An entire subsection of Balkan Romani music is dedicated to the humble devotion to God. In this song performed by Yasharka, we are invited to witness a powerful dialogue between a woman and God.

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A short soulful song from a man facing death and lamenting the loved ones he’s leaving behind. What stands out here is how the song is entirely centered around the mother, in typical Romani style. In the first verse, the man sings to the mother. In the second verse, he asks his three brothers for one thing after he dies: to take care of their mother. In this article, we’ve explored in depth why the mother is so central in Balkan Romani culture and music.

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This is a classic Romani song here in the Balkans, that carries humility and dignity in equal measure. “Do not attack me—I am a singer.”

In this iteration, it is performed by Romani singer Valentin Slavchev.

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Unrequited love - this unbearable lonely pain that we all know, through the lens of Romani singer from Serbia Mustafa Sabanović.

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This 1993 song by Safet Ibrahimi is about the anger from abandonment. Who is the enemy? It used to be the father, who left a long time ago. Now, it is also the mother, who abandoned her son too.

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A playful, flirtatious song by Romani superstar from Bulgaria, Sofi Marinova, that captures perfectly the lightness and vibrance of young love.

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This song is one of the best examples of the essence of Romani music. The lyrics are short and simple but intense. The melody is unique and full of fire - longing, love, melancholy, and hope. And it is not clear who is the author of the song, nor which country he is from. But this is kind of the point. It’s a universal Romani song performed by countless singers here in the Balkans, and beyond. If you type in Jastar amenge dur in YouTube, you can spend hours listening to various renditions from Romani singers.

The lyrics are the same in all versions, but we chose to include a recording of a performance by Notis Sfakianakis because, out of all renditions, it captivated us the most. Enjoy this timeless Romani classic!

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Romani singer from Bulgaria, Sofi Marinova, is a household name. Her formidable voice and authentic, warm nature have broken through the racism of Bulgarian society and she is widely beloved.

Sofi Marinova has said that one of the singers she admires most is Lili Ivanova - a legend in Bulgarian music with decades on the stage, who - to this day, at 85 years old - is filling up halls with her concerts.

“Winds” (Ветрове / Vetrove in Bulgarian) is one of Lili Ivanova’s classics. You can enjoy it at this YouTube link. And below, we’re sharing Sofi Marinova’s remake of this song, Balval (“Wind”) with distinct Romani elements and very powerful Romanes lyrics.

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This song by Romani legend from Serbia, Šaban Bajramović, is so simple and clear that it’s hard to describe with words. The Roma are able to truly own the present moment and, here, you can get a glimpse into this spirit.

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The young man in this song by Roma band from Bulgaria, “Kozari,” is afraid that he’ll be beaten to death. And he’s in a rush to do something before this happens: to go to the market.

“I’m afraid,” he sings, “I will die and won’t go to the market.”

Why? Because he wants to take his girl there and buy her earrings.

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“Here comes the wedding party” has such a different ring to the original “Here come the godežari.” But this is one of the many untranslatable words from Roma and Balkan culture. The godežari are the people on the groom’s side: his parents, his brothers and sisters, his cousins, aunts, and uncles, who come to take the bride and bring her into their fold.

In some modern-day weddings that want to be “traditional”, the stealing of the bride is still enacted for fun. A few years ago, Martina went to the wedding of a high school friend. It involved the groom and his men pushing against the door of the bride’s room, and she with her maid of honor and close friends were pressing against it to keep it closed. Only when the man prevailed and enacted a kidnapping of the giggling bride, did the wedding take place. It was all for fun, but it showcased something that used to be the reality of many brides in the not-so-distant past, regardless of their ethnicity.

This old song is from the perspective of a young Roma bride with a similar fate. “Here come the godežari,” she sings. Man te mangen means “to want me.” “To ask for me.” Most accurately, “to take me.”

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A performance by Romani singer from Serbia, Šaban Bajramović, of one of the most popular Romani songs in the Balkans. Pepi’s father, as well as many elders in the tribe, would sing it all the time. When Pepi thought about this song a few weeks ago and played it on his phone, our 2-year-old daughter started dancing the moment she heard it.

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This song expresses with great clarity what we have been trying to articulate in many articles so far. For the Romani, the biggest wealth is the family. This is a song by a parent whose son is getting married. And they open with, to paraphrase, “this is what it is all for - all the struggle, this entire life, it’s for this day.”

It took us forever to translate the Roma word bori. It is easy to translate it in Bulgarian and other Slavic and Balkan languages, but it is simply untranslatable in English.

It means “daughter-in-law” or “sister-in-law.” A woman who marries into the family. But the suffix “in-law” is so cold and counter-intuitive over here in our corner of the world. The words that we use - bori in Romanes, snaha in Bulgarian - are warm. They are used as terms of affection. Borie, pronounced bo-ree-eh, is how for example Pepi’s siblings call Martina, or how Pepi calls the girlfriends of his teenage sons.

So if we’re to translate the song literally, the lyrics will go: “Play drums, so my daughter-in-law can dance.” But these words feel impoverished when it comes to translating the sentiment behind them. Because when the parent says bori, he or she means “bride”, “daughter”, “the new princess in our family”, and so much more. So we ended up using “my bride” - not in the sense of “the woman I’m marrying” but “the bride I love and cherish as a new member of my family.”

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This song by Romani singer Čita drips with regret. What happens when you obey your parents and don’t marry the one you want but the one they choose for you? In Čita’s words, “I cannot sleep,” “I have no joy,” “I’m a big fool.”

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A heavy song by the king of Roma music Čita, about the singular kind of loneliness, frailty, and knowing of old age.

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Today, we’re doing something different to illustrate a point. Our choice for a song is a duet by Bulgaria’s two most popular Romani singers - Sofi Marinova and Azis. Both have broken the brick wall of prejudice, have decades of creative success behind them, and are widely beloved.

This song from 20 years ago is in Bulgarian. But the lyrics, in their intensity and poetry, can’t escape from the Romanes undertone. They are beautiful and capture perfectly the wildness of love. “One life is not enough for all the tenderness we have.”

At the very end though, they sing in Romanes. And it is undeniable that this is the language that truly vibrates with the depth of feeling in the song. See for yourself.

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A short but powerful song by Romani legend from Kosovo Čita: a man mourning the death of his mother.

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This song by Altin Tirona shows something very typical of Roma culture: when the intensity of the love you feel for someone (a daughter, a husband, a father) is so strong and conscious that all you can do is cry… and drink. In our tribe, it is a common sight at gatherings for someone to burst into tears, out of love. A father hugs his son and they both cry to the song that is now playing and sip on their drink. A grandmother cries for her granddaughter while cradling her. Siblings cry for each other.

At first glance, this can look like grief. An outsider might wonder if someone is dying. The song below, a father who drinks and cries for his daughter, also could be mistaken for alienation. But no, this is not the case. There’s no separation, no death or sickness, only love.

Love itself is an intense feeling. This is why mainstream culture masks it with sentimentality and tries to tame it with control and all kinds of rules. Very few people allow themselves to feel it and to let it flow through them. The Romani are not sentimental in their love. They’re authentic.

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This duet by Ali Bajram and an unnamed female singer enacts a heavy conversation between a brother and a sister. The brother went far away to work and build a life. But their mother fell sick with sorrow.

The sister calls with a heart-wrenching “She’s sick.” This is probably one of the strongest openings of a song we’ve ever heard. It makes everything around you disappear as you listen to her words.

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A beautiful and poignant song by Romani singer from Bulgaria, Sasho Jokera. A man who prayed to God for a daughter but instead, had a son. The grief is palpable in his words, as are his son’s heartbreak and alienation.

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