Music as a passport | Nikola Živanović | TEDxYouth@ISB

Nikola's talent as an accordion player has quickly traveled Europe, with performances all over Serbia, as well as Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Ukraine. A second place finish at the International Federation of Accordion Players is among many of his accomplishments and acknowledgements as a talented musician. Nikola, however, is also engaged in promoting the arts, in particular working with children and youth, through festivals like "Razigrana Gruža" and "Gružanska jesen". In 2011, he scheduled performances in Sydney, Australia and St Petersburg, Russia, as well as at TEDxYouth@ISB on 20/11/2011.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Good afternoon, everyone.

They say talent is having faith
in yourself, your strength,

and your abilities.

I was lucky enough
to be given that gift by God,

but three things are very important

in order to develop
that talent to a certain level.

These are three
very simple words to be said,

but actually, no one
is really aware how hard that is.

First among them is, of course, work.

To develop a talent
during a certain period of time,

one needs to invest many hours in it.

On the other hand,

if you dedicate a certain amount of time
to your talent every day,

then automatically one needs
to sacrifice a lot of things.

And if it doesn't come to realization,
unfortunately, that talent deteriorates.

And the third thing is,
of course, inspiration.

I find my inspiration
in visiting my home town, Gruža.

That’s a little village near Kragujevac.

Since I've been playing for twelve years

and have been working with children
in a music school in Gruža for 8 years,

I want to share with them the idea

that has led me in my musical
development and creativity.

Actually, that idea is that music
and dance are universal languages.

That is why I would ask you
to allow me to introduce myself

through the language
that doesn't need a translator.

(Music starts)

(Music ends)

(Applause)