"Gelem, Gelem" (lit. 'I Went, I Went'), also known as "Opre Roma!" (lit. 'Upward, Roma!'), is a traditional song composed by Žarko Jovanović, often used as the anthem of the Romani people. The title 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".

History

After experiencing firsthand the incarceration of Roma during the Porajmos (the Romani Holocaust of World War II) in the Independent State of Croatia, Jovanović later composed the lyrics of "Gelem, Gelem" and set them to a traditional melody in 1949. The song was first adopted by delegates of the first World Romani Congress held in 1971.

Lyrics

In Europe, depending on the country of the settlers, the text can be written in several variations of the Romani alphabet. In other countries, Romani can be written in the Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, Armenian, and Hebrew alphabets. Some orthographic conventions emerged over the centuries since then, but there is currently no single standard orthography used by both scholars and native speakers. There are many variations to the lyrics, as the song has lyrics in the several regional dialects of Romani.

Alternate lyrics

There are many versions of "Gelem, Gelem", notably those translated by Ronald Lee. In 2004, the band Vaya Con Dios released an interpretation, with lyrics in French by their singer Dani Klein, with the similar sounding title Je l'aime, Je l'aime.

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