It is interesting and little known that in Japan there exist two recordings of Vlaho Paljetak's well known song Marijana - in the Japanese language! I had opportunity to listen them on two records issued in Japan, when I visited Mr. Mario Kinel in his appartment in Zagreb (Mr. Kinel was a well known pop-music composer and translator; he even translated Vu plavem trnaci into Italian and German). Of course, out of Japanese verses I understood only - Marijana.
Marijana was composed in 1936, and is still very popular among Croatians, young and old, and among many people in the world.
Marijana is also very popular in Czechia. It was included in both Croatian original and Czech translation into the book "Svetove Evergreeny" (World's Evergreens), published in Prague in 2000 (Petr Jansky - MUSIC CHEB). IT WOULD BE OF INTEREST TO LISTEN TO "MARIJANA" IN JAPANESE ON THE WEB... As we have already reported on the CROWN, the air U BOJ from the opera Nikola Šubić Zrinski by Ivan Zajc is very popular in Japan, known already since 1919.
In addition to this, I learned that a famous american actor Harry Dean Stanton ("Texas Paris Texas") sang the whole Marijana in superb Croatian to Mr Nenad Bach (personal information by Mr Nenad Bach).
Vlaho Paljetak on Croatian postage stamp Vlaho Paljetak (Dubrovnik, 7. kolovoza 1893. - Zagreb, 2. listopada 1944.), hrvatski šansonijer i skladatelj. Završio je učiteljsku školu u Arbanasima (danas dio Zadra), te radio kao učitelj u Hvaru i Visu, a usporedno je učio pjevanje i violinu, te kao samouk gitaru. Preko Splita, gdje je neko vrijeme bio član malog orkestra koji su vodili Jakov Gotovac i Ivo Tijardović, stigao je u Zagreb. Želio je postati operni tenor.
Slučaj je htio da je u Zagrebačkoj operi bilo slobodno mjesto šaptača, a Vlahu je bio potreban stalni posao. Nastupao je pjevajući uz gitaru svoje popijevke i šansone, skladane često na vlastite tekstove. Snimio je 60-ak popijevki, od kojih su najpopularnije: Ajme meni, Na Jadranu plavom, Od one divne noći, Pod starim čempresom, Adio Mare, Popevke sem slagal, Fala, a Marijana (koautor S. Šišić) je stekla svjetsku popularnost. Source: hr.wikipedia.org
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