Tamo daleko

Serbian soldiers retreating through the Albanian countryside during the winter of 1915.

Tamo Daleko, as performed by a tamburica ensemble named Tamburaško Pevačko Društvo.
Columbia Records, April 1917.

Tamo daleko is a Serbian folk song which was composed on the Greek island of Corfu in 1916 to commemorate the Serbian Army's retreat through Albania during World War I. It is played in triple metre and begins solemnly in a minor key before switching to the relative major of the dominant key in the third line of the first verse, symbolizing hope before returning to the tonic minor key from the beginning. The lyrics to the song come in multiple versions, all of which end with the line "long live Serbia!"

The song became very popular amongst Serbian émigrés following World War I and was even played on the violin at Serb inventor Nikola Tesla's funeral in January 1943. A symbol of Serbian culture and national identity, it came to be viewed as a form of national anthem in the Serbian diaspora during the Cold War, and some of its lyrics were prohibited alongside several other songs in Titoist Yugoslavia because they evoked the resurgence of Serbian national feeling. The identity of its writer and composer remained a matter of dispute for many decades. In 2008, historian Ranko Jakovljević discovered that Đorđe Marinković, an amateur musician from the village of Korbovo near Kladovo, was the song's original writer and composer, having composed the song in 1916 and secured its authorship rights in Paris in 1922. The song remains popular amongst Serbs in the Balkans and the diaspora.

History

Background

During World War I, the Serbian Army retreated through Albania after the Central Powers invaded the Kingdom of Serbia during the winter of 1915. The Serbian Army was devastated by hunger, disease and attacks by armed bands before regrouping on the Greek island of Corfu, where many more Serbian soldiers died. Fatalities were buried at sea and surviving Serbian soldiers named those waters "the Blue Graveyard".

Song

The song was played at the funeral of the Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla.

Tamo daleko is a Serbian folk song. Composed in 1916, it commemorates the retreat of the Serbian Army to Corfu and revolves around the theme of loss and longing for a distant homeland. It is played in triple metre and begins solemnly in a minor key before switching to the relative major of the dominant key in the third line of the first verse, symbolizing hope before returning to the tonic minor key from the beginning. The singer describes himself as being from the land "where the lemon tree blooms yellow" and looks "far away in the distance, where the sun shines brighter" to the village where he was born. Most versions of the song end with the line "long live Serbia!".

In April 1917, a Serbian American group named Tamburaško Pevačko Društvo made a recording of the song. Towards the end of World War I, the Serbian Army retook Serbia from Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. Tamo daleko became very popular amongst Serbian émigrés. The song was even played at the funeral of the Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla in New York City in January 1943. In Titoist Yugoslavia, it was performed by Dušan Jakšić (1965), Nikola Vučetin Bata (1977) and others, but usually without the lines explicitly mentioning Serbia. From around 1985, lyrics mentioning Serbia and the Serbian Army appear again in official releases of the song in Yugoslavia.

Historian Andrej Mitrović writes of the song's "nostalgic air [and] sorrowful melody". He argues that it provides great insight into the collective psychology and overall morale of the Serbian Army during the winter of 1915. He asserts that while the song is nostalgic, the basic idea is one of optimism. Journalist Roger Cohen describes Tamo daleko as "the lament of a people uprooted". The author Robert Hudson writes that "a sense of primordial identity, linked to family and nation, is embedded in [the] song, with father and son giving up their lives for the nation". Author Eric Gordy describes it as one of the most recognizable Serbian nationalist songs. During the Cold War, Serbs in the diaspora began viewing it as a form of national anthem. The song was as significant as the March on the Drina in the history of Serbian music. It became a powerful symbol of Serbian culture and national identity. In 1964, it was featured in the Bulgarian film The Peach Thief. In the early 1990s Radio Television of Serbia broadcast a documentary showing Serbian veterans returning to Corfu, with Tamo daleko playing gently in the background. Many variations of the song were sung by Bosnian Serb volunteers during the Bosnian War. The song remains popular amongst Serbs in the Balkans and the diaspora and several modern versions of it have been recorded, most notably by musician Goran Bregović.

Authorship

The identity of the song's writer and composer remained unknown for many decades. Several individuals claimed to have been its original authors. Some contended that Milan Buzin, the chaplain of the Drina Division, had composed and written the song. Others claimed that Dimitrije Marić, the surgeon of the Third field hospital of the Šumadija Division, was the composer. Mihailo Zastavniković, a teacher from Negotin, was also rumoured to have been the original composer and writer and had even published one version of the song in 1926.

In 2008, historian Ranko Jakovljević discovered that Đorđe Marinković, an amateur musician from the village of Korbovo near Kladovo, was the song's original writer and composer. He composed Tamo daleko in Corfu in 1916 and moved to Paris after World War I, where he secured the authorship rights to the song in 1922. He lived in relative obscurity until his death in 1977.

Lyrics

There are multiple versions of Tamo daleko in existence. A common version goes as follows:

in Serbian:

in English:

Tamo daleko, daleko od mora, Tamo je selo moje, tamo je Srbija. Tamo je selo moje, tamo je Srbija. Tamo daleko, gde cveta limun žut, Tamo je srpskoj vojsci jedini bio put. Tamo je srpskoj vojsci jedini bio put. Tamo daleko, gde cveta beli krin, Tamo su živote dali zajedno otac i sin. Tamo su živote dali zajedno otac i sin. Tamo gde tiha putuje Morava, Tamo mi ikona osta, i moja krsna slava. Tamo mi ikona osta, i moja krsna slava. Tamo gde Timok pozdravlja Veljkov grad, Tamo mi spališe crkvu, u kojoj venčah se mlad. Tamo mi spališe crkvu, u kojoj venčah se mlad. Bez otadžbine, na Krfu živeh ja, Ali sam ponosno klic'o, Živela Srbija! Ali sam ponosno klic'o, Živela Srbija!

There, far away, far from the sea, There is the village of mine, there is Serbia. There is the village of mine, there is Serbia. There, far away, where the yellow lemon blooms, There was the only path open to the Serbian Army. There was the only path open to the Serbian Army. There, far away, where white lilies bloom, There father and son together gave their lives. There father and son together gave their lives. There, where the silent Morava travels, There my icon stayed, and my family saint. There my icon stayed, and my family saint. There, where the Timok greets Veljko's city, There they burned my church, where I was married when young. There they burned my church, where I was married when young.   Without my homeland, I lived on Corfu, But I proudly cheered, "Long live Serbia!" But I proudly cheered, "Long live Serbia!"

Yugoslav Partisan version

During World War II the Communist-led Yugoslav Partisans also sung a version of the song, dedicated to the Yugoslav People's Army and Josip Broz Tito:

in Serbian:	in English:
Tamo daleko, daleko kraj lesa, Tamo je srce moje, tamo je sloboda. Tamo je srce moje, tamo je sloboda. Tamo daleko, gde šumša zeleni, Tamo je našoj vojsci vazda pobede put. Tamo je našoj vojsci vazda pobede put. Tamo daleko u Bosni skalnati, Tamo je ljubav moja, tamo je Tito moj! Tamo je ljubav moja, tamo je Tito moj!	There, far away, away by the woods, There is my heart, there is freedom. There is my heart, there is freedom. There, far away, where the forest is green, There are our armies, always on victory's way. There are our armies, always on victory's way. There, far away, in rocky Bosnia There is the love of mine, there is my Tito! There is the love of mine, there is my Tito!

Covers

• Dort in der Ferne by Eugen Cicero

References

• "Nova dokumenta o geniju: Tesla sahranjen uz "Tamo daleko"" [New Documents About a Genius: Tesla Was Buried to There, Far Away]. Blic (in Serbian). 20 May 2013. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014.
• Bock-Luna, Birgit (2005). The Past in Exile: Serbian Long-distance Nationalism and Identity in the Wake of the Third Balkan War. Berlin: LIT Verlag Münster. ISBN 978-3-8258-9752-9.
• Cohen, Roger (1998). Hearts Grown Brutal: Sagas of Sarajevo. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-307-76635-9.
• Gordy, Eric D. (1999). Culture of Power in Serbia: Nationalism and the Destruction of Alternatives. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0-271-01958-1.
• Hudson, Robert (2007). "Popular Music, Tradition and Serbian Nationalism". In Biddle, Ian; Knights, Vanessa (eds.). Music, National Identity and the Politics of Location: Between the Global and the Local. Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-75464-055-4.
• Iordanova, Dina (2006). The Cinema of the Balkans. London: Wallflower Press. ISBN 978-1-90476-481-6.
• Judah, Tim (2000). The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia (2nd ed.). New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-08507-5.
• Laušević, Mirjana (1996). "The Ilahiya as a Symbol of Bosnian Muslim National Identity". In Slobin, Mark (ed.). Retuning Culture: Musical Changes in Central and Eastern Europe. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-822-31847-7.
• March, Richard (2013). The Tamburitza Tradition: From the Balkans to the American Midwest. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-29604-9.
• Mitrović, Andrej (2007). Serbia's Great War, 1914–1918. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press. ISBN 978-1-55753-477-4.
• Ramet, Sabrina P. (2002). Balkan Babel: The Disintegration Of Yugoslavia From The Death Of Tito To The Fall Of Milosevic (4 ed.). Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-81334-618-2.
• Todorović, Stojan (8 March 2008). "Kladovčanin autor pesme "Tamo daleko"" [A Man From Kladovo Wrote the Song There, Far Away]. Politika (in Serbian).

External links

• Tamo daleko- Opus Djordja Marinkovica