All Shutka, All the Time

Some interesting information about a Rom (Gypsy) village in Macedonia, its music and a film.


The Shutka Music Project:

"The Shutka Music Project, a collection of songs from the Gypsies of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedionia, is the first release from Music That matters, a non-profit group formed by Greg Scarborough. These songs were recorded while Mr. Scarborough lived and volunteered in Shutka, the largest Gypsy community in Europe, located in Macedonia near the Kosovo border. All profits from this CD go to benefit Balkan Sunflowers for their work in Shutka supporting the education and creativity of the Roma (Gypsy) youth."


The Shutka Book of Records
Leeds Film Festival

Shutka, Macedonia is the unofficial, self-governing, world capital of the Roma. Join Dr Koljo (Severdzan Bajram), a character from Emir Kusturica's film Black Cat, White Cat on an exclusive tour of a town usually closed to outsiders. All Shutka (or 'Happy Valley') inhabitants claim to be a champion of something – from boxing to lounge singing to err, goose-fighting. Aleksandar Manic's warm and funny documentary is too extraordinary to be fiction, although some of the local characters 'act' out their stories with a chutzpah and bravado more familiar to melodrama. The Shutka Book of Records won both the FIPRESCI Critic's Award and the Audience Award at the 2005 Serbia and Montenegro Film Festival.