#romani:music

[guillemelgat]

The Evening of the Year - A November Playlist

Our twilight month November is The evening of the year The brilliant summer noontide left A pallor soft and clear

I put together a little playlist of songs in multiple languages (the goal was as many as possible) which captured all the different feelings that November makes me feel. It’s a lot of indie and folk, and I tried to make it as chill as my music taste would allow. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Tracklist

ROMANTICIDI | Pantaleó & Anaïs Vila (Catalan)

Lo Berde | Rewşan (Kurdish)

Veleno | Baiuca & Rodrigo Cuevas (Asturian)

Aeode | Mashrou’ Leila (Arabic)

Sebi | zalagaspar (Slovenian)

Zigzan | Bombino (Tamasheq)

Cançó | Marala & Xarim Aresté (Catalan)

Tyrd yn ôl | Plu (Welsh)

Fioled | Sŵnami (Welsh)

I Barval Pudela | Šaban Bajramović (Romani)

Torna a casa | Måneskin (Italian)

Kea | Zea Mays (Basque)

Quart de Lluna Minvant | Blaumut (Catalan)

La Canción del Pensador | Ciudad Jara (Spanish)

Dh'éirich mi moch, b'fheàrr nach do dh'éirich | Julie Fowlis (Scottish Gaelic)

[guillemelgat]

Okay so I was supposed to learn song lyrics today but instead I made the mistake of trying to understand the Romani lyrics to this song (most of it is in Hungarian btw). Here’s what I ended up with, stuff in green is stuff I’m sure of, [...] means I didn’t understand it, stuff in lime green is stuff I was about 30-50% sure on, and stuff in orange is stuff I just wrote down because I thought I heard it. This was actually really hard, which I guess is good because I feel like I need to be challenged more if I want to get better.

[ ...] shuka shej Avjasta mande [ ...]

Chumidav lake thaj no kamav la murro jilo shej me tuke lav

tu kerdjom shej sako felo te kames shej numa tiro jilo shej tu des mande

chi tehara me khelenav bukja tuki tire shukar jakha mande [...]

[ Other Days of This Challenge ]

[guillemelgat]

So for Day 2 of the challenge, I had to listen to a song and (1) try to transcribe/understand the words on my own, (2) compare them and correct them against the actual words, (3) look up any words I didn’t know, and (4) try to memorize the lyrics. This is the song I picked, unfortunately it’s like more than half in Hungarian, but I did the parts in Romani and I could understand it pretty well! I’ve highlighted in red the parts I couldn’t understand and put the vocab I learned at the bottom! The translation is really bad, corrections welcome 😅

Suno san tu numa shej You are only a dream, girl Kade dur sar le čerhaja As far away as the stars Katar mande shej From me, girl

Kai te rodav aba tut Where I still look for you Nai man pača p’adi phuv I do not have peace on this earth

Andre phirav me e luma I walk out into the world Numa te zhantar e dukha Only that the pain may leave Cerraj mange adi luma This world is just a little to me Na bistrav tut šoha I will never forget you

New Words:

suno - dream

čerhaj - star

pača - peace, rest

šoha - never

[ Other Days of This Challenge ]

[guillemelgat]

This is my first attempt at translating a song from Romani so I hope it goes okay! I think this song is in the Lovara dialect, which is a bit different from Kalderash (which I’m learning), but I could understand it pretty easily. I think there are some lines which might not be exactly right, but I was surprised that with only a month of Romani under my belt I could get so much of it. It’s also one of the first songs I listened to in Romani and so it’s very dear to me.

[EDITED VERSION WITH CORRECTIONS]

Korkore žav ande kalyi ratyi, Alone I go into the dark night me gindjinav pe muri dejori, I think about my dear mother Lingrav lake luludja šukara, I am bringing her beautiful flowers e dajake, žanav voj lošala. to my mother, I know she will be happy.

Soske, soske, Devla, si le but gindura? Why, why, o God, do I have so many troubles? Soske si nasvalyi amari dejori? Why is our dear mother sick? Pe la dikhav, muro dji rovela, Looking at her, my soul weeps o Deloro hajkam sastyarel la. Perhaps the Almighty will cure her.

Pe felyastra kanak dikhav avri, Through the window I now look out, kathar o jiv e luma si parnyi, the world is white from the snow, šil si aba, naj amenge mišto, it is already cold, there is no good in it for us, adi luma xala o čorripo. this world destroys the poor.

Soske, soske, Devla, si le but gindura? Why, why, o God, do I have so many troubles? Sam amen vi čorre taj vi bibaxtale. We are not just poor but also unlucky. Si pe luma but manuša laše, In this world there are many good people, aj Devlale, žutisar pe lende! oh God, bring help to them!

[guillemelgat]

One of the main reasons that I’m learning Romani right now is because when I was ten years old I fell in love with Romani music, and although I hadn’t listened to music in Romani for a long time, this month I came back to listening to it and all of it is amazing. This song, however, is a cut above the rest, and surprisingly the words were even included in one of my lessons in the book I’m using! It’s really beautiful, with a more Balkan-influenced sound than other songs I’ve heard. I’m just really happy that I can understand it (the English translation, however, is still based on the one from my book) and appreciate the words in all their beauty! (Also because I’m a nerd I translated it into Catalan too.)

Ai, Rrômale, shavale! (x2) Ai, homes i joves romanís! (x2) Oh, Romani men and boys! (x2)

La Rrômnyása me te lav La dona que tindré The wife I will take Ándo súno la dikhav La veig en somnis In dreams I see her Le rakênsa na sovav Les nits no dormo I don’t sleep at night Phen tu, Dévla, so te kérav? Digue’m, Déu, què faig? Tell me, o God, what do I do?

Ai Rrômale, shavale! (x2) Ai, homes i joves romanís! (x2) Oh, Romani men and boys! (x2)

Me sim shávo, têrno shávo Jo sóc noi, noi jove I am a boy, a young man Me sim, Dévla, kolkorro Jo sóc, Déu, sol I am, o God, alone Nai man, Dévla, Rrômniorrí No tinc, Déu, cap dona I do not have, o God, a wife Kêrko yába múrro gi La meva ànima ja és amarga My soul is already bitter

Ai Rrômale, shavale! (x2) Ai, homes i joves romanís! (x2) Oh, Romani men and boys! (x2)