Ljiljana Buttler (née Petrović; 14 December 1944 – 26 April 2010) was a Yugoslav- Romani folk singer comparable to

Esma Redžepova Esma Redžepova-Teodosievska (, ; 8 August 1943 – 11 December 2016) was a Macedonian Romani vocalist, songwriter and humanitarian. She was nicknamed "the Queen of the Gypsies" per her contribution to Romani culture and music. She started t ...

, Vida Pavlović, and

Šaban Bajramović Šaban Bajramović ( sr-Cyrl, Шабан Бајрамовић, ; ; 16 April 1936 – 8 June 2008), nicknamed Šabi (Шаби), was a Serbian vocalist and recording artist of Arlije Romani ethnicity. He was one of the most internationally critic ...

Early life

Buttler was born Ljiljana Petrović on 14 December 1944 in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Her father was a

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

accordionist from

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

, while her mother was Ljiljana, a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n singer from

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

. Her father left the family shortly after the birth of his daughter. Petrović moved to the city of

Bijeljina Bijeljina ( sr-cyrl, Бијељина) is a city and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the provincial center of Semberija, a geographic region in the country's northeast. As of 2013, it has a population of 107,715 ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, where her mother performed in pubs. As a teenager she began singing, she returned to Belgrade where she settled in the

Skadarlija Skadarlija ( sr-Cyrl, Скадарлија) is a vintage street, an urban neighborhood and former municipality of Belgrade, Serbia, located in the Belgrade municipality of Stari Grad (Old Town). Skadarlija partially preserves the ambience of tr ...

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

quarter.

Career

Her debut album was recorded in 1982, and her popularity rose in that decade. During the Yugoslav civil war in the 1990s, she emigrated to

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, Germany, married and took her husband's name. In 2002,

Dragi Šestić Dragi Šestić (born 14 May 1966) is a Bosnian music producer, sound engineer, director of music video clips and record label owner. In 1998 he founded the first Bosnian World Music band, Mostar Sevdah Reunion. He rediscovered almost forgotten Gy ...

pursued her to come back and record an album. Her last album was released in 2009. She died of cancer in 2010, aged 65.

Discography

# Ljiljana Petrović: «Djelem, Djelem Daje» with Ansambl Zorana Pejkoviča (1981) RTV Ljubljana LD 0720 # Ljiljana Petrović: «Pevam Do Zore - Zabavljam Druge» with Orkestar Dragana Kneževica (1983) RTV Ljubljana LD 0868 # Ljiljana Petrović: (self-titled) with Orkestar Dušana Mitrovica-Nivoda (1984) RTV Ljubljana LD 1242 # Ljiljana Buttler &

Mostar Sevdah Reunion Mostar Sevdah Reunion is a world- fusion musical ensemble from Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina playing almost exclusively sevdalinka fused with contemporary musical styles. The band is composed of experienced musicians and often collaborates with ...

: «The Mother of Gypsy Soul» (2002)

Snail Records A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have a co ...

# Ljiljana Buttler & Mostar Sevdah Reunion: «The Legends of Life» (2005)

# Ljiljana Buttler: «Frozen Roses» (2009)

External links

Obituary in ''The Guardian''

Snail Records - The Official record label

Ljiljana Buttler -My Space page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buttler, Ljiljana 1944 births 2010 deaths Balkan music Romani musicians Singers from Belgrade Musicians from Düsseldorf Deaths from cancer in Germany Yugoslav emigrants to Germany