Thank you Natasa, Ken, Liz, Svjetlana, and all involved in this project to bring Goran Bregovic and the Wedding and Funeral Orchestra to Ann Arbor. This was the most extraordinary event in memory. As someone who, during my youth in the 1980s, played the music of the Balkans at festivals throughout Europe and the Middle East, I have again experienced the power of music to transcend cultural and political boundaries. As I said last week,
http://www.umslobby.org/index.php/2011/10/my-next-door-neighbor-goran-bregovic-7087
Goran and his band indeed opened a window and guided us into the everyday reality of a different world. And we were all there last Saturday, as neighbors. And that is a magical world to be a part of!

Lisa, thank you. The meaning of Bijelo Dugme, White Button, is very much related to the traditional Bosnian and Balkan folklore and songs. A girl or a young woman would sew a white button on her dress as a gesture of affection. As the lyrics of the original song “If I were a white button” and their first major hit go something like:

If I were a white button
Girl would button into me (or me into her)
If I were a blue button
Girl wouldn’t know that I slept beside her (plavo/blue and spavo/sleep rimes in the native language

It is the one of the first times that a traditional song was incorporated into a major rock music arrangements in Yugoslav music. Hope this helps.

Endi