Help loved violinist Branko to leave danger and stabilise
Donation protected
In Brief
Some of you will - and some of you won’t - know Branko from www.faithibranko.com: he is a violinist who went from being an unknown boy in his Romani village in Serbia - often without even violin strings to teach himself the violin on - to achieving significant cultural feats: he has won a high status amongst the world music community: he was referred to by the BBC as 'a performer that Paganini would be proud of'; his work appeared on the Rough Guide to World Jazz, he had a statue made after him in Serbia and his last album reached the top 10 World Music Charts. He never went to school, taught himself the violin and doesn’t even know many chord names.
Branko is also one of my closest friends: he lived with me in London for years and is one of the sweetest and most fragile people I know, without family to help him. He would be so affected when he saw homeless people in London that he would often give away all the money from a gig he had just played. He is the kind of person who can’t walk past someone in need without trying to help. He never really understood modern concepts like banks, and he is talented, eccentric, difficult, and troubled from both a traumatic upbringing, untreated mental illness (Schitzophrenia) and Type 1 Diabetes.
I am doing this crowdfunder because Branko has made 2 serious attempts on his life in Serbia, the last one being one week ago. He has always struggled with mental illness, but this was a genuine attempt - and not a cry for help. Since he left the psychiatric hospital in Serbia where he was sectioned the last time, the Branko who everyone knows simply ‘isn’t there’ any more. He is like an empty shell after his experience. This may be due to trauma, medication that is increasing suicidal tendencies or a number of other factors after his experience of being sectioned. It is quite possible that the interactions of his medication have created suicidal side effects - as is known can happen. He hasn’t picked up his violin for 8 months and has simply lost hope. If you know him and would see him - you would break into tears on sight.
People who know him and have spoken to him agree that if there is not an emergency intervention, Branko will succeed next time at what he wanted to do this time.
To get the right balance of medication is an involved and lengthy process, and it needs to go hand in hand with other therapies such as talking therapy and physical rehabilitation (he is now badly physically scarred). He has never received this supervision, and I believe that a mental rehabilitation programme to address the different factors that have lead him to take his own life is a last chance to save his life.
I need your help to get him out of the Psychiatric Hospital that he is sectioned in, and to get him to a minimum of two months integrated psychological care where he can be kindly and expertly treated and not simply sedated. As this is very recent, I am making enquiries to find where is best - but I shall communicate fully as soon as I have confirmed it. The price I have asked for is what I have been advised for 2.5 months care + travel + a small amount for his aunt and son in Serbia who rely on him for money.
Some links to his work are on www.faithibranko.com
Below is further information for those who want to read on. The underlined words can be clicked on to link to his work
Who is Branko
I am Faith, half of www.faithibranko .com. Branko’s artistic achievements are so significant to the Romani community, that he has a statue made after him in Pranjanje, Serbia - and was given the title of Romani Ambassador of Serbia's No. 1 Violinist Festival . Programmes about him have reached one million social media views, and people know and respect him for his inspirational journey 'from poverty to success': teaching himself as a teenager by ear to play on a 50 euro violin in his village - to becoming a significant world music composer and performer and moving to London. Coming from a traumatic upbringing, his single ambition has always been to use his violin and his music to help others. This story sounds perfectly romantic, but the part that most people don't know is that right now, in order for him to carry on living in the very short term - and hopefully to continue to have a successful life in the long term - he urgently needs other people's help.
Here is a documentary on Serbian TV about his life, filmed 3 years ago; here is one of hundreds of original compositions that he has written, being performed at WOMAD UK, and recorded on site 12 months ago by BBC Radio 3. He wrote a lot of the music on our last album with Riverboat Records, which reached fifth place in the World Music Charts last year - such as the solo electric violin composition Duhovi. Duhovi means 'spirits', and for Branko, speaks about his connection to the spirit world and the souls he has loved who have now disappeared to that world. His composition 'Cekajuci Stribor ' features on the Rough Guide to World Jazz, and a documentary about his life story by Catherine Harte had its World Premier at Aljazeera Documentary Festival in Sarajevo - for which you can watch the trailer here. You can read more about him in these articles and watch a one hour musical programme written by him and streamed for Oxford World Music series here. Branko has taught at SOAS, University of London, toured Australia twice, and performed on multiple BBC and ABC Australia programmes.
Why am I doing a crowdfunder?
Branko tried to take his own life in December, 2023 in the house we built next to his family home in the village of Gornja Grabovica, Serbia. Upon failing, he was sectioned in a Psychiatric Hospital in Valjevo, Serbia. It was not possible to contact him whilst he was inside the institute as he wasn't allowed a telephone, and when he was released and I saw him - the Branko who I knew, wasn't there anymore. His physical appearance alone was enough to bring tears, and he had for the first time mentally retreated somewhere where no one could reach him - coupled with a huge fear of 'not taking his medication on time' and being therefore sectioned again. Branko told me what he experienced inside the hospital, and let's say that it wasn't an experience that could lead to any form of healing. Since September 2023 he hasn't played his violin, and his mental state has rapidly deteriorated, whether this is due to a suicidal reaction to prescription medication (xanax + diazepam + schizophrenic and bi-polar medication), to other personal life factors, an acute occurrence of PTSD, or a shift in the type of mental illness as he grows older - or a combination. In the 15 years that I have known him, he has had mental struggles: some of these have opened doors in his mind to create incredible art, and some of these have dragged him into dark places.
On the 21st July (a week ago) he attempted to take his life again. Doctors and friends will attest that this was not a cry for help, but an attempt to end his life. The reason he didn't die is because they caught him before he had lost too much blood, and he just missed the major artery on his neck; I have seen him - and his neck and wrists have been severely cut up after injecting a 2 month supply of insulin. He was taken by the police and stitched back together for three days, and sectioned again. He is there now, and 'sectioning' in this institute does not involve a private room, therapy, and gentle healing. One thing it does involve is being administered drugs and sedated in order to try to try to stop it happening again. I wish no disrespect to Serbians who may take offence at a me publicly describing their system in such a negative way, and I would like to emphasise that there are many many things I deeply love and respect about this country: but I would also be the first to say what a mess the UK NHS mental health system is in, with waiting lists for high-risk cases of months and months.
The view of everyone I have spoken to who are close to him, is that when he leaves - unless there is a radical intervention - he will make sure that he succeeds in what he didn't manage to do this time. He has also been clear about this to a visitor who was allowed to see him, and he is currently refusing food.
To be clear about the situation: we have not played any concerts (our sole source of income) since September 2023 - and I do not currently have any financial means to be able to do anything. I have a 5 month year old baby, and I myself previously suffered from burnout from being his sole support for many years. The process of stabilization, therapy and medication for someone like Branko is long and difficult (he has been given a variety of diagnosis from Schizophrenia, to Bi-Polar, to childhood PTSD) and there would be moments in which a certain medication seemed to work - and he would finally experience some peace; but often they would also interact badly with his type 1 diabetes. I also did my best to hide the situation, and to cover for him, in order that our professional career could flourish and we could continue to have an income as artists in London and grow in a difficult world music market. I am finally turning to the outside community who know and respect him without knowing the reality of his situation - to support him. Branko is very far from being the easiest person in the world, nor easy to work with as a lot of people know; it is not up to me in the end to know what will happen, but I believe that a lot of people have love and respect him, and I don't believe that he should die in these circumstances.
What I am asking for
I am crowdfunding for immediate financial help to take him away from the cliff edge he is on right now. This will involve him leaving the institute where he is now sectioned, and being taken to a good private residential mental health care facility. I am asking for funds to pay for a minimum of two months of quality care, in order that the root cause of his suffering can be looked at properly for the first time - and his medication can be adjusted under support and observation. Combined with the types of talking or holistic therapy that he needs in order to find a level of stability, and take him out of the high risk zone he is now in. I am also asking for a small amount of this money to be given to his aunt, who previously relied on Branko for some support. Branko does not have any other family members to support him.
Organizer
Faith Elliott
Organizer