Zaspo Janko

Bristol Beacon, 6th July 2013 – Gurt Lush Choir with St Mary Redcliffe All-Star Orchestra & Youth Choir.

As always with Balkan folk songs, there is much heated dispute as to the origin of Zaspo Janko. Picking through the many YouTube comments it seems most likely that it originated in the Kosovo region, and is in the Serbian language, but has travelled further afield in the Balkan region.

The Lyrics Translate website provides the following translation of a version similar to the one sung by Gurt Lush:

JANKO FELL ASLEEP
Janko fell asleep under the poplar
My dear and beloved
My beautiful black eyes
Look at me

Under the poplar’s golden branch
My dear and beloved
My beautiful black eyes
Look at me

I tore the golden branch,
My dear and beloved
My beautiful black eyes
Look at me

This song is clearly influenced by Eastern Orthodox church music to a much greater degree than most of the Romany songs in the Gurt Lush repertoire, and its traditional mode of performance is a capella, as it Gurt Lush’s most often.