SERBIAN LYRICS

Hej Sloveni, još 'te živi
duh naših dedova,
dok za narod srce bije
njihovih sinova.
Živi, živi duh slovenski
živet ce vekov'ma
zalud preti ponor pakla
zalud vatra groma.

Nek se sada i nad nama
burom sve raznese
stena puca, dub se lama,
zemlja nek se trese.
Mi stojimo postojano
kano klisurine
proklet bio izdajica
svoje domovine.

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ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Hey Slavs! our grandfathers' word still lives,
As long as their sons' heart beats for the people.
It lives, the spirit of Slavs lives, it will live for centuries,
The abyss of hell threatens in vain, the fire of thunder is in vain.

Now let everything above us be carried away by the bura.
The rock cracks, the oak breaks, let the ground shake.
We stand steadfastly like cliffs;
Let the traitor of his homeland be damned!

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Yugoslavia
"Hej, Sloveni" (Hey, Slavs)

Words by: Samuel Tomasik (1813-1887)
Music by: Samuel Tomasik, based on a traditional song
In use:1945-2003

"Hej Slaveni" was composed in the mid nineteenth century by a Slovak in
response to the loss of cultural identity in his homeland. Taking inspiration
from the Polish anthem (which the melody is almost identical to), he composed
an anthem that soon became popular with the whole Slavic community. Being a
confederation of mainly Slavonic states, the song seemed to be a natural fit
for post-royalist Yugoslavia. It was sung at the first meetings of the
resistance movement (later, the government), and became the temporary national
anthem upon the re-establishment of Yugoslavia after the Axis defeat. A search
was undertaken for a permanent anthem, but "Hej Slaveni" remained the most
popular choice with the citizens and was declared as the official anthem in
1977.

After most of the members of the Yugoslav federation had declared independence
in the 1990s, the nations that were left in the federation changed the name of
the country to Serbia and Montenegro, and retained the old Yugoslav
anthem.Since that time, there were proposals to change the national anthem, one
of which by Slobodan Markovic recieved government attention, which consists of
all but the last line of the Serbian "Boze Pravde" followed by one verse of the
Montenegrin "Oj svijetla majska Zoro", and was being considered to replace
"Hej, Sloveni" in time for the 2004 Olympic Games. (It would have been
interesting if this proposal were to be adopted, as the first Yugoslav anthem
also combined the anthems of its constituent parts to form the national
anthem.) "Hej Slaveni remained the anthem during this time, despite the local
anthems of the two republics in the federation being more popular. With the
independence of Montenegro, and then Serbia in 2006, the union was dissolved
and the anthem had no more legal standing.

Special thanks to:Aleksandar Rakovic, Slobodan Markovic and Peter Breiner for
some of this information

See also: Yugoslavia_(1919-1945).

MUSIC

