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Song

Gelem, Gelem

Music written by
,
Lyrics written by
Composition date
1949
Language
Romany
Comments
After experiencing firsthand the incarceration of Roma during the Porajmos (the Romani Holocaust of World War II), Jovanović composed the lyrics of «Gelem, Gelem» in 1949, but the melody already existed among Romani people of Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. The song was adopted as the Romani anthem by delegates of the first World Romani Congress held in 1971.
The song has been adapted in many countries by local Roma to match their native orthography and spoken dialect of the Romani language. In an interview with reporter Mike Kalezić, Jovanović himself titled the song «Opre Roma» ("Up, Romanies").
There are many versions of «Gelem, Gelem», notably those translated by Ronald Lee.
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