Ramo Ramo
This melody is said to be based on a song from an Indian movie, with lyrics added by B. Milojevic. The earliest recording we’ve found is by Slobodan Ilic in 1974. We play it in cocek dance rhythm.
Ramo Ramo
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Kher kereste
A haunting song from the southern Balkans, recorded and, I believe, written by Kenan Asan in 1989 or 1990. We play it as a lesnoto.
From house to house, grass grows
[i.e. no one walks between them, the people are gone]
In my head, a fire burns.
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Sukrijin cocek
We’ve heard this cocek melody played under a variety of names by Rom bands from Bulgaria, Macedonia and Serbia. It was recorded by the Slobodan Salijevic brass band as Sukrijin cocek on the Golden Brass Summit CD (Network LC 6759), but that recording is no longer available on YouTube and we haven’t found another version, so all we can offer here is the chart. We sometimes play this after the Bulgarian pop song Cerno more.
Sukrijin cocek
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Cerno more
This communist-era comic song by Todor Kolev, the late Bulgarian actor, comedian and singer, is about a guy who takes a slacker job so he can hang out by the beach at the Black Sea and avoid his wife. We play it as a kjucek.
Caveat: This is one of the few songs in this collection where the transcription is different from the original recording. The transcription is based on a version of the song that we learned from Mary Sherhart in Seattle. It uses a different instrumental break (the original break just repeats part of the vocal melody) and a slightly shortened version of the verse.
Cerno more 2
The original recording, with Todor Kolev on violin and vocals. (I think he also plays the musical blade of grass heard at one point.)
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Albanski cocek
A sexy instrumental dance number recorded, and possibly written, by Ferus Mustafov in 2013. He plays a brief free-meter solo intro that isn’t transcribed below. I’ve heard bands play this tune without phrase 4.
Albanski cocek
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