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Just outside the town of Zaječar where Raal makes its home, the ancient Roman ruins of Romuliana await. They show evidence of sophisticated floor heating via hot-water pipes and famous grand floor mosaics. Because Romuliana is exposed to the elements, the latter were protected by thick layers of sand which Alex and his mother didn't remember from a previous visit many years ago. On a hill across this heavily fortified sizeable settlement is the final resting place of the founding emperor who was apparently buried in a rare Christian ascension ceremony.


To not alter the outer appearance of one of the guard towers, the Serbian archeological administrators of the site had built a concave roof with an inner opening whose rain run-off to this day uses the original Roman water pipes as drains. Curiously, some brick-layer repairs done to certain segments showed up nearly 2000-year old craftsmanship as plainly superior to the modern-day repairs. Not everything new denotes progress.


The model below shows a well-educated approximation of what Romuliana most likely looked like during its days. If you apply the above photo of the inside of just one guard tower to the model, you get a good sense of the scale of the entire settlement.


The true identity of its founders remained a mystery until the discovery of the below engraved plaque during the 1980s settled it conclusively as emperor Galerius who began construction in 289 AD.


The small segment of exposed mosaic above (close up below) does, I'm assured, pale in splendor to the massive colored expanse which eluded us protected underneath the sands.


If you look closely at the right image below, you'll find, on the horizon right above the far left ruin in the background, two arcs separated by an incision. Those are the actual graves of the Roman emperor and his queen overlooking Felix Romuliana.


Inspired by our reactions to the site, Alex's mom Eva took Ivette on an extended stroll through the township of Zaječar which included a visit to the National Museum.


Meeting its affable director Bora Dimitrijević and his lady curator for the museum's archeological section, my wife found herself unexpectedly invited to participate in next year's local artist colony. This sponsors international painters to attend who, at the conclusion of their stay, leave two paintings to the museum which they created during their participation.



With a standing invitation from Raal
and Trafomatic to return now amplified by this cultural opportunity for Ivette, it looks more than likely that what began as an audiophile adventure shall see us back in Serbia in 'interdisciplinary' fashion. Our thanks for generous hospitality in Zaječar go in particular to Mr. and Mrs. Radisavljevic who fed us steamed fruit compotes and delicious hot mint and lemon grass drinks based on all-natural, home-made preparations. I hope they forgave our late-night listening sessions as some were conducted at rather higher levels than are acceptable in our own home.


As Ivette's photos below show, Serbia then and now was and is filled with music. The perhaps most intense example of that can be found in the annual trumpet festival of Guča, also known as the Dragačevo Assembly which has become the largest such affair on the planet. The second night of our stay had a local television station report on this year's installment. Following it on the Radisavljevics' screen left an indelible impression of post-Woodstockian musical mayhem. You see, the 3000 inhabitants of Guča now welcome nearly 500,000 visitors annually for this event. Where the heck do they all sleep? As any quick google session will prove, the event's intensity seems unequaled by any other musical mass gathering anywhere. Chalk it up to the irrepressible Serbian spirit which, just 10 years ago, had to endure NATO bombings and sanctions. Despite the obvious economic repercussions, the Serbians we met proved exceptionally hospitable.



To conclude, you'll wonder just as Alex did in the hot seat below what the Eternity omnis sounded like in their first 'official' session.


Immediate descriptors would be "huge of scale and ultra dynamic". Unless their hotel room in Denver becomes a somehow insurmountable obstacle, I predict that the Raal Ribbon exhibit at RMAF 2008 will prove to be a very memorable destination for showgoers and competitors alike. If things chez Alex are too loud for your taste, simply ask him to turn it down. He enjoys very elevated levels. That said, his time-aligned Eternity project plays with such an overt absence of compression and coloration that you might indeed find yourself enjoying -- or asking for -- SPLs that generously exceed your customary intake.

Eva, Ivette and Alex

What will omnipolar eternity cost your pocket book if not your soul? While Alex didn't yet have the final bill of materials and labor handy, he expects it all to tally up below 55,000 euros a pair inclusive of the tube bass amp. Take this as a ballpark estimate. The Instinct is hoped to come in at somewhat less than half but prototyping on that hasn't even commenced yet. These figures are mentioned solely to set some kind of marker about what to expect. Kudos to team Raal for even attempting something this ambitious, never mind actually pulling off a working pair in time for our first audition. As Mladen put it, "all of us have been working for weeks around the clock to make it happen." Cheers to audio passions run amok in faraway Serbia. What a farout trip this proved to be...

Raal website