"Ederlezi" is a popular traditional

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

of the

Romani people {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

. The song got its name from Ederlezi, which is a festival celebrating the return of springtime, especially by the Romani people of the Balkans, and elsewhere around the world. ''Ederlezi'' is the Romani name for the Feast of Saint George. It is celebrated on (occurring approximately 40 days after the spring equinox). The various Balkan spellings (''Herdeljez'', ''Erdelezi'') are variants of the Turkish ''Hıdırellez''.

Versions

The song is featured on

Bijelo Dugme () is a Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav Rock music, rock band, formed in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1974. is widely considered to have been the most popular and the best-selling band ever to exist in the former S ...

's 1988 album '' Ćiribiribela'' under the title "Đurđevdan" ("

St. George's Day Saint George's Day is the feast day of Saint George, celebrated by Christian churches, countries, regions, and cities of which he is the patron saint, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, England, Ethiopia, Greece, Georgia, Port ...

"). Goran Bregović, the frontman of Bijelo Dugme, wrote the

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

lyrics. Bregović also recorded a version with

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

lyrics, titled "Του Αη Γιώργη" ("Tou Ai Giorgi", "Saint George's"), with Greek singer Alkistis Protopsalti in 1991. The Greek lyrics are credited to Lina Nikolakopoulou. Bregović also worked with Turkish singer

Sezen Aksu Sezen Aksu (; born Fatma Sezen Yıldırım; 13 July 1954) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and producer. She is one of the most successful Turkish people, Turkish singers, having sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her nicknames include the "Q ...

on her album titled ''Düğün ve Cenaze'' (''A Wedding and a Funeral'') featuring a version with Turkish lyrics, titled ("Hıdrellez") in 1997. The lyrics were adapted by Aksu and Pakize Barışta. Finally, together with Polish singer Kayah he also recorded a version with Polish lyrics, titled "Nie ma, nie ma ciebie". Bulgarian group Ku-Ku Band, with lead singer Slavi Trifonov, released the song on several albums with Bulgarian lyrics, titled "Гергьовден" ("Gergyovden", "St. George's Day"); Serbo-Bulgarian lyrics, titled "Свети Георги" ("Sveti Georgi", "St. George"); and Romani-Serbo-Bulgarian lyrics, titled "Erdelezi". The band

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, Italian saxophonist Daniele Sepe, and the

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

-based band Bury Me Standing also do covers of "Ederlezi". The Gypsy Rebels of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

also cover the song, featuring the vocals of Micheal T. Butch and his band. Kroke released a version of the song as well. A Bosnian version was released by the folk-punk musical group No Smoking Orchestra on their 2007 album ''Time of the Gypsies, Punk Opera''. A beatbox/trip version was released by French band
Plume Tribu
on their 2010 album ''Le Chainon Manquant''.

In popular culture

Goran Bregović's version titled "Ederlezi (Scena Djurdjevdana Na Rijeci)" was famously used in Emir Kusturica's movie '' Time of the Gypsies''. It was performed by the Macedonian singer Vaska Jankovska. "Ederlezi (Scena Djurdjevdana Na Rijeci)" also appeared in the movie ''

Borat ''Borat'' (also known as ''Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan'') is a 2006 mockumentary directed by Larry Charles, which stars Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat Sagdiyev, a fictional Kazakhs, Kazakh jou ...

'', although it has no connection to the authentic music of Kazakhstan. The text in brackets in Serbo-Croatian means: "The scene of

Đurđevdan George's Day in Spring, or Saint George's Day, is a Slavic religious holiday, the feast of Saint George celebrated on 23 April by the Julian calendar (6 May by the Gregorian calendar). In Croatia and Slovenia, the Roman Catholic version of S ...

on the river", a description of a Đurđevdan celebration on a river in the movie ''Time of the Gypsies'' where that song was used.

Sacha Baron Cohen Sacha Noam Baron Cohen ( ; born 13 October 1971) is an English comedian, actor and performance artist. Known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral General Haf ...

's movie does not have a Đurđevdan river scene. In both

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...

s – '' Time of the Gypsies'' and '' Stereophonic Musical Listenings That Have Been Origin in Moving Film "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"'' – it was credited to Goran Bregović, although he is not the author nor the singer of the song on these albums. However, he arranged the song. '' A.I. Rising'' (2018), a Serbian

science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses Speculative fiction, speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as Extraterrestrial life in fiction, extraterrestria ...

, was originally entitled ''Ederlezi Rising''. A portion of "Ederlezi (Scena Djurdjevdana Na Rijeci)" was also featured in Lazy Square's (or Lenivko Kvadratjić) unofficial " Russian

art film An art film, arthouse film, or specialty film is an independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made prima ...

" reimagining of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' popular opening sequence " couch gag". Ederlezi is used as OST for the map "Outpost" in Wargaming's video-game,

World of Tanks ''World of Tanks'' (''WoT'') is an armoured warfare-themed multiplayer online game developed by Wargaming, featuring 20th century (1910s–1970s) era combat vehicles. It is built upon a freemium business model where the game is free-to-play ...

. This version is composed by Andrey Kulik and Ivan Kucherenko, with beats by Ilya Tereshchuk and vocals by Aleksey Vanchuk.

Lyrics

References

Literature

External links