A while back I posted a song called Djelem Djelem. This song, Gelem Gelem (I walked, I walked) by Esma Redźepova is actually the same song, although if you listen to them back-to-back they sound considerably different.
It was composed in 1949 by Žarko Jovanović and is considered the anthem of the Romani (Gypsy/Travelers) people. They're originally from Northern India, but they've spread widely through Eastern and Western Europe and have no homeland. His lyrics are below.
I went, I went on long roads
I met happy Roma
O Roma, where do you come from,
With tents happy on the road?
O Roma, O Romani youths!
I once had a great family,
The Black Legion murdered them
Come with me, Roma from all the world
For the Roma, roads have opened
Now is the time, rise up Roma now,
We will rise high if we act
O Roma, O Romani youths!
Open, God, White doors
So I can see where are my people.
Come back to tour the roads
And walk with happy Roma
O Roma, O Romani youths!
Up, Romani people! Now is the time
Come with me, Roma from all the world
Dark face and dark eyes,
I want them like dark grapes
O Roma, O Romani youths!
Redzepova changed the first and third stanzas to:
Little tent roams the world
Like a bee from flower to flower
The tramp of horses is heard far away
But the song echoes even farther
It makes the song more cheerful, but it strips meaning from it. The Black Legion who murdered them refers to the Nazi's rounding up the Romani during the holocaust. Like the Jews, they were a stateless people slated for extermination.
The film clips used in the video are from the 1975 Soviet film Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven.
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