Mene majka jednu ima is a traditional song from Bosnia from town of Livno. The song is sung in the first person by a girl. Her mother wants to get her hitched with a judge, but she prefers a bohemian man called Alia herself. The term sevlija which in English would be pronounced sev-lee-yah means literally the man who loves sevdah.
Sevdah is a very hard word to translate. It is not just a word, it is a phenomenon that could be compared with the phenomenon blues. These feelings and/or music genres are a parallel phenomenons in Balkans and Africa/America. They describe the pure joy and sadness of living in one word. Hoping may help you to understand this phenomenon and compare it with something that might be known to you!
In the New Balkan Rhythm workshop we share the first verse/chorus with you, and there are two more. Here you can find all the lyrics.
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Original song
Mene majka jednu ima
Haj, mene majka
Jednu ima
Pa ima
Haj, pa me daje
Za livanjskog (nj like New York)
Kadiju (kad-ee-yu)
Haj, a ja hoću (hochu)
Za Aliju
Sevliju
Lyrics translation
I am the only child of my mother
Hey, I am the only child of my mother
And she has
Only me
Hey, she would like to marry me
To a judge
From Livno
Hey, but I prefer
To get married to Alia
The bohemian