Ana Pandevska: Pass the Word/clap game (CODA)

MY first piece written in 2022/2023 called Electroacoustic Mantra: From Ex-YU to EU is based on the idea of mantra as repetition and the process of Macedonia’s transformation after Yugoslavia–especially the long, almost ritualistic EU accession negotiations–felt like a kind of collective mantra. So I wanted to capture that sense of circular motion, that goes on for 30 years and more. After the breakup of Yugoslavia and the independence of Macedonia all the media have been reporting news about the EU accession negotiations, as well as the necessary forced changes that the state needs to make. One of the changes that was required for the beginning of negotiations was the change of the name of the country. So first there was the name Republic of Macedonia, then the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, then North Macedonia. . .

 

*A narrative
Since the breakup of Yugoslavia Macedonia sings the same mantra. From ex YU to EU.
* Theme
Thirty years independent, ex YU, EU, never ending
Thirty years recommending, NATO, EU, reinventing
* Words used
From ex YU, ex YU, EU, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,

North Macedonia, Republic of Macedonia, north, NATO

 

I wanted the listener to feel both the absurdity of the process and the exhaustion of repetition.

I wanted to capture the tension between nostalgia for the shared past and the forward- looking idea of joining the European Union.

So in 2025 I wrote new composition which became a game-like performance called Pass the Word/clap game.
This new composition CODA like is built around the idea of bureaucratic communication as game–how the language of diplomacy, negotiations, and regulations can become absurd when treated as a game.

 

*Words used

-Afer Tito–Veto -Amazonian–Macedonian
–Nato–Ghetto
–Shame–Name
-EU-Myview
* A narrative
It’s been mantra before and it’s still mantra ( mantra, mantra, the same, mantra, mantra . . . ) Join the EU ? We will see . . .
Negotiations, name dispute, veto, change constitution, historical changes, linguistic dispute Let’s play a game, let’s go.
No, no wrong, you are out.
Game over.

 

The humor is intentional: it’s a way to release tension after the long political process.
But beneath the laughter, the message is still there–the endless waiting, the cultural adaptation. In the last three years after all the disputes over the name and all the changes that were made, there are still external blocks over the Macedonia’s constitution, language and identity issues, so the mantra goes on.
Both works deal with repetition and transformation–one through ritual, the other through parody.
They represent two emotional stages of the same process: first, the sincere attempt to belong; then, the self-aware reflection on how long that attempt has lasted.

They’re like two sides of the same negotiation–the idealistic and the ironic.

The first composition is about endurance–the inner mantra of persistence.
The second composition is about perspective–the ability to laugh at the absurdity of endless transition.

Together, they ask: What does progress sound like when it never quite arrives?
Through the EU theme, I also wanted to highlight how small nations communicate with large systems–how the individual voice survives this political and institutional noise.

(Ana Pandevska)