The title of this song in English would be ‘Take a look at me, Anatolian girl’.
Original Bosnian lyrics
Pogledaj me, Anadolko,
Muhammeda ti.
Ja ću tebi sevdalinke
pjesme pjevati.
Hraniću te bademima,
da mi mirišeš,
pojiću te đul-šerbetom,
da mi sevdišeš.
Ruse kose, curo imaš,
žališ li ih ti?
Aman, da ih žalim,
ne bih ti ih dala
da ih mrsiš ti.
Crne oči, curo imaš,
žališ li ih ti?
Aman, da ih žalim,
ne bih ti ih dala
da ih gledaš ti.
Medna usta, curo imaš,
žališ li ih ti?
Aman, da ih žalim,
ne bih ti ih dala
da ih ljubiš ti.
Rosom ću te umivati,
cvijete ubavi,
a u svilu zavijati,
moja ljubavi.
English translation
Look at me, Anatolian girl,
by Propeth Muhammad,
I will sing Sevdalinkas
to you.
I’ll feed you almonds,
so that you smell sweetly,
I’ll give you sherbet to drink,
so that you love me.
Your hair is red, my girl.
Do you pity it?
Alas, if I pitied it, I wouldn’t
let you caress it.
Your eyes are dark, my girl.
Do you pity them?
Alas, if I pitied them, I wouldn’t
let you look at them.
Sweet as honey are your lips, my girl.
Do you pity them?
Alas, if I pitied them, I wouldn’t
let you kiss them.
I’ll wash your face with dew,
my pretty flower,
I’ll wrap you in silk, my love.
Published on 13th October 2009
Beautiful. There is a recording by Himzo Polovina who I think was the most accomplished of sevdalinke singers, but the lyrics are a little bit different. He sings “Haj oj djevojko Anadolko, budi moja ti…”; the last verse is omitted. It is on the album “Kradem ti se u veceri”. A Turkish version, sung by Safiye Ayla and recorded in 1949 also exists. There is an unconfirmed story that the melody was inspired by a military march played by a Scottish regiment’s band when they were stationed in Istanbul during the Crimean war.
I can tell you more: “Grana od bora”, also sung by Himzo Polovina, also exists in Istanbul as a Sefardi song sung in Ladino or Judeo-Spanish with an almost identical text. Would be interesting to investigate this further, and to see how possibly some influence of Arab-Andalusi music entered into sevdalinka through sefardi Jewish singers who came from Spain to Bosnia and who brought along more influences of Muslim than of Christian Spain. Certainly I have listened to both Bosnian songs and Moroccan Andalusi and Gharnati songs (which is like the classical music from there) from the time I was 5, and in some I do notice certain similarities. Even though I know of course that most Muslim refugees from Spain during the 15th and 16th centuries went to North Africa, with which they were more culturally related, and I don’t think many found their way to Bosnia.
Anyway, greetings and keep up the good work.
Ahmed
Ahmed Karim on 13th NovemberThanks very much for this Ahmed. We will see if we can chase up this research you are pointing to. How do you know all this?
World of Sevdah on 13th NovemberA very interesting link which describes possible origins of this very song.
http://www.everybodys-song.net/inspiratio_story.php
World of Sevdah on 14th NovemberI have enjoyed sevdalinke since I was a kid. We used to have a beautiful record “Bosno moja divna mila” with a picture of the Begova Dzamija on the front. I have listtened to it all the time, for over 30 years. But only in the 1990s I could buy more, and among others I have almost the complete repertory of Himzo Polovina.
I am very interested in music from the Muslim culture. Last time I counted them, about 1994 I had almost 900 CDs of music from Muslim countries; I haven’t counted them since but I think now it’s much, much more. I heard the Judeo-Spanish version of “Grana od bora” during a concert by a singer from Spain named Rosa Zaragoza and it is on the first or second CD she brought out.
From my last trip to Bosnia I brought an armful of CDs, all sevdalinke. And it’s good to know that saz playing is not dying out either. I had a lengthy stay at Sevdah Kuca in Sarajevo and I heard a very young sazlija named Zanin Berbic. He’s really very, very good. I am not so enthusiastic about the most recent way of interpretation of sevdalinke, like you canhear in Mostar Sevdah Reunion’s last CD (it’s beautiful nevertheless) , but then their “Secret Gate” album and Amira Mdunjanin’s are real chestnuts. Still, nothing can surpass the early recordings of Himzo Polovina, Safet Isovic or Zehra Deovic, to name a few; Emina Zecaj’ s last two albums are great too.
Some songs from Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and Serbia sound similar too; these are from regions which have or had a significant Bosniak population. It could not be otherwise.
Ahmed Karim on 25th May