Music CD details

'The Festival of Folk Music from North-Eastern Serbia'

Various Artists

(CD10010)

Label - Biveco

Another excellent compilations of folk music from Yugoslavia. 34 tracks from solo singing to small ensembles, this CD release is rich in authentic Serbian folk music. Comes with a 16 page booklet with notes on each song and an essay on the music (see below).

Extract from sleeve notes:
THE FAIR OF FOLK CREATIVITY OF NORTH-EASTERN SERBIA
At the beginning of a new millennium, many generations of folk music singers, musicians and rite performers celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the warmhearted gatherings at the Boljevac Fair where they present, every year in June, the music folklore treasure of their region, which has for centuries been polished, fostered and handed over to younger generations.

But, at the beginning, here are a few facts about that picturesque mountainous region. Crna Reka, or Crnorecje, as people call this geographic area, is a small region in eastern Serbia. It is a mild-sloped valley bearing the same name as the Crna Reka river, with its tributaries and small hills surrounding the dominant figure of mount Rtanj. From its spring, near the village of Krivi Via, to its confluence with the Timok, near the town of Zajecar, there are around twenty scattered villages on the Crna Reka bank, inhabited by the Serb and Vallachian population 300 years ago. The variety of peoples of the Slavic and Romanic descent is reflected in the richness of folklore, especially in the vocal and instrumental forms, characteristic folk costumes, beliefs and customs.

The songs from Serb villages, mainly of the rite and traditional character, are performed in an archaic, diaphonic manner (no. 28), and in a soloist or unison one (nos. 4, 20, 27, 30, 31, 32), but they are also performed in a modem, two-part manner of singing in a homophonic style (nos. 3. 19, 23). In the Vallachian villages songs are sung only in the monophonic, soloist or unison manner (nos. 9, 10, 15, 16. 21, 22, 25). In general, it is women
who sing songs in both Serb and Vallachian villages.

Kolo dances are performed with the instrumental accompaniment, but in Serb villages a kolo is also danced to a song accompaniment (no. 12), and a musician may sing first, and then play the instrument (no. 11).

Both among the Vallachians and Serbs, instrumental pieces to be danced to and playing instruments is a "man's job", and predominant among the instruments are various wind instruments: a small and a big pipe (frula, duduk, cevara, nos. 1, 2, 7, 13, 14), then a bagpipe, gajde, (nos. 24 and 29). In the Vallachian villages peasants form different small ensembles of several wind instrument players, combined with other, string instruments, and sometimes they use a small drum too (nos. 8, 17, 18, 26). One village can boast of a brass orchestra (nos. 33 and 34). Them are also shepherd trumpets, made of wood, which are played on St. George's Day (nos. 5 and 6).

At present, the fairs in Serbia, having a predominantly cultural, entertaining and tourist character, are the live sources of original folk art, the occasion for a large number of people to gather, enchanted by folk songs, dances and music playing. The gathering in Boljevac differs from many others, because it is, in a true sense of the word, the Fair of the Crna Reka population (Crnorecani), which has for decades gathered generations of performers, from children to the oldest singers, musicians, dancers and rite performers, who have remained deeply devoted to the traditional art of their ethnic and geographic region Crna Reka (Black River).

Thanks to the abundance of music folklore forms and their great variety, which the Crnorecani have warmheartedly bestowed upon us for years now, we have got to know better the kind people, picturesque villages and hamlets, warm heartedness and hospitality, and especially an unquenchable thirst, affinity and love, for song, dance, socializing and friendship. The festival in Crnorecje, always impeccably prepared and organized, has for years provided and made us richer with new knowledge, significant for the ethno-musicological science. At the same time, new folklore themes and motives presented there inspired many choreographers in city folklore ensembles. That is why one can finally say that, over the decades, the Crna Reka Fair has become a keeper of the entire folk creativity of its region and a true anthology of folk art in that part of Serbia.

(The sound recordings belong to the Belgrade Faculty of Music Art Sound Archive. They recorded in the region of Crnorecje, from 1972-1988, by students and teachers who, as well as the Educational Cultural Center in Boljevac, deserve credit for the production of this compact disc).

The selection of recordings, introduction
and commentary were made by
Prof. Dragoslav Devic Ph.d
(May 2000)

GBP 10.79

Out of
stock

View Cart + Check Out

'The Festival of Folk Music from North-Eastern Serbia'

Various Artists

(CD10010)


34 tracks from
solo singing to small ensembles

Browse our store for CDs, books and DVDs