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Ciganska je tuga pregolema: Difference between revisions
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Had a double take. Made some tweaks of the EN translations of these songs, though if I localized it too much, feel free to tweak it. Historical sources added. Interesting how there isn't really much on this subject.
(TIL there's not just one version of this song, but three altogether. One of the renditions is lost media for the moment, but there are plenty of copies out there. Maybe I will buy a copy at some point. I've put the genre as "Contemporary" for now as Novokomp was a term for the post war yugo folk stuff iirc. Romani for the film version, and Novokomp for the 1992 version.) |
(Had a double take. Made some tweaks of the EN translations of these songs, though if I localized it too much, feel free to tweak it. Historical sources added. Interesting how there isn't really much on this subject.) |
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"'''Ciganska je tuga pregolema'''" (Serbian Cyrillic: "Циганска је туга преголема", <small>lit.</small> "A Gypsy's Grief is too Great") is a folk song of unknown origin. Its earliest | "'''Ciganska je tuga pregolema'''" (Serbian Cyrillic: "Циганска је туга преголема", <small>lit.</small> "A Gypsy's Grief is too Great") is a folk song of unknown origin. Its earliest documented appearance on recorded media was for the soundtrack to the 1968 film ''Biće skoro propast sveta''. It would also appear in the 1972 reissue of the Italian album ''Il Canzoniere Internazionale Dei Ribelli''. An adapted version would appear in Veselin Grujić's debut album, [[Dobro jutro, moj Srbine|''Dobro jutro, moj Srbine'']]. | ||
==Music and lyrics== | ==Music and lyrics== | ||
While its author remains unknown | While its author remains unknown a vague timeline of events can be made from the song. The second verse is a direct reference to Operation Retribution in April of 1941. These supposed original lyrics mention of the deportation to the Marinkova Bara ghetto happened as early as October.<ref>Biljana Ristic. "[https://www.sbs.com.au/language/serbian/en/podcast-episode/on-this-day-nazi-bombing-of-belgrade/a8yyf3vbw On This Day: Nazi bombing of Belgrade]". SBS Serbian. 6 April 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2024.</ref> "In the morning around four/They knocked on every Gypsy's door" happened on the 29th, though there were mass arrests of Gypsies prior to the 29th. The arrival and subsequent liquidation of Gypsies in the Banjica camp happened as early as September.<ref name=":0">Milovan Pisari (2014). ''[https://www.cpi.rs/media/publications/The-Suffering-of-the-Roma-in-Serbia-during-the-Holocaust-e-book.pdf The Suffering of the Roma in Serbia During the Holocaust]''. Centar za primenjenu istoriju. Retrieved 29 April 2024.</ref> The mention of a "hot machine" refers to the crematoriums and was likely phrased as such for lyrical flow. The last stanza of the fifth verse indicates some sort of liberation of the camp, though Banjica wasn't liberated until 4 October 1944.<ref name=":1">Nemanja Mitrović. "[https://www.bbc.com/serbian/lat/srbija-58780131 Drugi svetski rat, zločini i Banjički logor: Nacistička kuća smrti za političke neprijatelje]". ''BBC''. 4 October 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2024.</ref> This is contrary to the line "The Gypsies were also called to fight" as Gypsies had been accepted into Partisan units as early as 1941.<ref>Danijel Vojak (December 2020). "Roma Resistance in Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia during World War II". ''Re-thinking Roma Resistance Throughout History: Recounting Stories of Strength and Bravery. European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture''. ISBN 978-3-9822573-0-3 p. 51</ref> The last verse is indicative of the song being made post-war, though these verses could have also just been made to boost morale. | ||
==Lyrics== | ==Lyrics == | ||
{| class="toptextcells" cellpadding="10" width="100%" | {| class="toptextcells" cellpadding="10" width="100%" | ||
|- | |- | ||
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</poem> | </poem> | ||
| style="margin-left:2em" | | | style="margin-left:2em" | | ||
===Lyrics (English):=== | === Lyrics (English):=== | ||
<poem lang="en"> | <poem lang="en"> | ||
A Gypsy's grief is too great | |||
No one knows what awaits a Gypsy | |||
Is it the camp or dense forest? | |||
The Gypsy quarter will be left deserted. | |||
On the seventh day of April, | |||
Hitler sent many airplanes | |||
to destroy Belgrade on the Sava | |||
As on that day, he declared a war on us. | |||
In the morning, around four | |||
They knocked on every Gypsy's door, | |||
They took them all away, the poor fellows, | |||
And they drove them to Marinkova Bara | |||
And from Bara to Banjica by the hundreds, | |||
The Gypsy camps were left empty. | |||
They shot them by the dozens, | |||
And all the little children went into the "hot machine" | |||
Those who wanted to raise their heads | |||
Were knocked down with a rifle, | |||
Such was the suffering of Gypsies, | |||
until the young Partisans arrived. | |||
When the young Partisans arrived | |||
The Gypsies were also called to fight, | |||
to fight together in the battle, | |||
to forge the freedom like brothers. | |||
So was it then, and now this song is sung, | |||
It will remain in our memory forever. | |||
</poem> | </poem> | ||
|} | |} | ||
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</poem> | </poem> | ||
| style="margin-left:2em" | | | style="margin-left:2em" | | ||
===Lyrics (English):=== | ===Lyrics (English): === | ||
<poem lang="en"> | <poem lang="en"> | ||
[TBA] | [TBA] | ||
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==''Dobro jutro, moj Srbine''== | ==''Dobro jutro, moj Srbine''== | ||
====1992 version (''Dobro jutro, moj Srbine'')==== | ====1992 version (''Dobro jutro, moj Srbine'')==== | ||
This version serves as the last track of the album and shares similarities in composition with the version heard in ''Biće skoro propast sveta''. Both versions were coincidentally published by the same company. While not an exact copy of the original version, it retains its holocaust theming. Any references to Nazi occupation is replaced with Ustaša. For example, " | This version serves as the last track of the album and shares similarities in composition with the version heard in ''Biće skoro propast sveta''. Both versions were coincidentally published by the same company. While not an exact copy of the original version, it retains its holocaust theming. Any references to Nazi occupation is replaced with Ustaša. For example, "One morning, around four,/They [Nazis] knocked on every Gypsy's door" is changed to "One morning, at seven o' clock/The Ustashe knocked on the door". The lines that follow, "Wake up Gypsy, you don't belong here/Come to the camp where the mallet beats" is a reference to Gypsies being sent to labor camps.<ref>Ivana Nikolic. "[https://balkaninsight.com/2018/12/17/serbia-s-forgotten-role-in-the-roma-holocaust-12-14-2018/ Serbia’s Forgotten Role in the Roma Holocaust]". ''BalkanInsight''. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2024.</ref> Instead of Jews and Gypsies being targeted as heard in the 1969 version, it is replaced with Serbian and Gypsy children crying as men were usually the target of these programs.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Any mention of Partisans are omitted and instead has a bleak ending, with the Ustashe refusing to give bread to them. | ||
It is one of few albums made during the Yugoslav wars to reference the genocide of Gypsies. | |||
==Lyrics== | ==Lyrics== | ||
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===Lyrics (English):=== | ===Lyrics (English):=== | ||
<poem lang="en"> | <poem lang="en"> | ||
A Gypsy's grief is too great | |||
No one knows what awaits a Gypsy | |||
Is it the camp or dense forest? | |||
Alas, all of Čubura will remain empty | |||
One morning, around seven o'clock, | |||
The Ustashe knocked on the door, | |||
"Wake up Gypsy, you don't belong here | |||
Come to the camp where the mallet beats" | |||
"Wait a second, I need to light a candle, | |||
and to kiss my little kids | |||
Wait a second, I need to turn on the lamp, | |||
to kiss my mother and father" | |||
When trucks arrive in the morning, | |||
and go directly to Čubura, | |||
they gave them shovels and pickaxes, | |||
to dig trenches for themselves | |||
In Zagreb, on Ban Jelačić Square | |||
Serbian and Gypsy kids are crying | |||
Kids are crying and mothers are weeping | |||
They ask for bread, but the Ustashe won't give it to them | |||
Alas, they ask for bread, but the Ustashe won't give it to them | |||
</poem> | </poem> | ||
|} | |} | ||
==References== | |||
[[Category:Songs]] | [[Category:Songs]] | ||
<references /> | |||
