On Saturday, April 6th Bosnia’s capital city of Sarajevo officially made Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson an honourary citizen. The announcement was originally made in late 2018 according to this report. The move came down in a unanimous vote by the council to honour the singer who, "as a foreign citizen, contributed significantly to the development and affirmation of Sarajevo, as well as to the relations among people based on solidarity, democracy and human rights."

Mayor Abdulah Skaka presented the award to Dickinson on April 6th at a ceremony in Sarajevo City Hall, which was badly damaged during the long Bosnian Serb siege of the city and since restored.

“The arrival of Mr. Dickinson in Sarajevo in 1994 was one of those moments that made us in Sarajevo realize that we will survive, that the city of Sarajevo will survive, that Bosnia-Herzegovina will survive,” said Skaka.

Saturday was Sarajevo Day, which marks the city’s 1945 liberation during World War II and the start in 1992 of the Bosnian Serb siege that killed more than 11,000 people, including 1,600 children.

Dickinson visited Sarajevo in 1994 during the Bosnian War when the city was under siege. His film Scream For Me Sarajevo documents that visit. It is available on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital via Eagle Vision, with the music from the film released on CD/double LP via BMG. Watch an extended trailer below:

During the longest siege a capital city has faced in the history of modern warfare, and amid the mortars and grenades, a heavy metal band agreed to play a concert...

Scream For Me Sarajevo is the astonishing story of the most unlikely of rock concerts, performed by Bruce Dickinson and his band Skunkworks in 1994. Risking their lives, they were smuggled into the besieged city to play a concert for its citizens amidst the chaos of war.

The film is far from a straight concert movie and provides an insight into a wider story of the people of Sarajevo taking drastic measures to endure the privations of war and pushing the boundaries to survive. It reflects a thriving underground arts community who were living their lives in the shadow of war and making music in the face of devastating loss, and the huge impact the concert had on the people of Sarajevo at a time when they thought they had been forgotten by the rest of the world.  

This must-see documentary includes footage of the gig and the war itself, as well as recent interviews with Bruce and his bandmates.  The documentary also follows Bruce making an emotional return to Sarajevo, “War turns the world on its head, but this is an optimistic message”.  Speaking of his experience Bruce said, “It changed the way I viewed life, death and other human beings.” *

Comprising music from the film which spans Bruce Dickinson’s solo career, the album features the rarities "Acoustic Song" (previously only available as a bonus track on the 2001 Best Of Special Edition), "Inertia" (Live) (previously only available as a bonus track on the expanded re-release of Skunkworks in 2005) and the album closer "Eternal" (previously only available as Japanese bonus tracks on Tyranny Of Souls).

Scream For Me Sarajevo tracklisting:

"Change Of Heart"
"Tears Of The Dragon"
"Gods Of War"
"Darkside Of Aquarius"
"Navigate The Seas Of The Sun"
"Road To Hell"
"Arc Of Space"
"Omega"
"River Of No Return"
"Power Of The Sun"
"Strange Death In Paradise"
"Inertia" (Live)
"Acoustic Song"
"Eternal"

Scream For Me Sarajevo the film and album is available to order exclusively at this location.

* Taken from Bruce Dickinson’s autobiography, What Does This Button Do?, available now.

Photo by Eldar Emric, AP