Florina in 2025 teaches us lessons. Lessons on how «national pride» can be confused with absurdity, and how censorship becomes a supposedly patriotic duty.
The mayor, a man who certainly takes our national ideals seriously, decided that Banda Entopica would not sing about a woman named Sofka or Sofia. Why? Because the songs were in... «Slavic language.» Or, to be fair, «Slavic dialect.» In other words, if the Mayor doesn't say so, it's not even a language.
And let's make it clear for those who are afraid of words: there is no such thing as a Slavic language. There are Slavic languages. There is Macedonian. There is Serbian, Bulgarian, Czech, Russian. Just as there is no «Latin language» spoken daily in Spain or France, or «German language» for the Dutch. There are languages, specific, living languages. And Macedonian belongs to the Slavic family of languages. Yes, Macedonian. The language that some here want to call a «dialect,» or an element of high political imagination, a «cursed idiom.» No permission from any mayor is needed to sing it.
They are not «idioms,» «dialects,» or «cursed things.» They are the languages of people.
Freedom of music, freedom of language, and common sense seem to scare the Greek nationalists who think that their homeland is just a symbol on their backpack. In Florina, democracy is being transformed into a... Municipal Committee for Linguistic Purity, where songs are banned if the mayor doesn't like them.
Of course, the central administration, which promises us democracy with a small dose of a deeply «executive» state, remains silent. If not because it agrees, then certainly because it is looking the other way. And so, Florina becomes an experiment in Greek neo-democratic tolerance, with freedom of music, freedom of language, and even common sense coming under the «direction» of the municipality. Thus, Florina becomes an experimental laboratory for how «national consciousness» can be confused with nonsense.
The answer is simple: we will sing whatever we want. In Macedonian, Kurdish, French, Swahili, even German, if we feel like it. Because democracy is not a matter of taste or a local issue. Because democracy is not a decorative detail. It is a way of life. And if Florina wants to live in the silence of fear, the air must be filled with music.
And so, for every municipality that wants to play the role of modern language commissioner, the answer will be one: Sophia. Wisdom. And music.
In the end, the only «dialect» we recognize is the language of resistance. And that doesn't need anyone's permission.
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In the video: Sofka – Traditional Slavic song from Griva in the prefecture of Kilkis Excerpts from the concert entitled: «Egnatia Road: Crossroads of Cultures and Ethnicities» by the Traditional Music Ensemble of the Trikala Music School, which took place on Thursday, April 18, 2024, at the «Papastergiadis Building» in Trikala. It is a musical journey that highlights the multiculturalism of the peoples who live and have lived at various times on the outskirts of the Egnatia Road. A mosaic of music and languages with Turkish, Pontic, Sephardic, Vlach, Slavic, and, of course, Greek songs, presented with the common denominator of the universal language of music. The idea is based on the musical performance «The Secrets of Egnatia» by Nikos Kypourgos at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in June 2018.
Our great-grandparents danced and spoke Macedonian, as did our grandparents and fathers, just as our children and grandchildren will sing and dance. They may have tried to bury our roots deep in the soil, but they sprouted and grew into a mighty tree that can withstand the blows and treacherous attacks.