"Life is a beautiful gift" - survivor Natálka's message comes to us in a new video by Romani singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Milan Kroka

In a new video, Natálka shows us that she has an appetite for dancing, singing, laughing and enjoying herself like anybody else her age. “The idea of filming this video came from my friend Martina Rajzová, who lives in England. I was really glad that Milan Kroka was willing to write this beautiful song and to aid us with producing the clip. Natálka really enjoyed the filming because she genuinely loves singing and dancing. She’s been rehearsing with a dance ensemble for almost a year,” Anna Siváková, Natálka’s mother, told news server Romea.cz.

The author of the song, multi-instrumentalist Milan Kroka, is among the most sought-after Romani musicians in the Czech Republic. On his “Milan Kroka Production” YouTube channel he presents more than 50 videos, and he is the author of many songs that are already famous today.

The collaboration with Natálka was exceptional even for him, though. “Given the life story of Natálka, this collaboration was quite emotional. I did not hesitate at all when Martina Rajzová contacted me with the idea of writing such a song. The only instruction was not to do anything sad, so I decided to do this kind of optimistic song to show that Natálka, despite everything she has experienced, is a normal girl who likes to dance and sing. I believe we both enjoyed filming the video, it was done in a relaxed atmosphere full of joy and fun,” Kroka told news server Romea.cz.

VIDEO

“The idea to film a video for Natálka and with her arose absolutely spontaneously. I was speaking with her mother, and she said Natálka was going through a difficult time, psychologically, because she has several larger-scale operations ahead of her, so her concerns are comprehensible. For that reason, I wanted to please her somehow and to get her mind on something else for at least a little while,” producer Martina Rajzová told Romea.cz.

“Natálka loves dance, so making a video for her was the logical path to take,” Rajzová said. In addition to musical production by Milan Kroka, you can see and hear a nice solo by saxophonist Valentin Klapsia; the camera work was done by Lukáš Cirok and the video was edited by Maroš Sidor Demeter.

The four arsonists committed their attack in April 2009 in the Opava area. In May of this year, a court in Šumperk paroled two of the arsonists who have served two-thirds of their sentences, an event that the Sivák family first learned about from media reports of their release.