Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24

"Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" is an instrumental medley of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "Carol of the Bells" first released on the Savatage album Dead Winter Dead in 1995 as "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)." It was re-released by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, a side project of several Savatage members, on TSO's 1996 debut album Christmas Eve and Other Stories. The piece describes a lone cello player playing a forgotten Christmas carol in war-torn Sarajevo.

Background and writing

Paul O'Neill explained the story behind Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 in an interview published on ChristianityToday.com:^[1]

... We heard about this cello player born in Sarajevo many years ago who left when he was fairly young to go on to become a well-respected musician, playing with various symphonies throughout Europe. Many decades later, he returned to Sarajevo as an elderly man—at the height of the Bosnian War, only to find his city in complete ruins.

I think what most broke this man's heart was that the destruction was not done by some outside invader or natural disaster—it was done by his own people. At that time, Serbs were shelling Sarajevo every night. Rather than head for the bomb shelters like his family and neighbors, this man went to the town square, climbed onto a pile of rubble that had once been the fountain, took out his cello, and played Mozart and Beethoven as the city was bombed.

He came every night and began playing Christmas Carols from that same spot. It was just such a powerful image—a white-haired man silhouetted against the cannon fire, playing timeless melodies to both sides of the conflict amid the rubble and devastation of the city he loves. Some time later, a reporter traced him down to ask why he did this insanely stupid thing. The old man said that it was his way of proving that despite all evidence to the contrary, the spirit of humanity was still alive in that place.

The song basically wrapped itself around him. We used some of the oldest Christmas melodies we could find, like "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "Carol of the Bells" part of the medley (which is from Ukraine, near that region). The orchestra represents one side, the rock band the other, and single cello represents that single individual, that spark of hope.

The cellist that the story refers to is Vedran Smailović. However, unlike the "white-haired man" referred to in the story, Smailović was in his mid-thirties at the time of the Siege of Sarajevo.

Chart performance and sales

On the week ending January 6, 1996, "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)" (with the artist listed as "Savatage") both debuted and peaked at No. 34 on Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and at No. 65 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. With the artist name changed to Trans-Siberian Orchestra, the song charted on the Billboard Hot 100 again on the first weeks of January 1997 and January 1998, peaking at No. 49 both times.^[2] The song also charted on Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart on the week ending January 3, 1998, peaking at No. 29.^[2]

As of November 25, 2016, total sales of the digital track stand at 1,300,000 downloads according to Nielsen SoundScan, placing it third on the list of all-time best-selling Christmas/holiday digital singles in SoundScan history.^[3]

Appearances

"Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" was one of the songs featured on the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's first DVD release, The Ghosts Of Christmas Eve. The track is played twice at every live show on their Winter Tour: once as part of the Christmas Eve and Other Stories half of the show, and later as a finale. Along with "Wizards In Winter" and "Christmas Canon", it is generally regarded among the TSO's most recognizable recordings.

References