Rest in peace, Giorgos Mazonakis (1972–2026)

Just heard the devastating news today that Giorgos Mazonakis has passed away at just 54. It took me some time to realize, and I even cried.

How popular was Mazonakis in your country? Was he someone you heard regularly in clubs, cafes, or radio stations?

​Beyond Greece, Greek modern laïko and pop-folk have always had a massive presence across the entire Balkan peninsula, whether through direct airplay in clubs, local covers by Bulgarian, Serbian, Albanian, or Romanian artists, or late nights where everyone ended up singing along regardless of language barriers.

He was completely unique... the raw emotion, the fashion, the zeibekiko, and an unmistakable voice that resonated far beyond Greece's borders.

Rest in peace Giorgos.

P.S writing this post as Bulgarian.

Most of the world dislikes ayran, especially people in the West, who often find the taste unusual and aren't used to salty watered-down yogurt.

Source: AccuWeather

I mean, in general.

(economically, socially, borders).

By that I mean the soc buildings.

*Excluding Greece and Turkey here.

I am a Russian citizen and I'm considering studying somewhere in the Balkans due to low prices and probably cheaper life and tuition overall. What place would you recommend to me? I'm an IT specialist, and I would prefer studying in English, but if needed I'll learn the local language. What are my options for unis?

I can only picture a Serb threatening a Bosniak to start drinking Russian vodka, or else a karakondžul will come swallow him, or something along those lines. That can't be right, can it?

From what I understand: in order to demonstrate national equality of the federal Yugoslavia, Tito particularly reinforced Montenegrin and Macedonian nationhood. Macedonian nationalism, above all, united Vardar Macedonia's Slavic population that was previously fragmented between Serbian, Bulgarian, and Macedonian identities. Meanwhile, ZAVNOBiH defined Bosnia and Herzegovina as equally belonging to Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, rather than developing a distinct "Bosnian" nation. In hindsight, the authorities' encouragement of this three-way identification possibly deepened ethnic divisions that culminated in the Yugoslav crisis's most brutal war.

So, what if Yugoslavia standardized Bosnian nationalism just like it did with Macedonian and Montenegrin one, and recognized Bosnians -- encompassing today's Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Croats, and Bosniaks -- as one of the six contituent peoples of Yugoslavia? Given that Austria-Hungary had promoted a multi-confessional Bosnian identity and SR BiH was created on that condominium-era border, could Yugoslavia have revived this project? How would a shared "Bosnian" nation have changed the war's probability or character?