The Balkan music (both good and bad) thread

hyena

counterclockwise
Apr 13, 2002
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I thought I'd stop spamming the other thread with posts related to this topic, so people can just skip it at will.

I have a very specific problem - can't find a song. This time it's not turbofolk, but rather traditional/military (maybe) music. I heard a tune i liked in a home-made war movie and i tried without any success to identify it: i'd love to have a copy but i don't want to rip it from the video unless necessary because the quality is bad.

The only information I gathered is that the song might or might not be called "Po boj", but "U boj" is an option too. It's also supposed to be Serbian, but I didn't manage to communicate effectively with anyone on the Serbian DC++ hubs on the subject - a guy seemed well-informed then he went offline, the others just didn't know or didn't want to tell me, and then I got banned for dubious reasons while a girl had finally managed to tell me that 'You don't hear that music normally'. :rolleyes:

Help please?

edit: the tune is reminiscent of Rhapsody, if Rhapsody were a brass band.

edit2: i found the lyrics (but, frustratingly, nor the title nor the band):

I grakcu crne vrane
na pravoslavnom krstu
opet se dusmani bude
i psuju nam majku srpsku.
U boj, u boj, u boj,
ustani, Srbine moj,
ne idi nikud sa ognjista svog,
Srbina cuva slava i Bog.
Koga ce oni na vrbe,
a traze u strahu spas
bre, mi smo kroz mnoge vekove
i jace gazili od nas.
Pale nam ognjista nasa,
kamenjem tela nam pune,
dokle ce majke Srpkinje
da nose marame crne.

edit3: i give up. after googling bits of the lyrics here and there i understand that the song is the work of three popular musicians, one of which also had a horrid band named "riblja corba" and used to do stuff (i can only imagine which stuff :lol:) with a dj named "rambo amadeus". still, the song doesn't seem to have a title, i can't match it with any of the songs of the three artists (?) and it's really starting to be quite a lot of work for my original goal, which was to sample a ringtune off it. oh, and i get the idea that the song was arranged (i s'pose it's traditional) by these three people out of these lines: "Bora Ðordevic (sef grupe Riblja corba, nacista i pjevac), Zoran Kalezic (folk zvijezda from Montenegro) i Vladimir Savcic Cobi (nekad pjevac sarajevske grupe Pro Arte); pesma koju su snimili i koju su desetak godina kasnije svi zeleli da zaborave - glasi" [lyrics follow]. of course i have no idea of what the phrase means, so i might be completely out of the way there.
 
I love balkan music. I saw a great band a couple of years ago in the malmö festival. Their where loads of people including many old drunk ladies. Can't spell their name, but it sounds like fanfare ciocarlia [chiocarlia]. They are really great. A band of only wond instrument and one drummer. They are like the fastest balkan band in the entire middle Europe.

[Taraf de Haidoutch] (can't spell that either) are also extremly talented. Their front a man is and old violinist without any teeth, who plays on his violin by pulling threads around the strings and making it sound like a squeaking door. BTW they appeared in the Johnny depp movie "the man who cried".

There is also a Swedish Balkan band called "Östblocked". They have a couple of really good songs but has a boring singer. I saw them a while ago.... It was a good live show.

Those where three honest recommendations..


Hyena: I will ask my serbian friend. She listens to loads of serbian music..
 
As for composers, definitely Goran Bregovic, as for performers, Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar. Haydamaki are very good, too. You might even like them more, cause they play a kind of folk punk, but alas, theyre from Ukraine, so not really belonging here (Russians Aukcyon are awesome, too). Fanfare Ciocarlia are from Romania. Try also Emir Kusturicas No Smoking Orchestra, especially Unza Unza Time. Theres tons of shitty balkan or any other music, so I wont waste time with that.
 
I just googled it and the second hit told me the title could be ''Srbina cuva slava i bog'' (god and glory protect the Serb).

The edit3 text says who these 3 people are and then it says that they all wanted to forget this song 10 years after they had recorded it. And yeah, Riblja čorba is a bit disgusting name. :)

My personal favourites from balkan are Đorđe Balašević and Parni valjak, the only problem is that you don't understand the language. :/

marduk1507 said:
As for composers, definitely Goran Bregovic
I don't like his band Bijelo dugme but some of his stuff is great, like the soundtrack for Arizona dream, I love to listen to it.
 
Vizjaqtaar said:
I just googled it and the second hit told me the title could be ''Srbina cuva slava i bog'' (god and glory protect the Serb).

oooh. thank you. i found someone on DC who has it and, although i'm not managing to download it now, i will sooner or later. i'm also happy that i kind of got the idea with my rhapsody reference, what with the 'glory' part. :lol:

new ringtone here i come!

edit: thanks for all the other tips as well, i'll check out the artists. i think i will have to learn the language if i keep on being so interested. :)
 
I downloaded it from emule and it is indeed the song you're looking for.

hyena said:
i think i will have to learn the language if i keep on being so interested. :)
Uh good luck with that. :hypno: Um one more band that came to my mind, the Slovenian Terra folk. Just folk, no turbo. :)

Is it true that the most played song on the radio is a Slovenian song? I heard people say that... Slavko Avsenik - Na golici :kickass: :kickass:
 
@viz: thanks a million (i had written tanks, which was kinda correct in the context too). the song is indeed the one i was looking for, and the quality of the recording is good. someone should record a heavy metal version, but for the time being i'll just sample the trumpet solo.

today i will try to listen to the bands you all have mentioned, and i will report back. :)

edit: after 4 hours in a row of working, i'm happily listening to the tune again. i guess i look like the typical italian who got a sunstroke from one too many hours outside in the summer, singing along with something i don't know or understand the words to :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
@Hyena the song you were looking for is a typical serbian nationalist song which was probably created in a time of war and i wouldn't want to hear it even if there was a gun pointed at me.
The Balkans have beatiful music. Have you watched the movie Before the Rain by Milcho Manchevski (Milco Mancevski)? It is a beautiful movie and the soundtrack by the band Anastasia is a masterpiece in my opinion. Try to look for thr soundtrack i'm sure that you will like it and if you can't find it i will send it to you or something. Also there is the band Sintesis, a band who plays tradiotional Macedonian music, they are great and once i had the chance to listen to them in a amphitheatre in Ohrid and they gave me the creeps.

On a different subject have you heard of the Italian band Les Anarchistes
i have one album called "Figli di origine oscuro" and i like it very much. It is not punk music by any means and i'm not into anarchism very much but i'm sure that their lyrics have something to do with anarchism. Maybe you can translate something for me. They are covering the song Bella Ciao which i think is a traditional italian song. That song is also covered by Goran Bregovic, Balkan style :) You should find it "Goran Bregovic & Modena City Ramblers - Bella Ciao". My english is especially horrible this early in the morning so i will just stop.
 
@cuthalion: "bella ciao" is indeed a traditional song, but it also has a strong political connotation. we had a civil war from 1943 to 1945 - when the king switched sides from hitler to the UK/USA/USSR/France coalition, the country broke down in two. the north was governed by mussolini with the help of german troops, and it was made into a mock-state called 'repubblica di salò' (hence the pasolini film about the perversions of fascist leaders, that was discussed in the movie thread a while ago). the south was led by an army officer named badoglio, under the authority of the king of italy and with cooperation from the allied forces. now, in the north many people didn't agree with mussolini, and the men who didn't want to fight alongside the axis troops hid in the mountains and launched a very strong guerrilla counter-offensive. these fighters were known as partigiani and they are still hailed as liberators of the country (alongside the americans) from fascism. they were divided in three main groups: communists, catholics and liberals (in the 'classic liberal' sense, not the US one). 'bella ciao' was apparently written by a communist partigiano and it became an anthem for the left-wing fighters. a huge myth still surrounds this particular faction, and the song has been covered by every single left-leaning band in the country. modena city ramblers, in particular, are a popular folk act and they often revisit 'rebel' songs of the past (by the way, they really were a great band up to maybe 5 years ago, then they went a bit down the drain imho). i really like the 'bella ciao' cover by banda bassotti, an exceptional punk-oi!-ska act from rome. still, i'm also kind of sick of hearing this song, and hearing throngs of people singing along at the shows with their left fist raised.

by all means, do post the lyrics of the italian band you mentioned - i'll be more than happy to translate. i never heard of them, but i'll check them out as soon as i can. thanks for the heads-up!
 
@ Claudia what's with the Trijumf Volje?
Maybe it has to do with Leni Riefenstahl (Triumph of the Will)?
or Stormfront White Nationalists, as You probably know a group with that name(Trijumf Volje) is from Belgrade.
Some of the many subjects I read are: Nazis (neo/old school), Aryan Nation, National Alliance any white extremists groups. Before anyone gets all gaga I read about all extremists (black, brown, yellow, red, whoever). One of my favorite subjects is Malcolm X, I believe he was correct when he spoke about civil rights more than Martin Luther King. Malcolm thinks I'm one of those 'blue eyed devils'.
As a well rounded reader, Did You ever read the 'Turner Diaries' by William Pierce?
 
@dave: well, it's both. i love the concept of triumph of the will in general, but i actually decided to change my title while listening to the band. as for stormfront, i chime in here and there in the forums, although i'm not WN - similar story to yours, i like to get information. white pride world wide! :lol:

[note to everyone who just got offended: i was JOKING. it-was-a-joke. i don't believe in the superiority of the white race. i just find the WPWW chant fun.]

the turner diaries are on the shelf closest to my bed, waiting to be read. i really want to give them a shot but i'm overly busy.
 
thanks (although it doesn't compare to the aforementioned boards - quite small from what i see).