Music School

Anto Vrvilo had to watch every word he uttered while he was being interrogated in the presence of military policemen who held him in detention for two months in the basement of the Music School in the central Bosnian city of Zenica.

The exhibition entitled 'Beyond the Seven Camps: From Crime of Culture to Culture of Crime' by Croatian photojournalist Hrvoje Polan opened on Thursday at the Zagreb Journalists' House, depicting cultural centres that were turned into detention facilities where people were tortured and killed during the 1990s wars.

Kosovars and Albanians in general who cherish folklore, Albanian melodies and traditional music all admire the man who was born in Rugova e Hasit, about 50 km from Prizren, which is where he attended high school.

"My generation was raised in 'informational darkness' and we didn't have a lot of news while we were thirsty for knowledge," he recalls.

"Suddenly, at the age of 48, the photojournalist Hrvoje Polan has left us. For nearly three decades, Hrvoje has been dealing with news and documentary photography," the Croatian Journalists' Association announced on Monday.

Polan worked for numerous newspapers and agencies, from satirical Croatian weekly magazine Feral Tribune to Reuters, before going freelance.

Greek bassist Yorgos Fakanas has invited American bass guitar player Stu Hamm to join him and his band YFG (Yiorgos Fakanas Group) on stage at the Athena Live stage for two sets featuring progressive jazz fusion on February 8 and 9.

Photographer Hrvoje Polan, writer Viktor Ivancic and journalist Nemanja Stjepanovic presented their new book 'Behind the Seven Camps: From Crimes of Culture to Culture of Crime', about the use of cultural buildings as wartime detention and killing sites, on Thursday evening at Zagreb's Gric cinema.