IRAH - Cinematic, video still by Jakob Steen, Samina Bazai

Watch a gut wrenching music video about the Balkan war

Apr 23, 2019

Today IRAH release a moving music video for the new single “Cinematic”. The video tells the story of keyboardist Adi Zukanović’ upbringing during the Balkan wars in the 90s using home video footage from Adi’s life at the time. The video brings back memories of a terrible and seminal war, and at the same time it conveys a beautiful story full of hope about a 4-year old boy who found a keyboard in the refugee center's playroom - and who today is one of Denmark's most sought-after musicians.

Adi, born in Sarajevo (Bosnia), fled to Denmark with his family at the age of 4 when the Balkan war broke out. In the refugee center's playroom, Adi found a small keyboard and quickly discovered the power and tranquility that music has given him ever since.

Today Adi is among the most sought-after pianists and keyboard players in Denmark and also arranges the music for several of the great Danish symphony orchestras.

The music video to "Cinematic" brings us back to the consequences of a war that today seems both strangely distant and as relevant as ever. The video was created by visual artists Jakob Steen and Samina Bazai, and Adi Zukanović contributed with home video footage from his first years in Denmark and from his first trips back to Bosnia after the war.

The song "Cinematic" in itself has many dramatic qualities, which makes the video even stronger. The directors Jakob Steen and Samina Bazai elaborate their approach to making the video:

"We dove into the picturesque colors of the VHS tapes, and deliberately tried to listen to, and understand, the material, rather than manipulating it, or making it more aesthetically appealing. We tried to follow the song’s own logic and inherent narrative structures, as well as the associative connections between the sound, imagery and words. "

IRAH’s album Diamond Grid is released on May 24 can be pre-ordered here.