Part-Time Naples Resident’s Song, “One,” Chosen by Ukrainian Foundation

When Dunja World wrote her song of hope, One, she drew from her own personal struggles. As a gifted teenager in former Yugoslavia, World endured bombing right outside her home during the civil war in her homeland. In fact, it was her talent as a pianist that drew the interest of the Juilliard School of Music and the Sony record label in the U.S. that ultimately allowed her to escape.

“It’s a simple song that mentions a lot of hallelujahs,” Dunja World said from her home in New York City. "My idea in writing this song is to have a universal language so that people of many languages and cultures can sing it - at least the chorus. It’s an uplifting song about all of us becoming one. It’s also about life being never ending. Even when you go through difficulties in life, there’s a higher purpose. It’s very difficult right now in this world to see a way to make any sense out of adversity and war. The second chorus of this song mentions life never ending. It talks about how all the struggles will lead us to glory. It talks about looking at life like it’s not just here on this earth, but it’s forever. It really talks about life never ending - your legacy, or if you believe in God, God’s gift of life.”

World’s song has been discovered by the Ukrainian Foundation.

“A few weeks ago, the Ukrainian Foundation reached out to me to use this as a theme song,” World said. She sees two reasons why One is attractive to the Ukrainian Foundation.

“First of all, the song is very powerful for these times,” she said. "People are going through a lot of difficult times. And war is going on in Ukraine. Secondly, it’s because I’m an example of survival. I’m not just an artist who is just writing songs from my head and trying to impress somebody. This actually comes from my own circumstances and me surviving war in former Yugoslavia. It was done by an artist who has been through what the Ukrainian people are going through right now."

When her country was going through civil war, the teenaged World was finishing her master’s degree. The final step was a concert performance. Things did not go as planned.

"In 1999 I was giving a concert in Belgrade and the bombing started,” World recalls. "My concert was interrupted.”

With World at the piano and a panel of judges watching, disaster struck for the young pianist when the air raid sirens went off.

"Every time the sirens went off,” World said, "we had to hide in the bomb shelter. It was my master’s degree graduation performance. It is the last concert before you graduate. When that happened, I was never able to finish my performance. The bombing went on for a long time. We all had to exit. I was sitting by myself for a few hours, waiting for the judges to tell me to come back to the concert hall.”

World said that when your performance is interrupted, it’s hard to get back into it.

"You build up that excitement,” World said, "that stage fright. It can be bad, but it can also be good. If you’re well prepared, your stage fright actually helps you to play better. When you’re interrupted, it’s so hard to get back into it. After my concert was interrupted, I was waiting on my own, in the room trying to stay calm and composed, for the moment when they called me back to continue my performance. However, the bombing went on and on. After a few hours I saw the judges discussing among themselves and they finally called me. They announced to me that I had graduated with the highest score, based on my previous performances, my previous scores, and based on the part of the concert I had already given. So, I never got to give my graduation concert. One day in Naples I’m going to give my complete concert.”

At one point World spent almost three months in a bomb shelter. During that time, she worked on songs. One of the songs she wrote during that time was One.

“A lot of times my family didn’t have anything to eat,” World said. "We had to hold on to some kind of hope. I think everybody comes to a point in their life that they ask themselves, ‘What is my hope? Is it God? Is it family?”

World can empathize with the people in Ukraine.

"So many people are out of their homes and displaced,” she said. "They’re looking for that hope that there is a purpose in their suffering, and that their life can live on. As I say in my song, ‘We’ll live life forever. All our struggles will lead us to glory.' That’s kind of the highlight of the song. Those are probably my favorite words in the song. All of our struggles will lead us to glory. A lot of times I find my sufferings, me being in a dark place, in a bomb shelter for three months, have given me some kind of hope. I was always looking forward to what can come out of my life because of this. It taught me to be more humble. Especially to be very thankful for what I have and things that I don’t have. After all of these years of living in the United States, I’ve seen both sides, rich sides and poor sides."

Because World was accepted for a scholarship at a prestigious academy in Belgrade, she knew that if she sent her music to Juilliard, that they would likely accept her. Out of hundreds of applicants at Juilliard, they selected World.

"I came to the United States as an artist,” World said, "as a teenager. I was brought in by the Sony record label and Juilliard. They invited me here during the bombing in my country. The Sony record label wanted to hear my songs. I was accepted for compositions by the Juilliard School of Music. I know the reason the Ukrainian Foundation reached out to me is because they know that what the Ukrainian people are going through right now is exactly what I’ve been through in my life. I had to leave my country behind me. Thankfully, I was someone who had a talent and was a known artist from Yugoslavia. I had toured all over Europe with the piano. I was also involved in performing for the American Embassy in the former Yugoslavia. So, I had connections and they invited me to the United States and issued me a visa.”

World feels confident that she would not have been able to write One if not for her real-life experiences.

"I don’t believe that if I hadn’t gone through such struggles, I would not be able to write these songs,” she said. "My eyes have been opened. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to write these songs, I wouldn’t be able to be compassionate to other people. I wouldn’t be able to understand certain things. Sometimes when you’re struggling you get a different dimension. There is still a purpose. My faith in God gave me hope. And that is how this song came about. I’m hoping that this song will give hope to people.”

All of the proceeds from One will go to the Ukraine Foundation. World also has plans for three benefit concerts.

"I plan to do a few concerts to raise funds for the people in Ukraine,” World said. "I will do one in New York, Los Angeles, and Naples. I want to use the song to reach out to people emotionally, mentally and also to raise funds by performances and selling the song for the people of Ukraine. A lot of people want me to release this song. I might at some point want to release a video. You never know how far this can go. My hope is for people to be uplifted and united.”

Listen to One on YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PBNq88tcLCA.