New single by

Miltos Pavlou

Miltos Pavlou and Protasis Music present Miltos Pavlou’s new single “WaR”, set to a poem by Jovan „Bata“ Brkić, in an English translation and adaptation by Miltos Pavlou and his wife Maja Zilih.

The partisan Jovan Brkić wrote this harrowing poem in Novi Sad in 1941, in a prison cell, as he awaited death; a few days later he was executed by the Nazis. His last wish was for the poem to be given to his fiancée, so that she could pass it on to his schoolmates and the young people of Novi Sad, and so that it might contribute, as far as it could, to the anti-war awakening of his peers and to resistance against hatred and intolerance, against war and the fascist destruction that would take his life at such a young age (19).

85 years after his sacrifice, his words are strikingly relevant: from disinformation and the hollow, invented grand ideas that lead the masses to slaughter, to the desperate plea not to believe the lies and to seek the truth. It is the plea of a dying man who, instead of looking at “his own life that is ending and hangs by a thread”, reaches out to the living who will remain behind and begs them to “take another path”. A shattering and generous gesture of love and values in the face of such an unjust death, a legacy and a hope for a humanity that will leave wars behind it once and for all.

At Christmas 2025, Maja Zilih, Miltos’s wife, discovered the story and the poem of Jovan Brkić, her grandmother’s brother, and Miltos Pavlou set it to music, in an English translation and adaptation they made together. Maja’s grandmother, also a partisan, was arrested and, as a prisoner, was forced to watch her brother being hanged; she was then sent to a Nazi German prisoner and forced-labour camp, before she survived and returned home at the end of the war.

Through this song, Maja and Miltos want to pass on Jovan’s ultimate humanist message and to vindicate his sacrifice, at yet another difficult turn for human civilisation, marked by mass disinformation, intolerance, fascist wars and crimes against humanity.

Maja Zilih – Miltos Pavlou

With music by Miltos Pavlou set to the poem by Jovan Brkić, he himself performs “WaR”, with arrangement and music performance by Sergios Voudris, with whom he also shares the production.

Credits
Music – vocals: Miltos Pavlou
Lyrics: Jovan „Bata“ Brkić, poem “Rat” – English translation and adaptation: Miltos Pavlou – Maja Zilih
Production: Miltos Pavlou – Sergios Voudris
Arrangement – music performance: Sergios Voudris
Guitar: Miltos Pavlou
Mix – Mastering: Stavros Georgiopoulos @ Diskex Studio
Vocal recordings: Studio Altāria, Vienna
Cover art: Miltos Pavlou

Lyrics
WaR
English translation – adaptation: Miltos Pavlou – Maja Zilih

War, a word so short, yet full of horror,
Sparks a mob gone mad in uproar
men who fight each other slay,
destruction wasting lives away.

Like flies, they perish and fall,
some by bullet, some by gas’s pall,
they drop like sheaves, faces frozen,
asking as if softly spoken:

“Why all this?
Is it in the name of culture,
or for freedom’s bliss?

Why all this?
Perhaps in the name of liberation?”
No! no…

All those lies are artificial crafts,
For the masses summoned to the march,
for ideals invented, hollow frauds,
but they don’t lead there, these roads.

…how long this will go?
Awaken, resist now!
For how long this will go?
Awaken, resist now!

Don’t you see those dying, who stare,
with wide-open eyes seek and glare,
not for their own life that hangs by a thread,
but at a living soul, to whom they said:

“Do not believe old delusions and lies,
fight along new paths, and the truth may arise
so the war may end,
it will be no more, never again…
descend…”

BIO
Miltos Pavlou

Miltos Pavlou was born and raised in Thessaloniki, and today he lives and works in Vienna, Austria. He is a human rights researcher and author, with studies in Sociology (Italy) and Law (Thessaloniki). He currently serves at the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA – EU Agency for Fundamental Rights). Alongside his main professional career, he composes and creates songs in Greek, English and Italian, about love, travel, places, people and everything that is worthwhile and gives meaning to life.

* Miltos Pavlou’s artistic activity is not for profit, and any income from it is intended for donations to organisations that support human rights and socially excluded groups in Greece and around the world.

Miltos Pavlou on social media
Website: http://www.miltospavlou.art/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MiltosPavlouMusic/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@miltospavlou
Instagram: https://instagram.com/miltos_pavlou
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/MiltosPavlou