Archives for January 5th, 2005

Ajmo Mojca, ajmo svi za Janeza Janšu, svi za Janeza, ajmo!
Come on Mojca, come on everybody for Janez JanÅ¡a, all for Janez, let’s go!

Zlikavci (hoodlums) is a short, popular, animated T.V. show that that airs on Croatian television Friday nights at 11:15 p.m. The look is very much like South Park, and the style is similarly irreverent. One of the staple characters, seen in the picture above holding a microphone, is a Slovene.

In a recent episode, he announced that he would sing a song about Slovenia and how advanced it is. You can download this very wonderful video clip here. [Windows media file, 1.79 MB] I’ve included the original Croatian lyrics below, with a rough English translation as well. If anyone notices a mistake, let me know and I’ll fix it. In the meantime, I’ve put in some footnotes to help people who aren’t familiar with many of the disputes and rivalries between Slovenia and Croatia.

The Slovenia Song

Mi Slovenci                  We Slovenes
živimo bolje                 we live better
živimo bolje                 we live better
od vas dolje                 than you down there.

Jebo vas more              Fuck your sea
imamo gore                  we have mountains.
ako oÄ?ete u EU –          If you want to go to the EU –
ne more.                       you can’t.¹

Vi Bosanci                     You Bosnians,
vi ste divljaci                you’re wildmen,
prokleti Å vedi                damn Swedes,²
fucking Balkanci.           fucking Balkan people.

Piran je naÅ¡                   Piran is ours.
Ä‘amija marÅ¡                  Mosques get out.³

Orle orle orle ihu –         Yoddle ay hee hoo⁴ –
to je jezik naÅ¡                that’s our language.
mi smo Slovenci             We are Slovenes,
puni smo novca              we’re loaded.
imamo oca                     We have a father
made in Bosna                made in Bosnia.⁵

Živimo bolje                    We live better,
svi idu knama:                 everybody comes to us:
SaÅ¡a LoÅ¡iÄ?,                      SaÅ¡a LoÅ¡iÄ?,⁶
Branko Ä?uriÄ?,                   Branko Ä?uriÄ?,⁷
i AnÄ‘a.                             and AnÄ‘a.⁸

Jedna stvar nam samo     Only one thing gets
po kurcu piÄ?i                    on our nerves
orle orle ihu                     yoddle ay ee hoo
prokleti KosteliÄ?i.             the damned KosteliÄ?’s.⁹

After he finishes the song, the other kids ask the Slovene what he wanted to say. He replies: "I just wanted to say, that we live better than you down there."

(Special thanks to Dejan and Martinovanje)

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1. Last September, after a border incident got out of hand, Slovenia withdrew support for Croatia’s EU bid. Since then, Slovenia has reaffirmed its support, but bitter feelings remain.

2. As komentator helpfully notes in the comments, "damn Swedes" is an insult against Bosnians.

3. Piran is a town on Slovenia’s coast. The nearby Bay of Piran has been a flashpoint between the two countries for a while now. The border between the two former Yugoslav republics has yet to be fixed. The mosque comment refers to Slovenia’s long-time reluctance of allowing a mosque to be built in Ljubljana.

4. Slovenes don’t yodel. It’s more of a Swiss/Austrian/Bavarian thing.

5. I’m not sure about this. It might be a reference to Slovenia’s current Prime Minister, Janez JanÅ¡a, whose features are slightly dark. Or it might refer to jokes about Bosnian migrant workers fathering many children in Slovenia.

6. SaÅ¡a LoÅ¡iÄ? is a composer and head of the popular Blue Orchestra. He was born in Sarajevo, but moved to Ljubljana.

7. Branko Ä?uriÄ? is an actor most famous for his role in No Man’s Land. He was born in Sarajevo, but moved to Ljubljana.

8. Anđa Marić, as Dario notes, is a Croatian actress who married and moved to Slovenia.

9. Ivica and Janica KosteliÄ? are both accomplished and successful Croatian skiiers, who regularly (but not always) outperform skiiers from the Alpine country of Slovenia.