Lyrics and Video:
Eurovision version: Romanian-English
Ye ye… le la te nane
Ye ye ye ye… le la te na
Ooh… oh… oh…
Ra! Ra!
All the mountains, all the seas
All the winds are dancing hora
It’s a dance you’ve never seen
From my country called Moldova
Şai lalai la… şi zborul (Shai lalai la… and the flight)
Şai lalai la… duce dorul (Shai lalai la… brings sorrow)
Dans de foc al iubirii joc (In the fire of a love’s game)
E hora din Moldova! Ru! (It’s the dance from Moldova! Ru!
Când o iubeşti te răsfată (When you love it, it spoils you)
Când o-nvârtesti iţi da viaţa (When you spin it, it gives you life)
Toţi cu foc se avânta-n joc (Everybody with fire dash into the game)
E cu noroc (Because it brings luck)
Ra, he hei, he hei (Ra, he hey, he hey)
Hai la hora, hai la hora din Moldova (Come to the dance, come to the dance from Moldova)
Ra, he hei, he hei (Ra, he hey, he hey)
Lute-i hora, lute-i hora în Moldova (The dance is hot, the dance from Moldova is hot)
Ra, he hei, he hei (Ra, he hey, he hey)
Hai la hora, hai la hora din Moldova (Come to the dance, come to the dance from Moldova)
Ra he hei, he hei (Ra, he hey, he hey)
Lute-i hora, lute-i hora în Moldova (The dance is hot, the dance from Moldova is hot)
Foaie verde-a bobului, măi (The green leaf of a pea plant, more)
Hop hop şi-aşa (Jump, jump around)
Păi jucaţi hora neamului (Come play our dance)
Şi zi-i mai tare lăutare (Come shout louder musician)
Să se-audă-n lumea mare (So all people can hear it)
Joacă hora mic şi mare (Both young and older)
Hop şi-a şa, măi (Jump, jump around, more)
All the seas, all the winds
All the feelings that you get from hora
All the day, past and nowaday
Oh the dance you wanna play
Ra, he hei, he hei (Ra, he hey, he hey)
Hai la hora, hai la hora din Moldova (Come to the dance, come to the dance from Moldova)
Ra he hei, he hei (Ra he hey, he hey)
Lute-i hora, lute-i hora în Moldova (The dance is hot, the dance from Moldova is hot)
Ra, he hei, he hei (Ra he hey, he hey)
Hai la hora, hai la hora din Moldova (Come to the dance, come to the dance from Moldova)
Ra he hei, he hei (Ra he hey, he hey)
Lute-i hora, lute-i hora în Moldova (The dance is hot, the dance from Moldova is hot)
Ra! He hei (Ra! He hey)
Şai lai la… Hei (Shai lalai la… Hey)
Ra! He hei (Ra! He hey)
Şai lalai la… Hei (Shai lalai la… Hey)
Ra! He hei (Ra! He hey)
Şai lai lalalai lalai lalala he… (Shai lai lalalai lalai lalala he..)
Ra! He hei (Ra! He hey)
Şai lai la… Hei (Shai lalai la… Hey)
Ra! He hei (Ra! He hey)
Şai lalai la… Hei (Shai lalai la… Hey)
Ra! He hei (Ra! He hey)
Şai lai lalalai lalai hei hoi hei… (Shai lai lalalai lalai hei hoi hei…)
Romanian Version
Hei hei… e la te nane
Hei hei hei hei… e la te na
uuu ooooo…
RA…RA
Peste dealuri peste vai
Duce vantul hora noastra
Ru!
Soapta plina de vapai
Revarsata peste zari
Sai lalai la… si zborul
Sai lalai la… duce dorul
Dans de foc al iubirii joc
E hora din Moldova
Ru!
Cand o iubesti te rasfata
Cand o-nvartesti iti da viata
Toti cu foc se avanta-n joc
E cu noroc
Ra, he hei, he hei
Hai la hora, hai la hora din Moldova
Ra, he hei, he hei
Lute-i hora, lute-i hora in Moldova
Ra, he hei, he hei
Hai la hora, hai la hora din Moldova
Ra he hei, he hei
Lute-i hora, Iute-i hora in Moldova
Foaie verde-a bobului, mai
Hop hop si-a sa
Pai jucati hora neamului
Si zii mai tare lautare
Sa se-auda-n lumea mare
Joaca hora mic si mare
Hop si-a sa mai
Peste vai, peste mari
Tot cu drag ne-nvarte ea
Hora din strabuni
Vatra plaiului
Joaca neamului
Ra! Sai lai la… he hei
Ra! Sa lalai la… he hei
Ra! Sa lai lalalai lalalai lala
Ra! Sa lai la… he hei
Ra! Sa lalai la… he hei
Ra! Sa lai lalalai lalai lalai he
Ra! He hei Sai lai la… hei
Ra! He hei Sai lalai la… hei
Ra! He hei Sai lai lalalai lalai lalala he
Ra! He hei Sai lai la… hei
Ra! He hei Sai lalai la… hei
Ra! He hei Sai lai lalalai lalai hei hoi hei
English Translation
Dance From Moldova
Hey hey… e la te nane
Hey hey hey hey… e la te na
Ooh… oh… oh…
Ra! Ra!
Over hills, over valleys
The wind brings our dance! Ru!
Murmur full of fire
Overflowing the horizon
Shai lalai la… and the flight
Shai lalai la… brings sorrow
The dance of fire, the game of love
It’s the dance from Moldova! Ru!
When you love it, it spoils you
When you spin it, it gives you life
Everybody with fire dash into the game
Because it brings luck
Ra, he hey, he hey
Come to the dance, come to the dance from Moldova
Ra, he hei, he hei
The dance is hot, the dance from Moldova is hot
Ra, he hey, he hey
Come to the dance, come to the dance from Moldova
Ra he hei, he hei
The dance is hot, the dance from Moldova is hot
The green leaf of a pea plant, more
Jump, jump around
Come play our dance
Come shout louder, musician
So all people can hear it
Both young and older
Jump, jump around, more
Over valleys, over seas
Still spinning us with love
The dance from our ancestors
The fire in the field
People’s joy
Ra! Shai lai la… He hey
Ra! Sha lalai la… He hey
Ra! Sha lai lalalai lalalai lala…
Ra! Sha lai la… He hey
Ra! Sha lalai la… He hey
Ra! Sha lai lalalai lalai lalai he…
Ra! He hey
Shai lai la… Hey
Ra! He hey
Shai lalai la…Hey
Ra! He hey
Shai lai lalalai lalai lalala he…
Ra! He hey
Shai lai la… Hey
Ra! He hey Shai lalai la…Hey
Ra! He hey
Shai lai lalalai lalai hei hoi hei…
Hi! I’m from Hungary and I love this song! I think it was the best song of Eurovision 2009! Great song, fantastic voice of Nelly Ciobanu and fire-fire-fire 🙂 Congratulation, Moldova!
“is loving that dance in Moldava!” – My status in FACEBOOK 🙂
Great song! Looking forward to next year’s Eurovision.
This was greatest song on Eurovision..Greetings from Vojvodina.
Excellent job from out brothers Moldova. Really love the song especially beeing singed in romanian, it gives me goose bumps. Good job Nelly!
TELEIO TO TRAGOUDI BRAVO STIN MOLDOVA
No, actually I already explained. “Green leaf” is a start line in most of our popular songs. We usually add “green leaf of…” some plant that rhymes with the next verse.
“Foaie verde (green leaf) a bobului
Jucati hora neamului”
See? Bobului, neamului… rhymes.
It’s mainly because our countries (Romania and Moldova) used to be highly agrarian societies before the technology era.
The boys that are dancing with Nelly are part of a folk dance group called “JOC” (which means dance in romanian).
I agree the translation offered by the site doesn’t correspond with the meaning of the song, and the translation given by Maia is much better.
here is another dance by Joc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjftpvuY5nE&feature=related
well,i think it was one of the best songs in eurovision this year and it deserved a better place ,i like very much the rythm and she has a unique voice…i didn’t like the results of eurovision 2009
hm.. the only explanation I can come up with is that it might be something like – silver lining as in “Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining” 😀
green leaf – new life, hope for something better
But of course I have absolutely no idea and we need expert advise from Moldova lol
thanks for that translation. I love the song, but the lyrics made me scratch my head. what’s with the green leaf?
I’m Romanian, and we have the same language, so lemme translate it accurately (I mean, your version is accurate enough but it has some flaws):
Over hills, over valleys
The wind carries our dance (hora is a dance)
A whisper filled with fire
Overflowing the horizon
Shai lalai la… and the flight
Shai lalai la… carries our yearning
A dance of fire, a game of love
It’s the dance of Moldova
When you love it, it spoils you
When you spin it, it gives you life
Everyone passionately joins the dance
It brings luck
Ra, he hei, he hei, come to the dance, the dance of Moldova
Green leaf of pea
(it’s a national expression that we use in popular songs: green leaf of everything;
same goes with “hop hop si-asa”, it tries to indicates the steps of the dance)
Dance the dance of our people
Play it louder, musician
So they can hear it in the wide world
Both the young and the old dance our dance
Over valleys, over seas
It spins us with love
The dance of our ancestors
The heart of our land
The game of our people
I agree. This contest is for European countries, so they should celebrate their country by speaking in the tongue of their country. I LOVE this song because it’s traditional and modern at the same time. A lot of the other contestants were good too, but it sounded like the were going more for a modern-American sound. I’n not saying this sound itsn’t good, but this is a European contest. I’m German but i LOVE Moldova as if it were my own homeland. This song is unique and was a great way to repressent this fascinating country.
Congratulations to Moldova, Nelly Ciobanu and the dancers!
(from France)
For me this song was a winner. Joyful, hopeful and punchy though traditional. I’m French and I thought it was such a great deal to have a “traditional” song. This Eurovision song contest should write down a rule for performers to sing in their own language.
We have the chance in Europe/world to have so many different languages and beautiful cultures that it is a shame to see this contest allowing to perform in English.
More people are going to understand English lyrics which gives better chances for the winners – especially if they own natural linguistic abilities – but the true heart of music is to make you vibe regardless of the lyrics.
I’m so proud of those who made the stand for their own identity!
Moldova, bravo!
I just adore this song..I live in Greece and miss so much my country..LOVE U MOLDOVA <333..
I fell in love with the dancing. Can someone tell me the name of the dance group? Of course, I loved Nelly too and hope to hear more about her.
*songs
I’ts second class song…It’s so traditional…There are more better song…
OH MY GOD, I LOOOOVE this song!!!
I love it! Nelly noi te sustinem! tu esti THE BEST OF THE BEST!
i love this song but exist another version of the video for this song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTeZlfs2NVY
so-o-o co-o-ol!!!
This I like!
😆 Someone said it on youtube so I had to ask lol
hahahaha! I didn’t think of that XD well we would normally put “din” before the other word though 😛 din= your hora= well, hmm, shouldn’t translate that 😛
Official videoclip of the 2009 Moldova Eurovision entry
Jonti, is it true that “hora din” means .. well .. something interesting in Swedish?
lol
Final Eurovision version
Nelly Ciobanu – Hora din Moldova
I think that this song is great! It`s one of the best songs this year 😉
Wow, its really a great song, Hai la Hora din Moldova… well its one of the traditional rithms… its really easy to memorise, well lets say im from there, now in CA,USA… miss the house so of course its really close to me… but even so its a great song to represent the country, the performance on stage is also great showing the national dancing… REALLY GREAT…
Wow, I really liked the song, it presents national dancing, and I do enjoy listening to Nelly Ciocanu, she has got a fantastic voice, I think she could do really well at Eurovision with this song. Well done!!!!!!!!!!1
Hmm I don’t know. The rhythm is nice..but there’s something annoying/weird abot the sound of it to me. Don’t think it’s a song I would like to listen to over and over again lol
Maybe it could be better when performed on stage though