Emir Kusturica now on sale

I may as well be on the payroll for the Sydney Opera House the way that I am plugging their Emir Kusturica and the No Smoking Orchestra concert - but my excitement for this one-off event is getting a little uncontrollable - and tickets are on sale now!

Recently I had some Slovenian friends come to Sydney for a holiday and all of a sudden I have been filled with a new found nostalgia for my adopted second home. Just hearing their unique accents and reflecting on this wonderful peninsula made me a little home-sick. Well - home sick for somewhere I used to live.

Kusturica, although not Slovenian, but part of the great Yugoslavian tradition in music and culture is an enormous figure not only in that corner of the world but throughout Europe and North America.

The concert is described by the Opera House marketing collateral as;

Riotous, raucous and infectiously compelling, this rambunctious Balkan 10-piece gypsy-punk-rock band ... will raise the roof of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.

I understand that Kusturica, the director of Black Cat White Cat and Underground, hates flying with a passion and will do all that he can to avoid it. North America he reaches by boat if he can and throughout Europe it's trains.

So I can only imagine how he is feeling when the only way to get to Sydney is by plane - well, it's either that or some hideous Russian tanker that's about to rust away.

I wrote a piece about the No Smoking Orchestra not so long ago, so I am assuming that all of you will be organising your friends to now head down to House on 29 June. I would also encourage you to go to the Balkan restaurants on Oxford Street if you are thinking about dinner pre or post show. I can especially recommend the cevapcici, Balkan salad and the octupus if you need some advice.

This is sure to be the concert of the year. I'd get in, get early and get a bit of Balkan in your blood. Emir Kusturica is coming!

To get a taste, here are some lyrics with youtube song below - from the Balkan man;

Was Romeo really a Jerk

No greater love Romeo and Juliet
But Shakespeare died and years passed by
Juliet knows everything about Romeo
Except why he tells her no at night

You know that beggars should not be choosers
Romeo's job has no social term
Jerking off is made for the losers
Instead of wit he sells his sperm

And every day just a same
Romeo's shame in black suitcase
and every day...

I` m not Romeo
Maybe you are Juliet
but I` m not Romeo

Romeo is a poor refugee
he's just another one to bite the dust
Juliet measures time by diamonds on her watch
They come together by the force of lust

And every day just a same
Romeo's shame in black suitcase
And every day...

I'm not Romeo
Maybe you are Juliet
but I'm not Romeo

Why do you wake up in sweat dear Romeo
Why does you face turn away from me
What is the pain that you are going trough
What is the secret that I cannot see

Oh I was dreaming I jumped by parashout
And I went down down since my birth
But at the moment I was ready for lending
Oh my God I missed planet Earth

And every day......