An Englishman in the Balkans – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Welcome to An Englishman in the Balkans, where I share personal stories, conversations, and moments of everyday life from my adopted home in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Whether you’re curious about the culture, thinking of visiting, or just enjoy a slower pace of storytelling, there’s something here for you.

Hello again. I’m David, a long-term resident of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This episode isn’t about the beauty of the Vrbas river or where to find the best ćevapi (although there’s plenty of that on this channel).

It’s about why, despite living here for over two decades, I choose not to talk publicly about politics.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am interested. I follow what’s happening.

I see how decisions impact everyday life. But I also know, deeply, that this isn’t my country.

And with that comes responsibility: to observe, not interfere. To listen, not judge.

When friends and visitors ask me about the conflict, the three presidents, or the state of the country today, I tell them what I can. But the truth? The truth depends on who you ask.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is many things.

Complicated. Fragmented.

Yes, dysfunctional. But also endlessly generous, rich in stories, and deeply human. It’s a living archive of history, culture, pain, pride, and resilience.

In this episode, I reflect on the minefield of discussing politics as a foreigner, the legacy of the Dayton Agreement, and why it’s better to explore Bosnia through its people, not its politics.

If you’re curious about this beautiful, complex place, watch, listen, and maybe even plan your own journey to the heart-shaped land.

Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, you can support the podcast by leaving a review or buying me a coffee, it really does help keep things going.

Want to hear more or catch up on past episodes? Visit anenglishmaninthebalkans

For a deeper look into life here in the Balkans, check out my Blog at Coffee and Rakija.

Find us on ALL podcatchers at: PODLINK

Until next time — stay curious.

From Tbilisi to Baku—stories of activism, hope, and media freedom in Azerbaijan and Georgia.

In this special episode, I take you back to Tbilisi, Georgia, one year after my initial media training visit in 2015.

This time, I reconnect with some of the passionate individuals I first met and sit down with new voices who are using online radio and digital media to challenge the status quo in the South Caucasus.

You’ll hear from Zamira, a fearless advocate for digital activism in Azerbaijan, as well as two other remarkable change-makers working to empower youth, promote gender equality, and give ethnic Azerbaijani communities a voice.

Often in places where being heard isn’t easy.

These reflective conversations reveal the power of independent media in regions where mainstream narratives often fall short.

It’s a story of creativity, courage, and connection.

One broadcast at a time.

🎧 Whether you’re interested in media freedom, cross-cultural collaboration, or just love human stories that matter, this episode is for you.

Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, you can support the podcast by leaving a review or buying me a coffee, it really does help keep things going.

Want to hear more or catch up on past episodes? Visit anenglishmaninthebalkans

For a deeper look into life here in the Balkans, check out my Blog at Coffee and Rakija.

Find us on ALL podcatchers at: PODLINK

Until next time — stay curious.

Welcome to An Englishman in the Balkans, the podcast where I, David, share my experiences of life in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a British expat.

Join me as I explore the culture, history, food, and everyday life in this fascinating country. From hidden travel gems and local traditions to expat life insights, each episode offers a first-hand perspective on what it’s like to live, travel, and immerse yourself in the Balkans.

Whether you’re curious about Bosnia, planning a visit, or considering moving abroad, this podcast is your guide to discovering the authentic side of the region, through engaging stories, interviews, and personal reflections.

📌 New episodes every week. Subscribe now and explore Bosnia with me!

From her early start inspired by her mother's influence to her current role in directing a dance troupe, Dita discusses the significance of folklore in Bosnian culture, the challenges posed by modern lifestyles and technology, and the importance of passing down traditions through generations.

This episode also explores the intricacies of traditional costumes and the necessity of financial and community support to keep folklore alive.

Join us as we delve into the vibrant tapestry of Bosnian cultural heritage and its relevance in contemporary times.

Thank you for tuning in to An Englishman in the Balkans. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and that it gave you a little more insight into life and culture here in this fascinating part of the world.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing to the podcast on your favourite platform so you never miss a new release. And, if you have a moment, a quick rating or review would mean the world. It really helps others discover the show.

For more updates, stories, and behind-the-scenes moments consider Subscribing to My Blog.

I’d also love to hear from you!

Feel free to reach out with any questions, feedback, or ideas for future episodes.

You can send comments, thoughts and suggestions to: questions@anenglishmaninthebalkans.com I reply to every mail!

Until next time, take care, and as always, Hvala for listening.

Enjoying the podcast? If you’d like to support the show and help me continue sharing stories and insights about life here in the Balkans, consider Buying Me a Coffee!

Your support means the world and helps keep the episodes coming.

In this episode Tamara and I talk about International Women’s Day or Dan Žen, but simply referred to as osmi mart (8th March).

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anenglishmaninthebalkans.com/subscribe

Mentioned in this episode:

Tamara Intro Tip

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.coffeeandrakija.com/subscribe

Tamara and David answer some of your questions:

1. Are there many houses made of wood in BiH? Seems that most houses are made of bricks. In Norway 90% of the houses are made of wood.

2. Is Herzegovina a separate geographical area within BiH?

3. What are the various culture that made up Banja Luka and the various cultures in present day? What about the people living there. What are their occupations; industry, tourism etc?

4. How many dogs you guys have?

5. How did you guys meet?

6. What are the rules to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina at the moment?

7. What is your favourite place in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

If you enjoy the podcast please subscribe/follow and share with a friend!

If you would like to support our podcast you can, by maybe buying us a coffee or a sandwich?

https://www.paypal.com/davidbaileymbe (https://www.paypal.com/davidbaileymbe)

Read Our Blog at https://livinginbosniaandherzegovina.com/ (Living in Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/lifeinbosniaandherzegovina (https://www.facebook.com/lifeinbosniaandherzegovina)

Instagram: @https://www.instagram.com/lifeinbosniaandherzegovina/ (lifeinbosniaandherzegovina)

Ask us any questions or give a suggestion for a Podcast.

Come and visit us and holiday in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

E-Mail us at info@livinginbosniaandherzegovina.com

Support this podcast

Get full access to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 An Englishman in the Balkans 🇧🇦 at www.anenglishmaninthebalkans.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anenglishmaninthebalkans.com/subscribe

Mentioned in this episode:

Tamara Intro Tip

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.coffeeandrakija.com/subscribe

Tamara and Me look at some Facts concerning Bosnia and Herzegovina.

When researching somewhere to visit, I invariably land on links that say 5 fun facts about wherever, or 6 stunning places you must visit.

So, on this episode we look at some fun facts from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Without giving too much away, a few of them are quirky and not well known at all.

If you enjoy the podcast please subscribe/follow and share with a friend!

If you would like to support our podcast you can, by maybe buying us a coffee or a sandwich?

https://www.paypal.com/davidbaileymbe (https://www.paypal.com/davidbaileymbe)

Read Our Blog at https://livinginbosniaandherzegovina.com/ (Living in Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/lifeinbosniaandherzegovina (https://www.facebook.com/lifeinbosniaandherzegovina)

Instagram: @https://www.instagram.com/lifeinbosniaandherzegovina/ (lifeinbosniaandherzegovina)

Ask us any questions or give a suggestion for a Podcast.

Come and visit us and holiday in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

E-Mail us at info@livinginbosniaandherzegovina.com

Support this podcast

Get full access to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 An Englishman in the Balkans 🇧🇦 at www.anenglishmaninthebalkans.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anenglishmaninthebalkans.com/subscribe

Mentioned in this episode:

Tamara Intro Tip

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.coffeeandrakija.com/subscribe

Hello and welcome to the living in Bosnia and Herzegovina podcast. A podcast that tells stories from this much misunderstood country. In today's episode, we'll be finding out more about folklore, and in particular, traditional dancing. Back in 2019, I became aware of a young lady from South Holland, who had been dancing with a folklore ensemble in the nearby city of Banja Luka. She was at that time starting to make a film about Bosnian folk dancing, because she felt that these traditions might be starting to disappear, and she wanted to preserve that experience for future generations. So in the COVID world of early 2021, I have caught up with Efie Derksen to find out more.

David:

Efie, you're in the Netherlands, I'm here in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I bumped into you quite randomly on the internet, and I thought, "What an amazing story." So we've never really met in real life. So if we did, my first question to you would be, "Who is Efie?"

Efie:

Yeah, that's a good question. I am very jealous because you are there. I miss it so much to be in Bosnia. But, I'm Efie, I'm a Dutch woman and there is no genetical link with the former of Yugoslavia, but for me it's something I grew up with. So it was in our home. We always listened Balkan music. And first, your question, who is Efie? I'm a lot of things. I'm a nurse, and I'm making a from my heart. I'm not a filmmaker. So it's just something that I wanted to do, to preserve what we can find now.

David:

I read a little bit about you, and you said that your parents are both from the Netherlands, were into folklore themselves. But they met not in the Netherlands, I understand, but somewhere close to here as well.

Efie:

Yeah, it's true. They met in Hungary. My dad is a musician, he always was, and he loved music from the Balkans. It was just that feeling, and the new music, and the songs. So he would travel to the Balkans to learn from the musicians there. And my mother was a folk dancer, and in that years, I'm talking about '70s early '80s, I don't know. It was very popular in Holland to do folk dancing. So there were courses, and she went to a course in Hungary. There was just like a folk festival, and my dad also was travelling there, and he came to play, and she came to dance, and then they met like two Dutch people and the one folk festival in Hungary, so it's funny. Yeah.

David:

What made you want to come to the Balkans, and in particular Bosnia and Herzegovina. Today for example, we're talking about the wonders of the country, and yet I was just before talking to you, dropping in on a seminar to try and encourage tourism, and to try and encourage visitors to come here, and it's been an uphill struggle, always is, and always has been an uphill struggle. What made you want to come to this country? This very misunderstood country in Southeast Europe.

Efie:

Well, in the first place, I had the culture in my heart. The songs, and I never was interested in... Well, I was interested, but I never cared about the war stories, because I think that's a big problem. People still think like, "Is it safe going to Bosnia, or Serbia because of the war?" But I think for me, it's the people that I come for. They are so open, and loving and in particular Bosnian people. Because I think in history, they were always the ones in the middle. They were always the ones that people came to attack, or how do you say it? And I think they are more vulnerable, I guess, they are more open. They are more warm. You feel at home when you come there, it's just the second home, and they embrace you.

Efie:

And even after all those crazy things that happened in that country with all those ethnic groups, they are just still open. And beside that, when people come, maybe the first thing they need to know, it's a beautiful country. It's beautiful nature. It's beautiful. The food is really... I see you are very lucky. You can eat a......

Sounds of The Balkans In this edition of the podcast, we play some eclectic Balkan music mixed with some Balkan gossip .

The tracks we featured are:

Balkan - https://www.facebook.com/omikimusic/ (Omiki )

I Daje - https://www.facebook.com/SassjaSassja/about/ (Sassja)

Baila Leila - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goran_Bregovi%C4%87 (Goran Bregović)

Lasting Kind of Love - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana_Popovi%C4%87 (Ana Popović)

Opa Cupa - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_Soul_Party! (Slavic Soul Party)

Trust - https://www.facebook.com/bruhuuhu/ (Bruhuuhu)

Cross the Line - https://dubioza.org/ (Dubioza Kolektiv)

Samo Malo- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnifico_(musician) (Magnifico)

Na Na Na Na - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubismo (Cubismo) with Josipa Lisac

Noć Noć - https://popnable.com/bosna/artists/57683-brutal-protest (Brutal Protest)

Professor Jakov - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_3 (Let 3)

Siki Siki Baba -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko%C4%8Dani_Orkestar (Kočani Orkester)

Duni Mi Duni Ladjane - https://www.discogs.com/artist/1269235-Teodulija (Teodulija)

Banja Luka - http://banjaluka2024.ba/en/jazz-rez-quincy-jones-sends-his-love-to-banja-luka/ (Quincy Jones)

Go Marko Go - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boban_Markovi%C4%87 (Borban i Marko Marković Orkester)

If you enjoy the podcast please subscribe/follow and share with a friend!

If you would like to support our podcast you can, by maybe buying us a coffee or a sandwich?

https://www.paypal.com/davidbaileymbe (https://www.paypal.com/davidbaileymbe)

Read Our Blog at https://livinginbosniaandherzegovina.com/ (Living in Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/lifeinbosniaandherzegovina (https://www.facebook.com/lifeinbosniaandherzegovina)

Instagram: @

This is a public episode. If you’d...

Sounds of The Balkans

In this edition of the podcast, we focus on music from Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Croatia and Serbia.

Some old tracks and some really up to date ones too.

The tracks we featured are:

https://www.divanhana.ba/en/biography2/ (Divanhana) - Oj safete, sajo, sarajlijo

https://amiramedunjanin.com/ (Amira Medunjanin) - Ajde Jano Kolo Da Igramo

http://www.snailrecords.nl/artist/ljb/ (Ljiljana Buttler) - Nocas Mi Srce Pati

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0aban_Bajramovi%C4%87 (Šaban Bajramović) - DJelem, DJelem

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parni_Valjak (Parni Valjak) - Moja Je Pjesma Lagana

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekatarina_Velika (Ekaterina Velika) - Zemlja

https://www.facebook.com/vanjamisica/ (Vanja Mišić) - Tu I Tu

https://www.n1m.com/sopot?album=66179 (Sopot) - Zovi Me

https://www.facebook.com/sundaystoriesofficial/ (Sunday Stories) - Dišem

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanda,_Kod%C5%BEa_i_Neboj%C5%A1a (Kanda, Kondža i Nebojša) - SAT

https://www.facebook.com/killokillobanda/ (Killo Killo Banda) - Vinska Pesma

https://www.facebook.com/grupadetour/ (Detour) - Proljeće i ja

If you enjoy the podcast please subscribe/follow and share with a friend!

If you would like to support our podcast you can, by maybe buying us a coffee or a sandwich?

https://www.paypal.com/davidbaileymbe (https://www.paypal.com/davidbaileymbe)

Read Our Blog at https://livinginbosniaandherzegovina.com/ (Living in Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/lifeinbosniaandherzegovina (https://www.facebook.com/lifeinbosniaandherzegovina)

Instagram: @https://www.instagram.com/lifeinbosniaandherzegovina/ (lifeinbosniaandherzegovina)

Ask us any questions or give a suggestion for a Podcast.

Come and visit us and holiday in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

E-Mail us at info@livinginbosniaandherzegovina.com

Support...

On this edition of the podcast Tamara and I visit the wooden church at Romanovci. Over the years, I have developed an interest in wooden chapels and churches, and mosques with wooden minarets, that are to be seen across Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Today I travelled the short distance to Romanovci, to see the church of St Nicholas (Sv Nikola).

Sadly it was closed but I will come back to see inside.

This church is special, in that it is a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

If you enjoy the podcast please subscribe/follow and share with a friend!

If you would like to support our podcast you can, by maybe buying us a coffee or a sandwich?

https://www.paypal.com/davidbaileymbe (https://www.paypal.com/davidbaileymbe)

Read Our Blog at https://livinginbosniaandherzegovina.com/ (Living in Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/lifeinbosniaandherzegovina (https://www.facebook.com/lifeinbosniaandherzegovina)

Instagram: @https://www.instagram.com/lifeinbosniaandherzegovina/ (lifeinbosniaandherzegovina)

Ask us any questions or give a suggestion for a Podcast.

Come and visit us and holiday in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

E-Mail us at info@livinginbosniaandherzegovina.com

Support this podcast

Get full access to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 An Englishman in the Balkans 🇧🇦 at www.anenglishmaninthebalkans.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anenglishmaninthebalkans.com/subscribe

Mentioned in this episode:

Tamara Intro Tip

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.coffeeandrakija.com/subscribe