Balkans
clock | March 28, 2008Since I will be in Belgrade in April, this song is quite appropriate:
You can find the lyrics in Serbian here and a pretty decent translation here. I remember this song since when I was a little kid. Thirty five years ago, when he was a contestant on the Eurovision (see his 1973 spot), Zdravko Colic was already a veteran and a big star. Even after a 15-year silence, he is still remembered, and not just remembered - the new kids learned his songs and 100,000 of them filled the Red Star soccer stadium last year and sang along all the old hits.
clock | February 4, 2008Over the weekend (a civilized day of the week to hold elections - Saturday) Boris Tadic won (actually retained) the Presidency of Serbia. Sure, there were some better candidates, but this is a much better outcome than what could have happened - the various local versions of Huckabee and Paul, fortunately, lost.
clock | January 13, 2008The 176th Carnival of the Recipes is up on The Common Room and guess what? My recipe for Stuffed Cabbage is not the only one! There is another recipe for it there so you can compare and contrast!
clock | January 12, 2008Pekinška Patka - Biti Ružan, Pametan i Mlad
The beginning of Serbian punk:
clock | January 12, 2008Rokeri s Moravu - Ja Tarzan a ti Dzejn (Morava is a big river in Serbia)
Yes, this is a parody of "newly-composed folk" music of the 1980s Serbia:
Ja Tarzan a ti Dzejn lele dunje ranke
ja tarzan a ti dzejn lele dunje ranke
od moravski krokodili cu pravim opanke
pletem vezem i carapke saram
sas svoju se citu razgovaram
predem vunu dragani za gunjce
preslicu mi okrece majmunce
clock | January 10, 2008Oliver Mandic - Pitaju me
This was years before Boy George. Yes, a patriarchal kind of guy in Belgrade broke his TV screen when he saw this. The older generations could not really stomach the whole transgender experiment, but the youngsters loved Oliver because he was really cutting edge, experimental, novel and courageous:
clock | January 7, 2008Sorry to keep you all waiting so long, as there was other work to do, but here is the method for producing the most authentic sarma. As some steps may be too difficult, I will be adding tips and tricks along the way on how to do it with materials at hand - it will still be good, but you cannot call it "authentic" any more.**
Part A - Making Sauerkraut
The key to good sarma is good Sauerkraut, i.e., the sour cabbage leaves that you will do the wrapping with. And the most important piece of the puzzle for this is:
The StoneTM
Heavy, compact, dense, smooth block of rock.*** Taking one from…
clock | January 6, 2008Poslednja igra leptira - Decko hajde oladi
It is always difficult to watch this spot as Nesa, the male singer of the band, died of cancer just a couple of years (in 1990) after this was filmed. She, on the other hand, went on to join the much better established band Silver Wings (Srebrna Krila) with whom she went to the Eurovision contest and came in 6th out of 20 contestants. There were some rumors on the net that she has also died, but apparently, she is just fine, living in Germany.
You can see the same song in different setting here.
clock | January 5, 2008The first Eurovision contest that I remember, back in 1974:
Iznenada kobne noci te, 42, godine
Cinilo se kao da ce sneg
A stigao je rat
I vojnik neki tudj i strah
Mene majka moja rodi da sanjam o slobodi
U prvoj noci da cujem zveket
Da placem sa rukom na usnama
Moja generacija iz 42-ge
Dobro je progurala, burne dane te
Moja generacija iz 42-ge
U to je vreme spavala i ceznula za mlekom
Sad je vreme sasvim drugo i put svoj svako ima
Što god smo dalje sve više hocu
Da znam gde zivi, gde pije, peva, gde je sad?
Moja generacija iz 42-ge
Sva se vec pozenila i cuva slatku decu
Moja generacija iz…
clock | January 4, 2008Ja svoje loše dane volim gristi sam
Piti i lutati po krèmama
Al' èesto stignem samo do njenog pogleda.
Ena je divna žena, Ena dobro zna
Da takvi dani svrše s gužvama
Zato me zove sebi da bi mi pomogla.
Ja Ena nisam tvoj sin, zapamti to
To možeš raditi s njim
Za mene je veæ kasno.
Znam da bi Ena htjela da sam stalno njen
Valjda jer tako èesto nestanem
Ona me uvijek ima u svojim mislima.
A kad joj želim reæi da je bolji kraj
Od naših bjegova i zasjeda
Ena me samo gleda i kaže: da, da, da.
I ne idi bez kaputa
Pogledaj, sve je bijelo, zima je.
Ja Ena nisam tvoj sin, zapamti to
To…
clock | January 4, 2008Zabranjeno Pušenje - the beginning of the New Primitives:
U Zenicu kada po´dem ja,
prati me pet ´sest drotova,
okru´zni sudija rekao 12 godina,
12 godina strogog zatvora!
Okru´zni sudija rekao 12 godina,
12 godina strogog zatvora!
Tu´zna je moja sudbina,
´zeno me kre´co hakija,
kre´co hakija presudila mu´cakij,
ne razumje´s ti to dru´ze sudija!
Kre´co hakija presudila mu´cakij,
ne razumje´s ti to dru´ze sudija!
(´Dabe ja to sve pri´cam)
Zenico mrzim svaki kamen tvoj,
zboktebe ja mrzim ´zivot svoj,
tko pre´zivi 12 godina u KPDom Zenic,
ta je pravi ha´dia!
Tko pre´zivi 12…
clock | January 2, 2008YU Grupa - Crni leptir:
Ulicna svetiljka baca svetlost u krug
dok crni leptiri lete pravo na nju
ali ne znaju da tu je kraj
da ih ubija njene svetlosti sjaj
Nekad sam leteo leptir bio i ja
svetlost me mamila, krila mi sprzila
crni leptiru bezi u noc
jutro sacekaj svetlost ce doc'
clock | January 1, 2008Another one from 1985...
Zbog nekih lutaka koje sam voljela
nocas te dozivam da me zabavljas
donesi oblake, nemirne korake
cesljaj me satima i pricaj prstima
Zbog toplih jastuka gdje sam te sakrila
nocas zaboravljam da sam izgubila
donesi haljine, staklene lancice
obuci miriše i mazi me
Ref.
Bas je dobro nocas sve je toplo
a ja sam lazljiva
budi dobar, nocas budi hrabar
jer ja sam lazljiva
Zbog nekih lutaka koje sam voljela
nocas te dozivam da me zabavljas
donesi oblake, nemirne korake
cesljaj me satima i pricaj prstima
Zbog toplih jastuka gdje sam te sakrila
nocas zaboravljam da sam…
clock | December 31, 2007A friend of my Mom's asked for it, so here it is, Oliver Dragojevic and Skalinada:
Mirno spavaj, duso moja
noc je 'ladna, zvizda tvoja sjaja nima
Na sto vrata ja san kuca
tople rici, mrvu srca nigdi nima
Pismo mala, reci svima
moj je zivot pusta stina, mira nima
Miljun pasi ja san prosa
sad se pitan di san dosa, srice nima
Skalinada, skalinada
tu se penje, tu se pada
to je sudba, to je nada, skalinada
Skalinada, skalinada,
svaki korak jedna skala,
svaka skala jedna nada, skalinada
skalinada, skalinada, skalinada, skalinada
Sudbo moja, ol' ne vidis
na toj stazi di me vodis sunca nima
U…
clock | December 30, 2007Idoli, the best of the Yugoslav 1980s New Wave.
Plamene zore bude me iz sna
Fabricka jutra, dim iz dimnjaka
Pesma se ori, mladi radnici
Celicna jutra, hitam fabrici.
Drugovi moji, radni, veseli
Bicikle voze, ponositi svi
Drugovi moji, radni, veseli
Pobede nove nosicemo mi.
Sunce vec greje, vetar carlija
Jutarnja rosa, zemlja mirisna
Sunce vec greje, a a a a a
Bogata zetva, radujem se ja.
Popodne kruzok na koji idem ja
Tamo ce biti I moja devojka
Devojka plava, koju volim ja
Sa njom cu se vozit sajkama.
Visoke peci potpaljujem ja
Ruda se topi, nasmejan sam ja
Pesma se ori, peva fabrika
Pesma…