When Pulp Fiction was released in 1994, people in Serbia was outraged because Quentin Tarantino stole our "Girl from Vranje" song. That is because Dick Dale's "Miserlou" (1962) was not known here. But this is the Serbian version of "Miserlou". The original was about an Egyptian girl, this one is about a Serbian girl from Vranje. I don't know where the tune came from, but most likely from Greece or Turkey, and not from Dick Dale, since it is a traditional Egyptian tune.


Lela from Vranje (1982)

A girl from Vranje loved me
My youth stayed with her
It's neither Sofka nor Koštana
But the prettiest Lela, Jelena

Empty, empty, everything is empty for me
No, my Jelena is gone
Come back, come back, Lela, Jelena
You took away my youth

Who knows where my girl from Vranje is
The fairest one of all, beautiful Jelena
I would give anything to find out
Who stole my Lela

Empty, empty, everything is empty for me
No, my Jelena is gone
Come back, come back, Lela, Jelena
You took away my youth

So you see, the fairest one of all is not the Snow White anyways, so what the fuss.

Quote from: Solar on June 14, 2025, 05:51:03 AMThe Corporate Big Ass Lie.
This is a subject no one ever addresses. The lie that cheap labor keeps our food prices down.

Market demand sets prices, and for these behemoths to claim otherwise plays on the ignorance of the sheeple.
If we can kill off the illegal alien worker BS, the left would no longer get slave labor. Prices could increase for a short time as things adjust, but there's still Mkt demand. If costs rise too much, people won't buy.
So, who absorbs the cost? Corporations are the ones who've been setting the prices all along and skimming off the top with cheap labor.
Yes, regardless of costs, they demand an unrealistic profit margin. But Congress enables them, with Bull Shit in the farm Bills.
Look at the milk producers' monopoly, killing off the small organic milk, cheese dairy producers, where by law they were killing off the Independents, shutting them down, all under the guise of the "Consumer Safety" lie!.

They will be forced to adapt, either raise the pay of the worker, or mechanize.
Look at farm equipment, all the improvements in robotics, where the farmer actually sleeps while AI works the farm 24/7.
But have prices fallen? Oh Hell No! They've only increased, all because the corporate monopoly demands a ridiculously high ROI.
 

Want another example, people believed goods from China were cheaper because labor was cheaper there. Goods were cheaper because they were CRAP! To fight the quality of American products other countries placed tariffs on American goods while they still produced CRAP, which their people still bought because the American goods were too high, not because of wages, because of tariffs.

You hit it on the head. One market that has some of the biggest swings is the cattle market. Pricing is ALL supply and demand. It has nothing to do with the farmers expenses.

The Corporate Big Ass Lie.
This is a subject no one ever addresses. The lie that cheap labor keeps our food prices down.

Market demand sets prices, and for these behemoths to claim otherwise plays on the ignorance of the sheeple.
If we can kill off the illegal alien worker BS, the left would no longer get slave labor. Prices could increase for a short time as things adjust, but there's still Mkt demand. If costs rise too much, people won't buy.
So, who absorbs the cost? Corporations are the ones who've been setting the prices all along and skimming off the top with cheap labor.
Yes, regardless of costs, they demand an unrealistic profit margin. But Congress enables them, with Bull Shit in the farm Bills.
Look at the milk producers' monopoly, killing off the small organic milk, cheese dairy producers, where by law they were killing off the Independents, shutting them down, all under the guise of the "Consumer Safety" lie!.

They will be forced to adapt, either raise the pay of the worker, or mechanize.
Look at farm equipment, all the improvements in robotics, where the farmer actually sleeps while AI works the farm 24/7.
But have prices fallen? Oh Hell No! They've only increased, all because the corporate monopoly demands a ridiculously high ROI.
 

This one is about a famous Gypsy singer Koštana from the town of Vranje. Serbian writer Borisav Bora Stanković wrote a drama about her and a man called Mitke (1900). There is an anecdote, when she approached Bora, demanding he pays her for using her name in his writing. He refused, saying: "If I pay each Koštana and each Mitke for using their names, I will go broke."

I don't know if this kind of music is appealing to the general public, probably not, but this is 100% organic non-GMO straight from the orchard.


Koštana (1982)

Koštana, Koštana,
Poor Gypsy,
Mitke, a drinker,
She made drunk with her song

Once upon a time she lived
In a sunny town, poor Koštana
The whole town sang with her
She warmed many hearts with her song

Koštana, Koštana,
Poor Gypsy,
Mitke, a drinker,
She made drunk with her song

One man sat alone
For days and nights he didn't sleep
Koštana made him drunk with her song
The old pilgrim, Mitke a drinker

Koštana, Koštana,
Poor Gypsy,
Mitke, a drinker,
She made drunk with her song

Years pass, oblivion does not come yet
Sing, dear Koštana, to me one more night
Sing a song when youth passes
And a pity for youth that the heart gets over it

Koštana, Koštana,
Poor Gypsy,
Mitke, a drinker,
She made drunk with her song

Quote from: milos on June 14, 2025, 04:46:31 AMCute. Since you know the names of the instruments, you are probably deeply into that kind of stuff. We have few similar music groups in Serbia as well. I was into that kind of ethno music like a decade ago. I appreciate their efforts. But, those are reconstructions of traditional music, that is a difference. While a singer like Usnija Redžepova comes from a 100% genuine living uninterrupted musical tradition. She, who came from a mixed Gypsy and Turkish ethnic background, born in Macedonia, lived and worked in Serbia, she was a part of the authentic Gypsy, Turkish, Macedonian, Serbian folklore, she was a real deal.

There is another authentic Serbian singer who I admire, Staniša Stošić (Vranje 1945 - Belgrade 2008), he is most famous for traditional songs from the Serbian southeastern town of Vranje, not a Gypsy music for this topic, but it got similar mixed Serbian and Oriental vibes. I will post some of his songs as soon as I translate the lyrics.

I believe some of the instruments Alina and others play are reconstructions or improvements based on drawings or remnants found in a bog.  e.g. she plays a 3 string gudok and a 4 string  instrument that could be called a bass rebec or a gudok-viola. I have learned that gusli, psaltery, zither are kinda the same but different.

There is another small ethnic musical group Light in Babylon that caught on and toured Europe. She is Iranian but born in Tel Aviv and lives in Istanbul. She sings and plays djembe while he plays some kind of hammered dulcimer.
https://youtu.be/aKJvbTEnp0I

Alina Permina aka Alina Gingertail was cute now pretty. I think she was a computer network technician who picked up her domra after a lapse. She led me to lots of Slavic Folk
https://youtu.be/aEadQcDQT08?list=PLVmg3ofLiKGoew6Oc4wg9vULZU6c1Dxkf

Quote from: Possum on June 14, 2025, 05:22:40 AMThey are a society that has changed little if at all over generations. The ones from biblical times would fit right in with their hatred today. Iran will supply them with arms to kill jews, other than that even Iran, with all it's evil wants nothing to do with them.

There has been some talk about splitting up the people to make it much harder for them to support terrorism. I wonder if that will still be on the table and where would they go?

Bingo! They're nothing but pawns and always will be unless drastic changes take effect, like killing off I-slum.
That's the thing, no one wants them, they're seen as inner city ghetto dwellers with zero ambition. The literal dregs of society.
Just like here in the US.

Quote from: Solar on June 14, 2025, 04:49:47 AMYou are correct about everything, except Palestinian real history. It's a fascinating story, one few even know about.
DNA has proven they're nothing more than Arabs. History has exposed that they were the offspring of the banished to the land of Israel, a land no one wanted, but Israelis, who paid cash for the land, a land they already owned.
The other people in Palestine, (all Of The Middle East) wanted nothing to do with beggars, thieves, and nomads, in essence Gypsies.

These people were the dregs of society and were later used as pawns in International affairs. A timeline of their history proves that the entirety of the Arab world still rejects them, which is why no one wanted to take them in when Israel was attacking Iran's proxy force.

I think the only way peace will ever come to the M/E is if Christianity gains a stronghold.

They are a society that has changed little if at all over generations. The ones from biblical times would fit right in with their hatred today. Iran will supply them with arms to kill jews, other than that even Iran, with all it's evil wants nothing to do with them.

There has been some talk about splitting up the people to make it much harder for them to support terrorism. I wonder if that will still be on the table and where would they go?