Zajdi, zajdi, jasno sonce

Zajdi, zajdi, jasno sonce (Macedonian: Зајди, зајди, јасно сонце, "O Set, O Set, Clear Sun") is a popular Macedonian folk song written by Aleksandar Sarievski which has in recent times gained popularity throughout the Balkans. In the past sixty years, it has become one of the songs that people of the former Yugoslavia most often associate with the Republic of Macedonia.

Origins

The song was written by the iconic Macedonian singer-songwriter Aleksandar Sarievski, based on earlier texts by the Bulgarian writers Vasil Levski and Lyuben Karavelov.

The song "Zajdi, zajdi, jasno sonce" emerged from the folk song "Černej goro, černej sestro". In listening to that song and occassionally singing it, I came up with the idea to make something similar in terms of content, but with a completely different melody. So, I gradulally began to sing the song, which would soon after become very popular everwhere 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. Everytime I'd go somewhere I think everyone present expected me to sing it.

— Aleksandar Sarievski, ^[1]

Cultural references

• The website On.net commented that the intro to the song "Message For The Queen" from the soundtrack of the 2007 film 300 has the same melody as the folk song. However, the soundtrack author Tyler Bates failed to provide proper attribution, and now claims the melody as his own copyrighted work (see controversy). On.net also published a response, claiming that Bates "can't say there is a specific source of inspiration for the cue".
• 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 and Karolina Gočeva, among many others.

References

1. ^ Тодевски, К. (2002) „Од Галичник до легенда“. Дирекција за култура и уметност, Скопје.

External links

• Macedonian Folk Songs
• Video of the song performing by the late Macedonian singer Tose Proeski