We fell in love without speaking

We played music together for hours, creating new compositions without talking, write Faith and Ristic, sharing their experience in the Guardian. Read on: 

I’ll never forget the first moment I saw Branko. It was 2009 and I was 25, working as a musical director for a circus in the UK. I’d travelled alone from Gloucestershire to the village of Gornja Grabovica in Serbia, on a mission to learn Roma-style accordion. A week or so into my two-month trip, a friend called Dusan took me to meet his cousin Branko, who he said was one of the country’s best violinists.

When we arrived, Branko came out of the house he shared with his aunt and grandmother, wearing a white vest and jeans. I don’t remember thinking he was attractive, but for some reason I took a photo of him that I still have today.

We all sat around a table in the garden. I didn’t speak a word of Serbian and Branko knew no English, so Dusan struggled to translate. Branko was shy; it wasn’t every day an English woman turned up at his house. The following day I went back, and we played music together late into the night. We did this several more times, quickly developing a strong connection. It was totally platonic, however; nothing else entered my head, partly because he had a girlfriend.

 Faith and Branko Ristic: ‘It felt unreal, like magic.’ Photograph: Amit Lennon for the Guardian

After two months I returned to Britain. I was still determined to learn Roma accordion, but for the next couple of years I was busy touring with my work. Then, in July 2011, I had a few weeks off, and felt I was being called back to Serbia.

As soon as Branko heard I was back in Gornja Grabovica, he came straight to see me. With Dusan translating again, he told me he’d thought about me every day since I had left. He had broken up with his girlfriend months earlier. It felt unreal, like magic. It was exciting to acknowledge our connection, but unusual to feel something for each other without being able to communicate fully.

That night we went to an igranke, or dance. I just enjoyed being near Branko. His body language was so open, and he was so kind and loving. The next day we played music together for hours, creating new compositions. He still couldn’t say a word in English, and I’d only picked up basic things in Serbian, but it just felt right. We could usually work out what the other was trying to convey on an instinctual level, and if we couldn’t, we’d just laugh. It was so romantic. If I could rewind time, I’d go back to that moment.

I stayed at his house that night, and we fell asleep in each other’s arms. I’d never felt so happy. Not being able to express the subtleties of my emotions made it more intense. It was a relief for me to be able to just feel and be, rather than constantly talking.

After three weeks, I had to leave for work in Britain. It was incredibly painful, and Branko worried I’d never come back. But I was desperate to go straight back out there. My mum was very supportive, advising me to do what felt right. From then, it became more real. I bought audio tapes to learn Serbian and booked a one-way flight. This time I stayed for three months.

The type of Serbian Roma culture Branko lived in was very different from the English culture I knew. There isn’t the same language to describe the process of starting a relationship; if you start spending time with someone, then you’re with them, and you immediately say, “I love you.”

Branko and I planned to go to Britain together for a while to earn money and introduce him to my life; but he had rarely travelled even in his own country, and his tourist visa was refused twice. It was difficult to go back alone. When I returned, we decided to get married, and in March 2012 we had a simple but chaotic wedding in Serbia. We built a house on the exact spot we first met in Branko’s grandmother’s garden.

We formed a band, Faith i Branko, and have spent the last three years touring Europe, Australia and New Zealand, playing festivals and releasing an album. Today my Serbian is pretty good, and while Branko still doesn’t speak fluent English, he understands a lot. They say music is the language of the soul. We took a leap to find out if that is true, and music has held us together ever since.

Not a battle but a slaughter secured the Ottoman expansion on the Balkan peninsula

It was in the beginning of a cold Autumn. The year was 1371. Near the village of Chernomen, two despots led their army against the Ottomans.  They were two brothers – Uglesha and Vukashin. The Ottoman leader, Lala Shahi, would eventually rout his enemies. His victory was achieved after an early morning ambush. His men would slaughter the drunk and sleeping defenders. With this bloody success, the Ottomans would solidify their rule over the Balkans and liquidate any resistance eastwards of Niš.

The Despots Volkashin and Uglesha leading their army. Image credit: Vassil Goranov

Lala Shahin and the Ottoman Empire
By the end of 1364, the Ottoman empire is in reality separated in two. One part was Rumelie, where lies the capital of Erdine. The other was Anatolia – their lands in Asia Minor. The Ottoman Sultan, Murad I, was possibly busy with ruling the empire in Asia Minor.

Ottoman conquest during Murad I reign

The other half of the empire is under the control of different military vicars called ghazi. Their primary leader was Lala Shahin. He was also the Sultan’s teacher.  Lala Shahin was a talented general. Even though he had limited resources, he managed to solidify the Ottoman domain on the Balkans.

The Serbian Despots
After the death of Stephan Urosh in 1355, the Serbian kingdom began to decline. The vast territories in Macedonia and Greece were divided between different rulers from the central dynasty. Some of those considered themselves so independent from the main hierarchy that they called themselves kings. This was the case with the two brothers Vukashin and Uglesha. They both controlled territories in today’s Macedonia. Vukashin claimed to be “The king of all Serbians and Greeks” – in opposition to his brother.

The Background
After the Ottomans manage to destroy the rule of Momchil Voyvode in Thrace and the Rhodopes, they continued their expansion. Soon after the entire Thrace was under Ottoman rule, their ghazi began attacking the territories of the two Serbian despots. The two brothers, feeling the imminent threat of the Ottoman conquest, decided to gather an army. Their plan was to rout the attackers’ forces and chase them out of the territories in Rumelie.

After Gallipoli was taken in 1364 by Amadeo Savoy, there was a good chance for victory. The Ottoman position in the Balkans at that time was unstable. Bearing this in mind, the two brothers allied their forces and gathered all they needed to begin their march.

The Brothers’ Army – Reality and Numbers
In 1371 the army was ready. However, there is no hard evidence about the size of their army. It’s considered to be anywhere between 20,000 to 70,000. Based on the land they held and the tactis they employed, however, a smaller number is more likely.

The Ottoman force – Reality and Numbers
The Ottoman force for the battle was significantly smaller, but the exact number can again be debated. Their contemporary historical sources say they were no more than some 800 strong. We could possibly put their numbers at around half of what the Serbian alliance had.

The Real Difference in the Forces
The difference which decided the battle’s outcome was more the quality than the quantity. The entire Ottoman force consisted of seasoned warriors, who had survived numerous battles, sieges, and raids. On the contrary, the Serbian force consisted of an undisciplined rebel army and a small amount of cavalry.

Furthermore, it was logical that the Ottoman ghazis had superior experience. After all, they were in constant clashes with the resistance of the Balkan people. The Ottomans probably had a smaller but far better army.

Pre-battle Maneuvers

The Territories before the “Battle”. You can see Chernomen marked with an X

Confident in their bigger force, the two brothers began their march. They looked forward to expelling the Ottomans from Erdine and stopping their expansion. Their plan was to go down the stream of the river Maritsa and lead a surprise attack. Lala Shahin, however, knew what was going on. He also had extensive experience fighting in a rough terrain and organizing ambushes.

Considering his tactical advantage, he took measures in order to stop the Serbians’ advancement.  The Ottoman leader sent trackers to scout the region. The Serbianswere overly confident, and never bothered to do that.

Thus, the Lala Shahin waited for the right moment to rout the marching rebels. His chance came in the early morning hours of the 26th of September. The Serbians had made their camp near the Maritsa, and had made one final crucial mistake. They decided to celebrate their future victory and held a feast. By the morning, the camp largely unguarded and many of the men were drunk.

Not a Battle but a Slaughter
The force of the Ottoman leader Lala Shahin entered the camp in the morning. His men took their knives out and began slaughtering their sleeping enemies. In the Massacre that followed the two Serbian leaders were mercilessly killed. Whoever did not die from the Ottoman blades drowned in the river of Maritsa, in an attempt to escape.

Outcome
With a single bloody blow, the Serbian army was decimated. Lala Shahin’s victory liquidated any chances of the Macedonian despots to gather a new army. For something as simple as ego and alcohol, the fate of the Balkans was sealed. During the next decade and a half, the Ottomans would expand their territories on the Balkan Peninsula unhindered.

In 1387 the forces of the Ottoman leader Murad I would, at last, be defeated. The allied armies of Serbia and Bosnia would claim the victory. However, for Bulgaria, the Ottoman success on the Peninsula would mean a terrible and untimely threat. The events would open the borders for a forceful expansion and the Battle of Nicopolis, which in turn would result in five centuries of brutal slavery.

Bibliogrpahy:
K.Irecheck, History of Bulgaria, 1978
Gyuzelev and Petrov, Read on History of Bulgaria, II, Sofia, 1978
Ducca, “History”; from Read on the History of the Middle Centuries, Bakalov and Angelov; Sofia, 1988

(Source: War History Online)