vocal polyphony in bosnia-hercegovina in the georgian and ...

90DIETER CHRISTENSENVOCAL POLYPHONY IN BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINAIN THE GEORGIAN AND MEDITERRANEAN CONTEXTThe lands around the Mediterranean Sea and the adjoining Black Sea are known toboast a host of polyphonic practices, and more specifically, popular, participatory multivoicedsinging that is, or was, an integral part of common people’s life. Occurrences ofthese vocal-polyphonic practices are neither contiguous nor uniform throughout the area– there are areas where communal multivoiced singing is not practiced, and where it is,the forms may differ widely, and different frms may co-exist with each other in the sameplace. Musicologists, whether historical, comparative or ethno, have attempted to explainthis in terms of local derivations from urban or learned styles, in terms of diffusion fromcenters of musical creation, in terms of migrations, racial or geographic features. In allthis the focus has been on apparent similarities between the products of musicalpractices, the sound as perceived Hetically, in these cases, by musicologically trainedoutsiders to the practicing community, and generally conclusions have been drawn onthe basis of recordings and musical transcriptions. The practitioners, the singers in theirsocial settings and their thoughts and intentions have been largely left aside.Gabela: Setting and historyRather than aiming at large-scale speculations, in this presentation I shall considerthe local practices, practitioners and polyphonic songs in one particular village, Gabelain the Hercegovina, which my wife, Nerthus Christensen, and I visited several timesbetween 1957 and 1974 for musicological research. I shall then state some observationsrelating the findings from Gabela to those we made in two other villages in the samegeneral area, and to Erich and Doris Stockmann’s work in Albania (Stockmann 1965).Finally, I shall raise some questions linking all this to Georgia.Gabela is a rather large farming village (pop. in 1957 ca. 1400) in the lower Neretvavalley of the Hercegovina. Situated on the railroad from Sarajevo to the Adriatic port ofPloèe and between the towns of Metkoviè and Èapljina, both on the other bank of the river,it is reasonably well connected to the wider world, even though in 1957, electricity had notyet reached the village, and the roads were rough dirt roads. More importantly, the villagehad been laid barren early in the 18 th Century and re-populated only beginning in the late18 th Century from villages in the adjoining Hercegovina and Western Bosnia (seeChristensen 1997). This process of re-settlement from a number of rural communities inthe wider area - the Hercegovina south of Mostar, neighboring southern Bosnia andadjoining Dalmatia – is important for an understanding of the richness of musical practicesand forms in Gabela. Still in 1974, sections of the village were named for the migrantfamilies who had settled there in clusters 150 to 200 years earlier, and who preserved anoral history of their respective origins.While the larger part of the village had been settled – or re-settled – by Roman-Catholics from the wider vicinity, a separate section was occupied by “the Serbs”, as theCatholics called them: Serbian-Orthodox people who had been relocated here fromeastern Serbia in Ottoman times to re-inforce the Turkish border with Venice which ranjust south of Gabela. Gabela, in other words, is an “open” settlement, heterogeneous inits population and relatively open to the wider world even before the advent of electricityand good roads.

Vocal Polyphony in Bosnia-Hercegovinain the Georgian and Mediterranean context95men. The microtonal-polyphonic repertoire in both places was significantly less variedthan that of Gabela, but in terms of sound and text structures, performance practices andlocal terminologies, all fits well within the scope of what we know of Gabela. Microtonalpolyphonicsinging, we can conclude, is a broadly-based, popular, consciously cultivatedsocial activity and an integral part of the way of life in this part of the Balkans 11 , a polyphonicculture - to use a term introduced by Joseph Jordania – that encompasses non-musicalforms of social behavior, verbalized awareness of multi-voiced singing as a social activity,and the audible product, the performed singing.Albania and GeorgiaComparisons are always frought with dangers. What are we comparing? In whichway is what we propose to compare at all comparable? What assumptions are wemaking when engaging in comparisons?In the case of the three Bosnian-Hercegovinian villages, there are good grounds tosee them as specific sites within the same cultural territory, sharing the same language,social organization, economy, and history – with variances only over the past two centuries.The comparison with Albania is prompted by the fact that Albania is also well known for itsrich traditions of vocal polyphony. Similarities in uses – in life cycle events, in seasonaloccasions of a peasant culture – are evident, but so are dissimilarities: Albanian vocalpolyphony is generally diatonic, not microtonic. No need for me to talk to you about vocalpolyphony in Georgia, unparalleled in its richness and complexity, in the extent – in termsof duration alone – of its products, and with an indigenous terminology to match. This allleaves us with many questions – among them: what can explain the existence of popular,communal vocal polyphony with a developed, verbalized indigenous theory in somesocieties, and its absence in others? Are some forms of social relations within a society– perhaps a less-hierarchical, more “democratic” structure – particularly conducive topopular, communal polyphony? These questions deserve our attention. Their systematicinvestigation calls for fresh approaches to a comparative study of polyphonic culturesthat will in turn enlighten the study of each individual culture.Notes1Since there were significant changes over the 14 years for which I have data, I shall describethe situation of 1957 as a base line.2Already obsolete in 1957 as a conventional activity, singing monophonic traveling songsputnièki was incorporated in a modified form into the wedding ritual.3Some instrumentalists are, however, considered “special.” These include the guslar, thesinger of epics who accompanies himself on the bowed lute gusle, and the player of the bagpipediple.4Pjevanje is used to refer to a way of singing, usually by identification with a particular placeof assumed origin, such as in “Imotski pjevanje”, the way people in or from Imotski sing; but it appliesalso to particular polyphonic models without geographic reference, such as kantanje, the Lentenrecitation, and u pratnju. Pjevanje as a way of singing is analogous to govor, a way of speaking, asin Sarajevski govor, the way people speak in Sarajevo.5Singing of lullabies uspavanke and some phases of lamenting are not communal.6The exceptions are those cases where diatonic melodies sung u pratnju are fitted withchanging ganga texts, i.e., are not songs in the sense of unity of text and melody, but rather soundmodels to which text can be fitted ad libitum.7This mode of transportation has become obsolete in Gabela since the arrival of the railroad andthe car, but was still practiced in the more isolated regions of the Bosnian karst after 1945.

96Dieter Christensen8A reference to the bowed lute gusle that accompanies the singing of epics in a similar functionand perceived sound quality.9Cvetko Rihtman (1958) notes that “ravno pjevanje” means literally cantus planus, and that bothterms refer to the same characteristic property of two traditions that otherwise are unrelated to eachother, that is, unmeasured singing according to the rhythm of the words.10So stated by several singers in 1972.11It is not my intention to go into further detail, but it is appropriate to indicate that the entire areafrom Istria to Montenegro shows evidence of a continuous domain in which microtonal polyphony isor was practiced, and closely related forms are known from Makedonia and Bugaria, as well.ReferencesBartók, Béla and Albert B.Lord. (1951). Serbo-Croatian Folk Songs. New York: Columbia UniversityPress.Christensen, Dieter. (1959). Heterogene Musikstile in dem Dorf Gabela (Herzegovina). Bericht überden 7. internationalen musikwissenschaftlichen Kongress Köln, 1958. pp.79-82Christensen, Dieter. (1977). Kategorien mehrstimmiger Lieder des Dorfes Gabela, Herzegovina.Musikforschung 30: 30-42.Christensen, Dieter. (1990). Naše Pjesme. Music from Gabela, Hercegovina, Yugoslavia. Berlin:Staatliche Museen. (=Museum Collection Berlin 2). 28 pp., phono record.Christensen, Dieter. (1997). On the post-Venitian music history of a village in the Hercegovina.Anthropological-ethnomusicological perspectives. Musica e Storia 5: 263-72Jordania, Joseph. (1989). Georgian Traditional Polyphony in the International Context of PolyphonicCultures [in Russian]. Tbilisi University.Rihtman, Cvetko. (1958). Jugoslavien, 5. Bosnien und Herzegovina. In Musik in Geschichte undGegenwart vol. 7, col. 373.Stockmann, Doris, Wilfried Fiedler and Erich Stockmann (1965) Albanische Volksmusik. Band 1.Berlin: Akademie-Verlag

diter qristenseni. danarTiDieter Christensen. APPENDIX97magaliTi 1. CH57 - 69. bosanski sevdahiEXAMPLE 1. CH57 - 69. Bosanski sevdahOmer be•e na kuli sjedaše (2x)Èuj Omere dilbere haj •eljo moja, amanNa kuli sjedašeVjernu sjubu na krilu dr•aše (2x)Èuj Omere dilbere haj •eljo moja, amanNa krilu dr•ašeOmer was sitting on the towerListen Omer, you beautiful one, my wish, amanSitting on the tower.Holding his true love on his lapListen Omer, you beautiful one, my wish, amanHolding on his lap.Tru love, I‘ll marry another one...Marry, Agha, and I don‘t care...omeri ijda koSkze,mismine omer, Cemo lamazo, Cemo ocnebaverTguli satrfo kalTaSi ejda.Cemo siyvarulo, me sxvaze gavTxovdebi...aRar mivTxovdebi da sul ar vdardob..

diter qristenseni. danarTiDieter Christensen. APPENDIX99magaliTi 4. CH60 - 168. `namdvilad mamakacuri ganga uravani~, gabmuli bani `a~-ze,saubris ritmiEXAMPLE 4. CH60 - 168. “Tru male ganga uravan”, drone on “a”, speech rhythmOj Gabelo koliko si duga – kad te vidim obaðe me tugaOj Gabela how long you are – when I see you, sadness seizes meoi gabela, ra grZeli xar – Sens danaxvaze sevda mipyrobs.magaliTi 5. CH60 - 171. okavica, mRerian mamakacebi, gabmuli bani `o~-zeEXAMPLE 5. CH60 - 171. Okavica, sung by men, drone on “o”Oj ðevojko brigo materina – što se brineš da se usat neæešOj you girl, mother’s worry – what do you worry that you won’t get married?o, gogona, dedis dardo – ratom wuxar imaze rom ver Txovdebi?

100diter qristenseni. danarTiDieter Christensen. APPENDIXmagaliTi 6. CH68 - 263. okalica, mRerian qalebi, gabmuli bani `o~-zeEXAMPLE 6. CH68 - 263. Okalica, sung by women, drone on “o”Moj je dragi daleko da BomeJa se nemam radovati komeMy beloved is far away, by GodI have nobody to be happy withCemi satrfo Sorsaa, RmerTmani,me aravin myavs iseTi, rom bednieri viyo masTan.magaliTi 7. CH60 - 165. uzgoriEXAMPLE 7. CH60 - 165. UzgorPjevaj malo janje moje što si raspaloPokrila se djetelinom travomSing a little my lamb so that you fire yourself up[but] she covers herself with clover and weedscota imRere, Cemo kravo, rom gaTbe,[magram] igi imaleba balaxebSi.

diter qristenseni. danarTiDieter Christensen. APPENDIX101magaliTi 8. CH60 - 190. ganga srediniedan, u pratniuEXAMPLE 8. CH60 - 190. Ganga us srejedinje, u pratnjuOèi moje lete ko mašinaNe bil’ koga ugledale finaMy eyes are flying like a machineIf they can’t see someone fineCemi Tvalebi manqanasaviT miqrianTu isini vinme mSveniers ver xedaven.