Many people had never heard the saying “I’m from Bosnia, take me to America” until the Bosnian national team defeated Italy in the playoff final in March. It gave the small Balkan nation access to the World Cup for the second time since the country gained independence in 1992.
Thousands of fans played the song during the match in Zenica, just as they did when the national team was welcomed a few hours later in a square in the capital Sarajevo.
But if you’ve spent any time in Bosnia over the past decade and a half, chances are good that this tune will sound strangely familiar. The song, originally titled “USA”, was actually released about 15 years earlier by the Bosnian band Dubiosa Collective. And it really had nothing to do with football.
‘A uniquely Balkan experience’
“It’s from our 2011 album Wild Wild East,” band member Vedran Muzajic, who plays bass, told DW about the song. Now known as ‘I’m from Bosnia, take me to America’.
“It’s about a specific experience of someone from the Balkans going abroad in search of a better life – in this case, in search of the American dream.
“But then, facing the reality of immigrant life, life in the diaspora, he realized that (there) everything is not right and he decided that there is no place like the motherland and he went back.”
The band had been playing the song in concerts for years when they were surprised when Bosnia played Wales in a two-legged World Cup playoff semi-final, which booked them on a date with Italy.
Muzajic recalled, “Of course we’re watching that game. And then we saw a big, big banner that the supporters were waving during the game and it said, I’m from Bosnia, take me to America.”
“And at that moment, it almost seemed like science fiction because we had to beat Wales – which we definitely did.”
By the Italy match, the song had long been established as the “Dragons” unofficial anthem.
The icing on the cake came after the match, when some players broke into Bosnia coach Sergei Barbarez’s press conference singing.
Updated World Cup Edition
“After 10 days we actually decided to make a pro version with changed lyrics and address some of these football, subculture feelings and emotions that were associated with qualification for the World Cup,” Muzajic said.
Interestingly, while the original version was entirely in English, much of the new version is sung in Bosnian. The lyrics play on local stereotypes, and emphasize the national team, while also lamenting that missing the 2014 World Cup is still a sore point among older fans.
“And that (goal) against Nigeria was not offside,” he sings.
It was not. Video footage showed that Edin Dzeko was clearly onside when he scored, but there was also no VAR (Video Assistant Referee) at the time, and the momentum changed after the goal was called back – and Bosnia lost the match. They also failed to get out of their group.
And while the new version, mostly in Bosnian, might seem like an obstacle to international success, it has been easily overcome. Muzajic thinks he knows why.
strike a chord
He said, “I think it has to do with the music video we shot for it, which shows the band members playing football in the neighborhood’s courtyard and grilling (meat) with the neighbors and just having regular Balkan fun.”
This video, shot on a mobile phone, seems to be making a special impact in South America.
“A lot of people assumed it looked like some of their neighborhoods, looked like a favela in Brazil or it looked like Chile because it’s the same thing.”
There’s something subversive about a low-budget production, too.
“It’s kind of a reaction to this hyper-stylized aesthetic of the FIFA music promotional videos,” Mujazic explained, adding that it has left a deep impression among people disenchanted with the modern, money-driven game.
Experience of NRIs – Inverted
As for the new success of the national team, most of whom were not actually born in Bosnia, Muzajic gives all the credit to coach Barberez and sporting director Emir Spahic.
“Spahik and Barberez did an excellent job recruiting and building a team with all these kids who grew up in the diaspora and these are the same kids whose parents left in search of the “American Dream” or were refugees during the war.
“It’s like they (the children) have different experiences, and they also experience this song in completely different ways.”
There’s no doubt this song will be echoing in the stands when Bosnia-Herzegovina open their World Cup campaign against co-hosts Canada in Toronto on Friday.
Meda Besirevic of DW’s Bosnian service contributed to this report.
Edited by: Matt Pearson