On a cold snowy day in November 2004, four Danish musicians and one photographer landed in Pristina Airport. A small but remarkable adventure had begun.

Kosovo - for all inhabitants in The Balkans and for all involved in peace & stability work in SEE, this name has a certain sound and brings up picture s. Peaceful development in Kosovo is a cornerstone in the progress for the whole region, and the requests for action here to all participant in FRESTA/the Neighbourhood Programme had sounded several times.

The outbreak of violence in march 2004 brought Kosovo back on the news headlines, and many people would have thought more than twice before engaging in this tense area. But Wired lifted the challenge. DK coordinator Johannes Batzer wrote the application for the project called “First Steps in Kosovo”, and the project was granted funds from The Neighbourhood Programme's special pool for action in Kosovo.

Let's dance

On the night of the first concert with the Danish rock'n roll band Shotgun 4, situated in Sprey Club in Pristina, Sinisa Stantic and Natasha Moslavac, wired activists from Subotica, Serbia, arrived on the public bus and was picked up on the bus station by Dardan Islami, manager on the independent radio station Urban FM. This was the start of quite a lot of mingling between ethnic Serbs and Kosovo Albanians on the concerts to follow.

Friday evening Shotgun 4 played in “tiffany's Pub”, South Mitrovica, where the manager Naim declared: “Nobody in my staff have any problems with Serbs. I believe in co-existence, and I have plans to establish a bar where we can all come.” On that night a handful of Serbs crossed the bridge in Mitrovica to attend the concert on the south side, and the party lasted all night with everybody dancing together. As Sinisa says in the documentary film about the project: “This will not bring peace, but these fifty people dancing together are the foundation. They give us hope!” Only the peace was disturbed by 3 French KFOR soldiers, drunk and rowdy, partying with loaded automatic weapons hanging on their backs.

On the last night Shotgun 4 played in Club Exponto, in Zvecan, the homestead of the Serbian parallel administration in Kosovo, and after a short sleep the crew travelled home to Copenhagen and Subotica.

The concerts turned out as a success, multiethnic events happened on a small scale, and contacts to the cultural environment in Kosovo are established. Kosovo will be on the map of future events in Wired. We hope soon again to bring people together, not to focus on distrust and differences, but to say the words: Let's dance…

In our minds…

Kosovo is not yet a peaceful spot on Earth, but there is no excuse for not engaging their, to bring some hope and spread some joy. The Albanian majority is struggling with unemployment and organised crime, the Serbs are living in practically closed enclaves, and they are haunted by uncertainty about their future in Kosovo, lack of safety and general despair. On the bottom of today's Kosovo we found the Roma's, living in refugee settlements consisting of small shacks built of recycled wood and metal, like a 3 rd world slum in a country with -30 degrees in the winter. Our deepest sympathies goes out to these people, and the staff in DRC, who works on improving their conditions.

The project had an essential support from the local staff of Danish Refugee Council, who eagerly jumped to help us, with crucial contacts, stunning information and their great company. We couldn't have done it without U, you know who U are!

In our minds are unforgettable impressions, knowledge and images, and the burning flame of hope for a peaceful Kosovo for all it's inhabitants.