Film about Serbian folk singer Mica Trofrtaljka at Sarajevo Film Festival

Legendary Serbian folk singer Mica Trofrtaljka, who caused a storm in Yugoslavia in the 1970s and 1980s with her hilarious and often erotic songs, is the subject of a documentary film to be shown at this year's Sarajevo Film Festival. Milica Ostojić, whose stage name means 'Mica, the three-quarter length skirt girl', first made her splash in 1968 with the hit 'Davorinke Dajke', at a time, as the producer of the film Milan Nikodijević recollects, when Europe was gripped by student protests and Yugoslavia had just defeated the current world champions England at the Euro Football Cup. Trofrtaljka was a woman true to her poor, village background; not at all shy from singing songs laden with double entendres which brought a laugh to her mainly rural fan base but raised the ire of the government-controlled media, labelling her music as trash. She was the leading light of a folk music underground, notoriously popular but shunned by the mainstream. As is common with performers like Mica worldwide, she was unbelievably successful, selling hundreds of thousands of records, but now lives not much differently than before stardom, still in her home village.

Trofrtajlka's style of folk music with humorous and often lewd lyrics, usually at odds with the religious moral guidelines associated with village life, has been a feature of Balkan folk culture for centuries. One such form of this music, called izvorna muzika, combining ancient singing styles with modern-day humorous lyrics is found in Bosnia. Here is an example by Mara & Lole with their song 'Imun Mića od pornića' (Mića is Immune to Pornos). The lyrics go that last night she watched pornos with her neighbour Mića (a male name here) but he drank all night while she was hoping for some action...