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about
In Oj Vi Mlade, the catch is that the music is in complete contrast with the lyrics.
I imagined staying in an old Croatian village by the sea, you can find those everywhere along the coast and on the islands of Croatia. This is actually an arrangement of a traditional song from the island of Cres.
It’s a humid summer afternoon, after a good lunch, and you are half sitting half laying down in the shade, yet it’s so hot that you are dwelling on whether you should collect your last atoms of energy and walk those 10 steps through sun to the cool of the sea, or should you not move an inch and keep kind of napping, waiting for the sun to set a bit. Your heart beats slow, in the reggae groove. And then it begins, the nagging.
You hear some old woman criticizing her daughter through the open windows, something you really don’t want to hear but can’t hide from it. This song was sung a long time ago but it’s still valid. It is fascinating that back in the day the women from my island could influence whom each other would or wouldn’t marry. It’s a critique of young women’s vanity - yet by putting it in social context it shows emancipation. I was astonished when I discovered that song because it’s so different from other folk songs, here is the translation:
lyrics
Oj vi mlade što se ne ženite
Što se tako oholo držite
Jur vidite da vas je odviše
A mladića da ih je premalo
Cezar hoće na vojsku junake
I nikoga ne pušća kraj majke
Oj vi mlade lipo narešene
Pari da ste u Mlecih rojene
Staro vrime nova moda bila
Ni se vako muneda trošila
Staro vrime i žene su bile
Ma su malo ponižnije bile
Suknju kratku one su nosile
Ma bi bile i kopača zele
A sad neće ako ne mornara
Jol mornara joli kapitana
A tužna mladost, kako lih se vara….
Hey you lasses, why aren’t you getting married,
Why are you being so stuck up
Don’t you see that there’s too many of you
And too few lads
Cesar wants heroes in the army
And doesn’t let anyone stay by their mothers
Hey you lasses, nicely dressed up
Seems like you were born in Venice
Old times with new fashion
Money was not spent like this
Old times and the ladies women as well
But they were more humble
They wore short skirts
But they would take a ditch digger
And now they won’t take anyone but a sailor
Either a sailor or a captain
And the sad youth, how it tricks them all…
credits
released August 9, 2016
Astrid Kuljanic - voice
Ben Rosenblum - accordion
Mat Muntz - bass
Rogerio Boccato - percussion
