Žarko Jovanović ( sr-cyr, Жарко Јовановић, 26 December 1925 – 26 March 1985) was a Serbian Romani musician who is known for composing the Romani anthem ''Gelem, Gelem''.

Biography

Jovanović was born in

Batajnica Batajnica ( sr-Cyrl, Батајница, ) is an List of Belgrade neighborhoods, urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia. It is located in the Belgrade municipality of Zemun. Location and geography Batajnica is located in the ...

, suburb of

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

in 1925. During World War II he was imprisoned in three camps. After that he joined the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

. At the time of war, Jovanović lost most of his family. He moved to Paris on February 21, 1964. Jovanović was known as Romani activist. He participated on two Romani Congresses, one in 1971 near

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and other in 1978 in Geneve. On the Second Roma Congress he was named Romani Culture Minister. He was known in Paris for playing a

balalaika The balalaika (, ) is a Russian string instrument, stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body, fretted neck, and three strings. Two strings are usually tuned to the same note and the third string is a perf ...

, a Russian traditional instrument. Jovanović died in Paris in 1985.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jovanovic, Zarko 1925 births 1985 deaths Serbian Romani people Romani activists Romani musicians Musicians from Belgrade Yugoslav Partisans members Yugoslav Romani people 20th-century Serbian composers