Ljiljana Buttler
Liljana Butler, born Liljana Petrović on December 14, 1944, was a Yugoslav Roma
folk singer often called the “mother of Gypsy soul” and compared with Nina
Simone. Born in Belgrade, she grew up around music through her Roma accordionist
father and Croatian singer mother. She began performing as a teenager and later
became associated with Belgrade’s bohemian Skadarlija district. Butler recorded
her first albums in the early 1980s and gained popularity throughout Yugoslavia.
During the Yugoslav Wars, she moved to Düsseldorf, Germany, where she worked
various jobs while raising her c...
