Balkans, Anatolia, Caucasus, Levant and other Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, South Asia, occasional forays into southern Italy, Spain or eastern Europe, minorities, the nation-state and nationalism — and whatever other quirks or obsessions lurk inside my head.
Lifted by me without permission — hope she forgives me:
“Les Bosniaques en marche”, 1890A couple from Kreševo, date unknownAt the fountain in Sarajevo, early 20th c.Mostar 1898Bihać, 1908Bosnian Christian left, Bosnian Muslim right, date unkownBosnia: coffee and mangal, date unknownBosnian costumes, date unknown (the beauty, variety and opulence of Balkan female dress always blows me away, especially as the West has traditionally thought of the Balkans as a poor part of the world.)Bosnia, dance, no further information (I love the movement of the colored salvar — the women’s long baggy pants.)House and family in Herzegovina, date and location unknown (along with ethnic/religious affiliation of those pictured; but the women aren’t wearing salvar — see previous photo — which traditionally identified a woman as Muslim in the Balkans; I’m assuming they’re Croats or Serbs)Mostar (date unknown): among other things, an illustration of the ridiculously phallic competition to make church towers higher than minarets — and it’s only gotten worse today.Sarajevo, 1890, guessing, from left to right, Croatian, Serbian and Muslim women.Sarajevo, 1892 (the gorgeous lattice work of the round cumba on house on left.)Serbian woman from Herzegovina, date unkown, one of @BosnianHistory ‘s loveliest photos. Travnik, 1900, love the low divan, coffee and cigarette (staples of civilized Ottoman life) and the partial smirk on the second from left woman that’s the only thing that comes close to a smile. In Dinner with Persephone by Patricia Storace, the best travel book on Greece since the earlier work of Patrick Leigh Fermor, which I give to all friends who are going to Greece for the first time, Storace writes: “The initial glance here is inquisitive, investigative. There are no easy smiles given away in Greece. It hasn’t yet been ascertained that your existence deserves a smile.” The huge, pearl-white teeth smile is, I think, an entirely American invention: the relentless positivity of the American psyche (Like, why are you smiling?) until the crazy smile descends into total psychosis.Tuzla 1902Bosnia urban couple, no further info, but an illustration that urban dress throughout the Balkans was basically a variety of Ottoman urban dress; the wildly imaginative costumes belonged more to the rural population.Bosnia, no further info, but another image of Ottoman coffee “tea ceremony”. People swear, till today, that coffee made in the ashes of a mangal, like in the photo, tastes far superior to coffee made by any other contraption.Bosnian Croats (no further info), hence, I guess, the resemblance to Catholic nuns’ headress.Jajce, 1941Bosnian bride and father-of in more contemporary image. Again, it’s obvious that these costumes cost a fortune for families. Luckily most of the gold is inherited. And I love the male vanity of dad. Montenegrin men (the butchest of Balkan butch) dress in similarly extravagant stuff, and if I’m not wrong every male in Montenegro still has a traditional outfit made for him for ceremonial occasions.The Male in nature?Kolo in Busovača, 1926Busovača, 1926Sarajevo, girl at fountain, 1920sMostar, 1950s (relatively late, but Greek rural women wore traditional clothing until the 50s – 60s as well.)Mostar, 1912Mother and child in Sarajevo, 1947. This may be my absolute favorite: stylish 40s fashion and traditional niqab-like item.Sarajevo, Logavina, 1904Sarajevo, 1938Sarajevo bakery, Eid/Bayram, 1910. Sorry man, but the niqab must be a real pain-in-the-*ss.Latinluk, Sarajevo, 1933, Sephardic women on a stroll (Does anyone know what “Latinluk” means? In Turkish it literally means the “Latin-ness”Sephardic women (or as caption says “Spanish women”) in Sarajevo, early 20th c.Urban garb, Sarajevo, early 20th century. And an image of the much-commented-on height of Bosnians.Tuzla, 1911Woman in traditional dress, Mrkonjić Grad, Bosnia.Muslim women in Sarajevo, 1925Young men smoke nargilé (hookah) and play music, Sarajevo, 1898
Balkans, Anatolia, Caucasus, Levant and rest of ME, Iran, South Asia
Me, I'm Nicholas Bakos, a.k.a. "NikoBako." I'm Greek (Roman really, but when I say that in English some five people in the world today understand what I'm talking about, so I use "Greek" for shorthand). I'm from New York. I live all over the place these days. The rest should become obvious from the blog.
Jadde: from Bosnia to Bengal 
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