Musical Montage from Yugoslavian film Black Cat White Cat

I had to wade through 10 pages of YT comments to get a bit of context.

A great movie directed by Nemanja (Emir) Kusturica, "one of the few directors to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes twice (for When Father Was Away on Business and Underground)"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emir_Kusturica

"Black Cat White Cat" is an outrageous, farcical comedy set in a Gypsy (Romany) settlement on the banks of the Danube. The music for the film was composed by Belgrade-based band No Smoking Orchestra, formed by Zabranjeno Pušenje vocalist Nele Karajlić.
(Per previous link and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Cat%2C_White_Cat )

The literal translation of the title is actually "Black cat, white tomcat". The movie characters speak in Romani, Serbian and Bulgarian - frequently switching between them.
Kruposays...

This movie won the Silver Lion for Best Direction at the Venice film festival.

Here's the rundown, also from wikipedia. The entire video makes sense in context of reading this.
"He has plans to acquire a whole train of smuggled fuel, which he finds at cut-price. To obtain a loan that would subsidize the heist, he visits Grga Pitić, a wheelchair-bound old gangster, who's an old friend of Zarije Destanov, Matko's father and Zare's grandfather. Matko then plots the details of the job with an ally of his named Dadan, a rich, fun-living, drug-snorting gangster type who has a harem, juggles grenades and cheats at cards. However, Dadan double-crosses him and glitches up the deal by giving Matko a drink that is drugged, and carrying out the job while Matko is unconscious, which means that Matko owes Dadan a great deal of cash. Matko cannot afford to pay, so Dadan makes a deal whereby he would forgive the debt, thereby wiping the slate clean, if Zare and Afrodita, Dadan's midget sister whom he desperately wants to marry off, get married. However, Zare is in love with Ida, a barmaid who works in an establishment run by her Roma grandmother Sujka, and Afrodita is waiting for the man of her dreams. Dadan coerces Afrodita into marrying by dunking her in a well, while Zare first learns of the scheme to marry him off from Ida, who has overheard Dadan and Matko plotting it in the restaurant where she works. Meanwhile, Zare retrieves Zarije from the hospital where he is being kept, with the aid of a gypsy band.

The two reluctantly endure the wedding ceremony held at Matko's house, which Dadan refuses to postpone after the sudden apparent death of Zarije. They were not supposed to have a wedding while in mourning, but Dadan decides to delay the death announcement, so Matko and Zare hide Zarije's body in the attic, packed in ice. Zare is dismayed, since he wants to leave the place, and had hoped that the required mourning period for his beloved grandfather would give him the opportunity to get away, and thus avoid being married off against his will. Ida and Sujka provide the catering for the wedding, and Ida is upset at seeing her beloved married off to someone else. By contrast, Dadan is really enjoying himself, whether dancing to gypsy band music, bouncing on the bed with his harem, and juggling grenades. However, the bride runs away mid-ceremony, pursued by Dadan and Matko. She stumbles across a six-foot plus giant named Grga Veliki, who is willing to protect her from her villainous brother, and the couple fall instantly in love. Grga Veliki's grandfather, Grga Pitić, wants him to get married, and is delighted that he has found his mate. The old gangster forces Dadan, who had once worked for him, to accept the match.

The groom meanwhile conspires with Sujka and Ida to bring Dadan down a peg, and rigs the outhouse so that the seat will come apart. While the preparations for the wedding ceremony of Afrodita and Grga Veliki are being conducted, Matko and Dadan pass the time by playing cards, with Dadan cheating. Sujka comes in during the game, and serves the unsuspecting Dadan a drink spiked with something that would give him diarrhea. Furthermore, Grga Pitić apparently dies, and Dadan and Matko hide his body in the attic, where Zarije's body is also hidden. However, the two corpses soon both come back to life; they were not dead after all. They are surprised to find themselves together, as they had not seen each other for 25 years and each had thought the other was dead. During the ceremony, Dadan starts to feel uncomfortable and rushes into the outhouse ... and falls into the manure. His harem deserts him, and as he tries to clean himself off on a goose, only Matko remains loyal, and he provides Dadan with a shower from the garden hose. Zare meanwhile grabs the wedding official at gunpoint and orders him to solemnize his marriage with his sweetheart, Ida, and the two sail off together on a riverboat with a fistful of cash stashed in his grandfather's accordion, and the blessing of their respective grandparents."

kulpimssays...

the song is called Bubamara (Lady Bug). it's author, Šaban Bajramović, died a week ago on June 8th 2008.

Šaban Bajramović (Cyrillic: Шабан Бајрамовић) (born April 16, 1936 in Niš, Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is Serbian Romani musician.
He attended primary school for only the first four years. On quitting school, he picked up his musical education on the street and wherever he could, as others of his people have always done. At 19 he ran away from the army out of love for a girl. As a deserter, he was sentenced to three years prison on the island Goli otok, but as he told the military court they couldn't hold him for so long as he could survive, they raised his punishment to five and a half years. He survived as he was a good goalkeeper in the prison football team. Because of his nimbleness and speed, they called him "Black Panther". Soon he forced his way into the prison orchestra that played, among other things, jazz (mostly Armstrong, Sinatra, and even John Coltrane) with Spanish and Mexican pieces. Today he likes to say that he read 20.000 books in his life, most of them whilst in prison. He also says that the prison on Goli otok was his university of life where he formed his philosophy, adding that a person who has never been in prison is not a person at all. After Goli otok, his intensive music career began. He made his first record in 1964 and since then has made 15-20 LPs and about 50 singles. To date he is believed to have composed 650 compositions including - Bubamara (ladybird), in the soundtrack of Emir Kusturica movie - Black Cat, White Cat, and Mesečina (originally Djeli mara) in the soundtrack of Emir Kusturica movie - Underground.

They wrote about him:

Over the years, his music has been constantly stolen, copied, and imitated by both famous and unknown musicians. Promises and contracts have proven worthless. Actually, he's never been interested in protecting his work. Where others would have earned millions, he's lived as he's always lived: from day to day, making music, going wherever he wants, and not recognising any limits at all. — Dragi Šestić, Mostar Sevdah Reunion

The next 66 minutes were one of the rarest moments in my life. I was crying because of the sheer beauty of this music. Together with Mostar Sevdah Reunion, the great gipsy singer created an exceptional album, probably the best ever produced in this Balkan area. — Miljenko Jergovic, Jutarnji list, 10.11.2001, Croatia

It is difficult to stay objective while listening to this masterpiece. The saying goes that no one should go down on one's knees and bow one's head before a living human being, but in this case an exception should be made. — Mladen Hlubna, Oslobodjenje 6.12.2001 Bosnia

The Serbian singer is clearly a giant talent, comparable in his own way to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan or Mari Bonie Persen, someone capable of bringing their music to life with such vivid spirituality that it vaults with ease over the most impenetrable cultural barriers. His voice combines the anguish of rai with the soulfulness of fado - a sort of Balkan gypsy jazz Andy Gill - The Independent, UK, 15.2.2002

another version of this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6R-NC9LVFc

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