Bagpipes: Vladan Radisavljević -- Part of a collection of Komite/Chetnik folk songs from the Serbian-Turkish wars of the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Text and description ... -------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- -------------- Visit Mica's website: www.micapetrovic.com -- all songs are free to download. Visit Mića's site: www.micapetrovic.com -- all songs are free for downloading. -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- -------- GREETINGS TO VOYCE PEĆANCA AND SKOPLJANAC (folk) Oh, eagle eagle, Komit eagle, You fly high, the sea, you look far. For three days, I stopped shooting guns, shooting guns, the sea, the sea, the kursumi zvrčev. Does Serbia take Constantinople, Or does Russia break the sea, Pleven*? Neither Serbia takes Constantinople, nor Russia, the sea, Pleven breaks. I'm already shooting bombs at Kozjak mountain, There, the sea, all the Macedonians are fighting. The committee was killed seeking freedom, Družino bro, the sea, Chetniks bro. Oh, eagles of Komit, You bring greetings, sea, Kozjak to the mountains. There is the hero Kosta Pećanac, And with him the brave, the sea, Đorđe Skopljanac. There, great blood is being shed, For freedom, the sea, Old Serbia. Old Serbia and Macedonia, Družino bre, the sea, Ustashi bre. 1905-1906 on the field ------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------- The Siege of Plevna, or Siege of Pleven, was a major battle of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. led by the joint army of Russia and Romania against the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman defenses repulsed the main Russian advance south into Bulgaria for five months, encouraging the other great powers to actively support the Ottoman cause. Eventually, superior Russian and Romanian numbers forced the garrison to capitulate. The Russian-Romanian victory on December 10, 1877 was decisive for the outcome of the war and the liberation of Bulgaria. -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- --------- Konstantin Milovanović (Dečan area, 1879, Ottoman Empire — Nikolinac near Sokobanja, May or June 1944, Occupied Serbia), better known as Kosta Pećanac, was a Serbian Chetnik duke during the Balkan Wars and the First World War . Konstantin's father Milovan was the patron of Visoki Dečani monastery. His father and brother Milosav fought in the Russian-Turkish war from 1877 to 1878. Both his parents were killed in 1883 during the Albanian attack on the monastery. After that, Konstantin was taken care of by his uncle who lived in the village of Đurakovac near Peć. He came to Serbia in 1892, when he was 14 years old, and even as a boy he worked as a wage laborer. At the age of 21, he received a call for regular military service, serving in the engineering corps, becoming a reserve officer. Later, he continued his service in the border gendarmerie near Vranje as a corporal. Milovanović was fired for unknown reasons and later joined the committees. During his service in the committees, he received the nickname "Pećanac", which was derived from the name of the town where he grew up. In 1895, fighting broke out in Old Serbia against the Ottoman Empire. Pećanac joined the Serbian Chetnik organization in 1903 and participated in the battles against the Ottoman army in several important battles, including those at Suplja Stena (near Pčinja) and on Chelopek (near Stari Nagoričan). The deacon of the Bishop of Žica and duke Jovan Grković Gapon proposed Kosta Pećanac for the duke; at the Christmas gathering in 1904, Pećanac received the title of duke at the age of 25. Between 1905 and 1907, he led several important battles against the Ottoman army in the vicinity of Skopje. In 1908, Pećanac married Sofija Milosavljević, a native of Aleksinac (he had four children with her). As the fighting in Macedonia intensified during 1910, he left his children and pregnant wife and returned to the battlefield. -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- ----- Đorđe Ristić (Peć, August 6, 1881 -- Ottoman Empire — Niš, January 27, 1911 -- Kingdom of Serbia), called Skopljanče, was a Serbian Chetnik duke, who toured Old Serbia and Macedonia. He finished high school in Skopje, after which he enrolled in the Non-Commissioned Officer School in Belgrade in 1904, and with the rank of sergeant, he crossed the Serbian-Turkish border and started working as a soldier. Because of the bravery he showed, he earned the title of duke already in 1905. He participated in the battles of Guglin, Petraljica and Celopek in 1905. His region was the Kumanovo area, where he often clashed with the Bulgarian duke Krsto Konjuški. He died as a result of prolonged chattering, and a damaged organism due to living outdoors for a long time in bad weather conditions. He was buried in Niš, where the National Defense erected a monument to him in 1913.