Zajdi, zajdi, jasno sonce

"Zajdi, zajdi, jasno sonce" ("O Set, O Set, Clear Sun"; _mk. Зајди, зајди, јасно сонце; _bg. Зайди, зайди, ясно слънце) is a popular Macedonian and Bulgarian song which has in recent times gained popularity throughout the Balkans. In the past sixty years, it has become one of the songs the people of the most often associate with Macedonia.

Origins

The song is based on the text of a folk song collected by the Bulgarian writer Lyuben Karavelov in Veliko Turnovo in 1878. More than half of century later the Macedonian singer-songwriter Aleksandar Sarievski changed a small part of the text but preserved the original arrangement. cquote2|quotetext="The song "Zajdi, zajdi, jasno sonce" emerged from the folk song "Černej goro, černej sestro". In listening to that song and occasionally singing it, I came up with the idea to make something similar in terms of content, but with a completely different melody. So, I gradually began to sing the song, which would soon after become very popular everywhere I sung it. That song means a lot to me because it was received well by many individuals interested in folk music, but above all it means a lot to me because it was accepted by the people. Every time I'd go somewhere I think everyone present expected me to sing it."|personquoted=Aleksandar Sarievski|quotesource= [ Тодевски, К. (2002) „Од Галичник до легенда“. "Дирекција за култура и уметност, Скопје"]

Controversy

The origin of the song is a matter of dispute between parties in Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia. According to folklorist Nikolai Kaufman, who finds the melody identical to that of an earlier Karavelov song, it is based on a Bulgarian folk song.cite web
url=http://politika.bg/main/article?aid=6366&eid=102&cid=1
title=Whom does "Zaydi, Zaydi, Yasno Slance" belong to - "Politika" newspaper
publisher=politika.bg
accessdate=2008-10-10
last=
first=] Professor Georgi Kraev, on the other hand, views it as more of Balkan song, originally popularised in Bulgaria and only later in the rest of the peninsula. The text itself is derived from two different songs initially published by Karavelov in 1878 or even in 1861. [cite web
url=http://liternet.bg/folklor/sbornici/karavelov/belezhka.htm
title=Тодор Моллов — Бележка на редактора
publisher=liternet.bg
accessdate=2008-10-10
last=
first=]

Cultural references

* The song has been included in numerous anthologies and has been covered by many singers from the Balkans, including Ceca, Toše Proeski, Haris Džinović (at his Belgrade concert in 1999), Šerif Konjević, Karolina Gočeva and among many others.
* An instrumental version of the song was recorded by the Serbian rock band Smak and was later re-released on Radomir Mihajlović's solo album "Byzantine Blue".
*A version of the song influenced by rock music is due to be released by Bulgarian singer Rosi Pandova. [cite web
url=http://www.az-jenata.com/index.php?page=article&aid=849
title="Зайди, зайди ясно слънце" в изпълнение на Роси Пандова
publisher=www.az-jenata.com
accessdate=2008-10-10
last=
first=]

References

External links

* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=jqMWYahVEc8 Song as originally performed by the late Aleksandar Sarievski]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKRaXPYSzKY Video of the song performed by the late Macedonian singer Tose Proeski]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5WIXnYkWTY&feature=related Video of the song performed by Bulgarian singer Iva Davidova]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=zIcTucrIODs Video of the song performed by the Serbian singer Ceca]