and sold it. We could go to the cinema for a whole month, can you believe that? That’s how it was... Now look at this one... this was made after the famous wrestler Jova Martinovic, that’s how he was built. I won the first prize in the photo competition, I stood beside him and imitated his posture. At that time, the Yugoslav River Shipping organized the exhibition here.
Track Name: Belgrade sound map - Lučki život Savamale - Life on the Piers of Savamala
Pa da se razumemo nešto svugde u svetu lučki radnici su radnici koji su ipako onaj, i što se tiče obrazovanja i što se tiče, hajde neću da kžem intelektualnog dela i svega, to je bila struktura ljudi koja bila zaposlena i koja je radila i obavljala poslove, to su dakle bili teški fizički poslovi. Pored istovara i utovara brodova, to su bili i ljudi koji su radili na brodovima, bilo je tu i kapetana bilo je tu puno ljudi koji su bili rukovodici različtih mašinskih odeljenja ali je uglavnok gro bio naroda koji su bili fizički radnici i koji su obavljali te prljave poslove kako na brodovima tako i priliko istovara. Drugo tu je bila ranžirna stanica dol, tu je bila luka, sve što se odvijalo odvijalo se na brodovima koji su dolazili tu. Vagoni su bili gde je sada ta Beton hala, gde je sijaset novih, da ne kažem baš restorana, to nisu kafići to su već restorani baš onako u pravom smislu. Tu je bilo pet, šest dizalica, tu se sve odvijalo tu je bio magacinski prostor, da li je to bio vagon pa se istovara, da li su to bili brodovi, pa je išlo iz vagona u brod ili iz broda u vagon u zavisnosti od posla i u toj Beton hali su bili magacini gde sve to lagerovalo. Posle istovara tih vagona, vagoni su bili prazni i tu je stalno lokomotiva manevrisala, stalno dovlačila nove vagone i odvlačila stare vagone. I te vagone često gurnu pa idu sami, mi smo se kešali na te vagone vozili smo se na njim, često su oni išli od Beton hale pa maltene smo išli do starog mosta, koliko smo se vozili. Oni lokomotive zalete pa gurnu vagone pa onda po pet, šest il desetak kao kompozicija idu, mi se kao deca zakčimo i kešemo se i vozimo se i to nam je bilo jedno veliko uživanje, jeste bilo opasno, branili su nam, čak je i polocija intervenisala, nisu nam dozvoljavali ali smo mi deca kao deca to koristili... Tako da je to bilo izuzetno dinamično. Samim tim svi ti radnici koji su tu radili koristili su sve ove kafane da sednu da popiju da se osveže, mnogo puta često i da se napiju, posebno što je Kasina radila danonoćno, uvek je bilo žive muzike, to je važilo i za Promaju na obali i tu se odvijao noćni život pre pedeset. šestdeset godina u Beogradu na mestima kao što su Brodarska kasina i Promaja, Posavina nije, ona se zatvarala kao i Galeb i Livno. E tu se odvijao noćni život ovih prostora, da kažemo eto Savamale i tog nišeg dela Beograda da se ne izrazim mnogo ružno, ali je tako.

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Well to be clear, not to be offensive, but everywhere in the world the workers on the piers are, especially when it comes to education and all,they were working-class people doing very difficult labor jobs. Apart from the ones loading and unloading ships, there were people a lot of people working on the ships, some of them were also captains and heads of the engine rooms, but most of them were labor workers who did these dirty jobs both on the ships and during the unloading. Also there was the classification yard down there, there was the port, everything that happened, happened on the ships coming there. There were freight cars where that BetonHala is now, and now there are a number of new objects,not only cafés, but also restaurants in the real sense of the word. There were five or six cranes and everything happened there in the storage area, whether it was unloading the cars, or the ships. Things were moved from cars onto ships or from ships into cars, it all depended on the type of business andeverything was stored in that BetonHala. After unloading, the cars would be empty, and there was a pusher car always bringing in new cars and pulling away the old ones. And those cars were often pushed and then left to roll on their own; we would hang from these cars and ride them, very often they would roll from BetonHala almost to the Stari most (Old Bridge), that’s how far we went. The pusher would gather up speed and then push the cars and they would roll in line of five, six or ten as a composition, and we us children would jump on and hang from them, and this ride was great fun. It was dangerous and forbidden, even the police came, it wasn't allowed but boys would be boys… So the place was very dynamic. Because of this, all the workers visited the local pubs and restaurants to have a drink, often to get drunk, especially with Brodarskakasina working day and night, there was always live music. The same goes for Promaja on the river bank. This was the night life in Belgrade fifty – sixty years ago, in places like Brodarskakasina and Promaja; not in Posavina though, it used to close earlier just like Galeb and Livno. And this was the night life in this area, in Savamala and this so to say lower part of Belgrade. I’m trying not to be rude, but it is.
Track Name: belgrade sound map - Čemu su se sve koristili lagumi - What were the vaults used for
To su bila vrlo intersantna dvorišta, sad ne znam koliko je ostalo, nisam zalazio. Ja sam kao dete ulazio u sva ta dvorišta. To je znači bilo dvorište uđete kroz neki prolaz uđete u dvorište onda to ima, kao i ova kuća u krug su neki stanovi, česma u dvorištu, čak su nekim dvorištima pošto su tu bili radnici koji su radili utovar bili i šine za neka kolica na točkovima da se tu ugura i izgura neka roba tim šinama, koja je dolazila sa brodova da se skladišti. A šta je opet interesantno iz tih dvorišta, ponekih, ja se sad ne sećam iz kog, mene je vodio onaj Boba gluvonemi, tad sam se ja prepao, u lagume. I dan danas ima tih laguma. Znači mi smo ušli i jedva smo izašli iz tog laguma. Ja sam se toliko uplašio i više nikad nisam hteo da uđem. To je bilo strašno. Znači i dan danas se iz nekih dvorišta može ući u te lagume. Ja se više i ne sećam, meni su pričali, dođu sa broda istovaraju robu, raznosači raznose, tu su se pravile i pijace, veletrgovina se obavljala, dalje se to raznosilo... ali ovo je bio neki urbani deo koji je bio trgovački, a šta sam hteo još da kažem, ja nema nažalost kod sebe, ali samo sto posto siguran, postoji jedan zapis, vrlo interesantan, koji sam ja čuvao u kabinetu dok sam radio i da li mi je ostao tamo ili ne... Naredba jedna Obrenovića gde kaže svi zanati, to je baš vezano i za buku, koji su u Savamali i koji prave buku, nalaže im se da se isele na Terazije ili dalje u periferiju.

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Those were two very interesting courtyards. I don’t know what’s left, I haven’t looked in for a while. When I was a kid, I used to go into all those courtyards. I mean, you could go into any courtyard through some passageway and there’d be a house, some flats all around, a tap in the courtyard, and some courtyards even had these tracks ‘cos the workers would bring in or take out these goods that would come in on the tracks from the boats to be stored away. And you know what else is interesting from these courtyards, some – I don’t remember which ones, Boba that deaf and dumb guy would take me, and I was shocked – had these vaults. Those vaults are there to this day. So we went in and we barely made it out of one of these vaults. I got so scared I never wanted to go into one again. It was terrifying. So like even today you can go into one of these vaults from these courtyards. I don’t remember anymore, I heard that they would bring in the goods from the boats, the unloaders would unload, there were these markets and wholesale of goods and then it would be taken on further... But this was some kind of urban trading part of town. And what I wanted to say, I don’t have it on me unfortunately, but I am one hundred percent sure, there is this record, very interesting, that I kept in a cabinet when I was working, whether it’s still there or not... It’s a decree from the King that says that all trades – it was all to do with the noise – who were in Savamala making noise, were ordered to move out to Terazije or even further out into the suburbs.