Zoran Naskovski, "Death in Dallas", 2001 (Serbia and Montenegro)



Death in Dallas
black and white, color, sound, 17 min.
single record with cover


Oh my gusle, my instrument of old,
by modern times you will suffer not,
for gusle gentle tunes
became our national lore.

And now I'll sing a song,
and picture the assassination
of Kennedy the president
and day when he was killed".
...


A video installation, which sets newsreel footage of John F. Kennedy's life and assassination with a mournful ballad about the tragedy sung to the accompaniment by the sounds of an ancient one-stringed instrument known a gusle. This work recalls and reexamines the international impact of JFK's assassination on November 22, 1963.

Gusle players served as chroniclers of unwritten history of their nation, while in case of the song "Death in Dallas", the gaze of gusle player is directed towards the global event that took place in USA.