Serbian traditional music

Back through the centuries, the Serbian people have sung in all circumstances, especially while doing farm work. Songs were created from peoples' souls, traveling from throat to throat, heart to heart. They were changing slowly and passing through many hands. These songs retain their impeccable, noble, simple form full of the concentrated emotional soul of a nation. This type of folk song occurs in all parts of the world, but a special atmosphere and a unique history reaped folk songs from the fields of the Balkans. Primarily related to the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria. The Slovenian spirit is felt in many parts of the songs. Due to the inaccessibility and remoteness of the villages where people lived and worked, some simple folk songs are preserved intact to this day.

Ethnomusicologists believe that some of the songs date back to times long before the Christianization of the Serbs and other South Slavs. Songs are often sung during pagan rituals and customs. Some of the forms of these rituals hold to these days. The Poetics of the South Slavic soul are most clearly visible in traditional songs. Common themes include slavery, heroism, forbidden love, crying mothers or sisters for sons, brothers or sweethearts who were enslaved or killed in battle. Other ritual songs sing about planting and harvest, about playing and about singing. The variety of songs is great. Every region has its own distinctive style in terms of themes and rhythms. With the introduction of Orthodox Christianity, spiritual topics come to the lyrics though the mention the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and the saints.

In the Serbian culture and other ethnically-related people each performance is called a svirka. Musicians built instruments by themselves and tuned them by ear. When they played together, they would use approximately two each of the same instruments. Some masters knew how to establish a standard for these instruments called a "mold." These masters made the molds themselves and continually improved both the molds and the tools to make them. Instruments that were played the most include the flute, bagpipes, dvojanke- double and fiddle, which are characteristic for this area. In some places, different forms of the tambura have been played; it is assumed that they had become commonplace after arriving from the East. According to some, tambure have spread throughout the Balkans from the Byzantines, and by some, by the arrival and entry of the Turks. The tambura was the most popular among the people. Among the Serbs and other Balkan nations tambura occur in many forms and under many names. Šargija, dangubica, ćitelija, samica and saz are related instruments that exist in different regions with different ways of tuning and a different number of strings. Tambure are still more frequently used for performance than the fiddle. Shepherds, particularly, played the kaval instrument, which is very present in Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria today. Among other instruments, people loved to play diple, fiddle, cevare, šupeljke, duduke. Some of the most popular percussion instruments are Goč - tapan, daira, tarabuka and def. In the South, there is a noticeable influence of oriental culture, both in playing and in singing. In the West, however, specific to the Balkan, songs are sung in intervals of seconds: groktalice and rozgalice. In Serbia, a significant characteristic is guttural singing. Songs are sung aloud but are so shrill as to be hard to listen to for the uninitiated ear.

Thanks to ethnomusicologists and everyone who transcribed and recorded songs and performances of authentic folk singers and musicians, today, a large number of songs is preserved in their original form. It is fortunate that the influence of the West was not as strong here as in other places. Safe and happy backlog in many areas of progress is a factor that kept the oral tradition from dying, and these old songs are still intact. Craving a modern legacy has led too many European countries to lose much of their musical sources. Frequent territorial and ethnic wars have made the Balkan people eager to the preserve their own history, and the Balkan countries have been, perhaps, the greatest keepers of traditional music and song.

References

http://sr.wikipedia.org/sr-el/Српска_традиционална_музика