Young Turks

Black Cat, White Cat and the No Smoking Orchestra29 July 2008by Caius Pawson

Last night I watched Yugoslavian/Bosnian director Emir Kusturica’s hilarious Black Cat, White Cat (1998).

Set in Serbia, ‘Black Cat, White Cat’ is a surreal gangster themed black comedy full of mystifying contraptions, bizarre relationships and dizzying scenarios about a group of Roma gypsies who plan to steal a train full of oil. That little bit of hyperbole might lead you to believe that its a Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels for Eastern Europe, and you’d be a bit right, except its not a cliche – packed – Richie cheese extravaganza.

The soundtrack to the movie is equally as exciting. Until I did a bit of internet research I had absolutely no idea how the soundtrack was compiled and who all the tracks were by; what I found was pretty incredible. Even though the soundtrack takes in a whole slew of different genres ranging from Balkan gypsy folk to Euro-Trance, it was all composed and performed by the same people: Zabranjeno Pušenje aka No Smoking Orchestra aka Black Cat, White Cat Orchestra.

The ‘Black Cat, White Cat Orchestra’ was formed out of the ‘No Smoking Orchestra’ who were originally a highly successful Serbian garage rock band called ‘Zabranjeno Pušenje’ (which means No Smoking.) The band’s music has always been highly satirical and very political, matched by their affiliation to the comedy TV/Radio show Top Lista Nadreaista. During the Bosnian War the band, who were from different parts of Yugoslavia, had to split. At the end of the war the band came back together. The soundtrack is one of the resulting gems they’ve produced.

The accompanying clips portray the vast variation in musical styles that the soundtrack possesses, and the clips that go with the music gives you a great taste of what the movie is like as a whole.

From balkan folk…

To Euro Trance…

With a bit more looking I found the track from the limo clip, in full. DJS, PLEASE START PLAYING THIS OUT:

Zabranjeno Pusenje aka No Smoking Orchestra aka Black Cat, White Cat Orchestra – Pit Bull

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