Kceri moja Aliji
Popular in much of former Yugoslavia, this traditional song is said to be Turkish in origin. It’s one of several songs in which the daughter says she doesn’t want to marry any of the village worthies that her father proposes – oh no, she wants to marry a bekrija, a bad boy who likes to party. The song is often performed with a man singing the father’s lyrics, a woman singing the daughter’s lyrics, and both singing the chorus.
Kceri moja Aliji
Kceri moja Aliji lyrics
Usnija Redzepova, 1988 (similar to chart above:
Nenad Jovanovic, 1975 (less similar to chart above):
Read More
Dobrolushko horo
A lively pravo horo instrumental dance tune from the region of Thrace in Bulgaria, recorded by the Prvomaiskata Grupa (May 1 Group). This 2-page chart is based on a transcription by Stewart Mennin and Stuart Brotman.
Dobrolusko horo
Also, here’s an audio recording.
Read More
Phirava daje
Phirava daje is a Rom song heard in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Kosovo that tells a charming love story. We learned it from Carol Silverman at balkanalia!, the dance and music camp held near Portland every summer. We play it with a Bo Diddley beat, to which people often do the dance cocek.
(Ph = hard p + h, not f. Kh = hard k + h, not Scots loch.)
Phirava daje
Our source recording isn’t online, but here’s a version sung by Safet Ibrahimi with a slightly different break:
Read More
Phiravelman kalyi phuv
We like this recording by the Hungarian Rom band Romanyi Rota because its lyrics are a stark prayer to God for strength to be good in hard circumstances. We play it as a relaxed cocek.
The song is similar to, though not the same as, the Serbian brass band melody “Kako kolan da se videm,” with lyrics by R. Todorovic. Two songs for the price on one!
Phiravelman kalyi phuv
Phiravelman kalyi phuv lyrics
Kako kolan da se vijem
Kako kolan da se vijem lyrics
Phiravelman kalyi phuv, starting at 50:38:
Kako kolan da se videm, by Usnija Redzepova:
And by Zlatne Uste, from New York:
Read More
Sve se osim tuge deli
This folk-flavored popular song of lost love was a hit circa 2001 for Ljubisa Stojanovic, the Serbian singer better known as Louis. (He adopted his stage name at the age of 9, when he performed the songs of Louis Armstrong.) Jasmina Jaksic wrote the music, and Milenko Jaksic wrote the lyrics. We play it as a cocek.
Sve se osim tuge deli
Sve se osim tuge deli lyrics
Song video (it won’t embed, for some reason): https://youtu.be/0Dk_TARDpz4
Read More
Ah ya bibi
A hot dance tune from Fanfare Ciocarlia, the internationally popular Rom brass band from northeast Romania, on their 1998 debut CD Radio Prascani. I wonder if the name is related to the Arabic word habibi, “beloved one.”
Ah ya bibi
Read More