Hej, Sloveni (in Serbian) or Hej, Slaveni (in Croatian) or Hej, Slovani (in Slovenian), meaning "Hey, Slavs", has been the national anthem of Yugoslavia between 1945 and ca. 1992 when versions of lyrics in Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian and Macedonian were used.

It was used as the anthem of Serbia and Montenegro until the second half of 2004, with lyrics in Serbian.

History

The song dates back to the mid-19th century, when it was composed as an anthem for the Slavonic movement. It has the same basic melody as Mazurek Dąbrowskiego by Michal Kleofas Oginski, the national anthem of Poland. The original lyrics were written by the Slovak Samuel Tomašik around 1839, and the song became popular among the Slovak people.

Between World War I and World War II, the anthem of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929) consisted of a combination of Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian traditional anthems, starting with a few measures from the Serbian anthem Bože pravde, continuing with a few lines from the Croatian anthem Lijepa naša, followed by a few bars from a former anthem of Slovenia Naprej zastava slave and winding up with some lines from the Serbian anthem again. After the liberation in 1945, the new federation adopted the song "Hej Sloveni".

Even though the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ceased to exist around 1991 when only Serbia and Montenegro remained in the federation, "Hej Sloveni" remained the state anthem of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and is set to be replaced as soon as Serbia and Montenegro agree on a common anthem acceptable to both.

Should the referendum cause for the union to remain in place, a combination of the two countries' anthems, is not unlikely to take shape as the new anthem, similar to what was done before Communism. The songs are "Bože pravde" for Serbia, and "Oj, svijetla majska zoro" for Montenegro.

Lyrics

External links

• The story of "Hej, Slovaci"