scholarly journals The Balkans of the Balkans: The Meaning of Autobalkanism in Regional Popular Music

Arts ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marija Dumnić Vilotijević
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
World Music ◽  
First Century ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Applied Music ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The People ◽  
Musical Characteristics

In this article, I discuss the use of the term “Balkan” in the regional popular music. In this context, Balkan popular music is contemporary popular folk music produced in the countries of the Balkans and intended for the Balkan markets (specifically, the people in the Western Balkans and diaspora communities). After the global success of “Balkan music” in the world music scene, this term influenced the cultures in the Balkans itself; however, interestingly, in the Balkans themselves “Balkan music” does not only refer to the musical characteristics of this genre—namely, it can also be applied music that derives from the genre of the “newly-composed folk music”, which is well known in the Western Balkans. The most important legacy of “Balkan” world music is the discourse on Balkan stereotypes, hence this article will reveal new aspects of autobalkanism in music. This research starts from several questions: where is “the Balkans” which is mentioned in these songs actually situated; what is the meaning of the term “Balkan” used for the audience from the Balkans; and, what are musical characteristics of the genre called trepfolk? Special focus will be on the post-Yugoslav market in the twenty-first century, with particular examples in Serbian language (as well as Bosnian and Croatian).

Rethinking the Engagement of Ethnomusicologists with Performance and Applied Music Curricula

2021 ◽  
pp. 219-237
Author(s):  
Robin Moore
Keyword(s):  
Community Outreach ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Music ◽  
First Century ◽  
Ear Training ◽  
Applied Music ◽  
Music Schools ◽  
Financial Exploitation ◽  
Approach To Teaching ◽  
Music Faculty

Music schools and conservatories in the United States and abroad focus primarily on training performers; one of the reasons ethnomusicologists have had such difficulty expanding their employment opportunities in such institutions is because they have not given enough thought to how they can productively contribute to performance curricula. The field of ethnomusicology has engaged creatively with many subdisciplines in the humanities and social sciences, of course. But while this focus has resulted in insightful publications, it has typically held little immediate relevance for performers. A surprising number of ethnomusicology programs do not encourage applied music-making of any sort as a required part of training in the discipline. In general, ethnomusicology does not dialogue sufficiently with applied music faculty or students. This chapter begins with reflection on what aspiring performers of the twenty-first century need to know in order to be professionally successful and continues with a consideration of how coursework offerings by ethnomusicologists can be retooled so as to contribute directly to the requirements of students in BM programs: to ear training, music theory, orchestration, junior and senior recitals, and so on. Lastly, the chapter covers an approach to teaching world music courses that focuses both on applied performance and on pressing contemporary issues (community outreach, social justice, financial exploitation, etc.) that link world traditions to other repertoires and make their relevance immediately apparent.

We Are the World: The Rise of “World Music”

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Woods
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
World Music ◽  
Western Music ◽  
Cultural Imperialism ◽  
Global Culture ◽  
The West ◽  
Lack Of Control ◽  
The World ◽  
Musical Characteristics

Due to globalization we live in a global culture which includes sharing and creating genres of music. “World music” is a phenomenon that began in the 80s. This genre, amongst other things, blends popular Western musical characteristics with non-Western musics which has rejuvenated popular music in the West. However, the term “world music” is difficult to grapple. “World music” cannot be described as a genre completely outside of the Euro-American mainstream. The music of our global culture is largely thought to be dominated by the cultural imperialism of the West. Nevertheless, this model does not encompass the extent of the control ‘foreign’ musical aspects of the “world music” genre are exerting on Western popular culture. Therefore, the co-option of “world music” by the West is being reversed. The popularity of “world music” is rising in Western popular culture. There are increasing amounts of “world music” resources becoming available and the “classicization of world music” is apparent in various trends. While “world music” depends on Western markets, these markets are dependent on non-Western music to diversify and provide products displaying the lack of control the West has on the genre it created. The roles have been reversed and “world music” is in the process of co-opting Western popular music.  

scholarly journals Finno-Ugric Rune Song Tradition Revisited: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Värttinä's "Äijö"

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 138-170
Author(s):  
Yrjö Heinonen
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
Case Analysis ◽  
World Music ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Unified Framework ◽  
Production Distribution

Contemporary Finnish folk music, unlike internationally successful contemporary Finnish rock (HIM, Nightwish, The Rasmus), transmits Finnish and Finno-Ugric tradition in a reinterpreted form to international audiences. This article explores this transmission through a case analysis of Äijö, a song by Värttinä, "the brand name" of Finnish World Music. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) provides a unified framework, which allows for tan examination of how different folk music traditions and the practices of Western popular music have been used in Äijö. The data with which this research was undertaken consists of publicly available media texts representing different stages of the production, distribution and consumption of Äijö.

scholarly journals “Perverting the Taste of the People”: Lăutari and the Balkan Question in Romania

Muzikologija ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 85-120
Author(s):  
Roderick Lawford
Keyword(s):  
World Music ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Musical Genre ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Balkan Country ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Physical Position

??Perverting the Taste of the People?: L?utari and the Balkan Question in Romania? considers the term ?Balkan? in the context of Romanian Romani music-making. The expression can be used pejoratively to describe something ?bar-baric? or fractured. In the ?world music? era, ?gypsy-inspired? music from the Balkans has become highly regarded. From this perspective ?Balkan? is seen as something desirable. The article uses the case of the Romanian ?gypsy? band Taraf de Ha?douks in illustration. Romania?s cultural and physical position with- in Europe can be difficult to locate, a discourse reflected in Romanian society itself, where many reject the description of Romania as a ?Balkan? country. This conflict has been contested through manele, a Romanian popular musical genre. In contrast, manele is seen by its detractors as too ?eastern? in character, an unwelcome reminder of earlier Balkan and Ottoman influences on Romanian culture.

scholarly journals Folklore motives in the early compositions of Nikola Borota - Radovan

Muzikologija ◽  
2014 ◽  
pp. 173-192
Author(s):  
Jelena Jovanovic
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
World Music ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Italian Renaissance ◽  
Music Culture ◽  
Folk Revival ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Music Production ◽  
Anglo American

The creative work of Nikola Borota - Radovan (musician, composer, lyricist, arranger and record producer, based in New Zealand - formerly from Yugoslavia) held a specific place in development of world music (poly)genre in his native homeland in the early 1970s. This study focuses on his creative principles, applied to works published between the years 1970 and 1975 (while the role of these works in social, cultural and political context of the time and place will be elaborated in another study, see Jovanovic 2014). The platform established to present this unique musical approach authenticaly was called kamen na kamen (a studio and stage outfit that has included number of collaborations over many years). Based on the musical models and aethetics of the folk revival and created under influence of The Beatles?, in adition to many other popular music production directions of the era, Borota?s works reveal significant musical, performance and production qualities, innovative expression and musical solutions, that need to be percieved from the contemporary (ethno)musicological point of view. Despite the fact that many prominent creative Yugoslav musicians of the time also worked within a similar framework I would argue that Mr. Borota?s creative outcome was signifficantly different from other Yugoslav popular music creative efforts. This is particularly noticeable in the author?s unique treatment of South-European and other folklore motives, which is the main topic of this study. Folk (ethnic) idioms exploited by Mr. Borota in his compositions originate from the rural traditions of western Dinaric regions. This is especially true for the rhythmic formations of deaf or silent dance; for the semi-urban and urban tradition of the Balkans and the Mediterranean; Middle European traditions; traditions from non-European peoples; elements of Italian Renaissance; and international (mostly Anglo-American) musical models. Compositions are analysed partly in accordance with the principles presented by Philip Tagg (1982), and following the principles of the ?Finnish method? in ethnomusicology. According to my best knowledge, there was no previous comparable (ethno) musicological ellaboration of folk revival, Beatlesque influences and early forrays into world music within Yugoslav popular music culture. I therefore consider this study to be the first contribution to the research in this subject.

scholarly journals Contemporary urban folk music in the Balkans: Possibilities for regional music history

Muzikologija ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 91-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marija Dumnic-Vilotijevic
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Music History ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Musical Genre ◽  
Regional Music ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Landmark Study

Starting with Maria Todorova?s landmark study Imagining the Balkans (Todorova 1997), numerous authors have raised their voices against stereotypical images of the Balkans. Over twenty years after the publication of this book, the term ?the Balkans? seems to have lost some of its negative connotations related to wars in favour of characteristics with positive overtones, such as the Balkan peoples? joie-de-vivre and entertainment strongly related to music. The areal ethnomusicology drawing from fieldwork throughout the Balkan peninsula has been a fruitful topic for numerous local and foreign ethnomusicologists and the very term ?the Balkans? has raised a special interest in the ethnomusicological research of ?outsiders?, as well as in the music industry. This paper is written from the perspective of an ?insider? ethnomusicologist from the Balkans. I raise the question of the definition of the ?Balkan? popular music label and discuss its main structural characteristics. I offer a new possibility of (re)considering a specific musical genre of the region based on the research of urban folk music practices. I present characteristics of urban folk music practices from the second half of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century in the countries of the Balkans, with special attention paid to their common aspects. Also, contemporary urban folk music, which is often criticized as a specific popular music form, is considered.

scholarly journals Lost in scales: Balkan folk music research and the ottoman legacy

Muzikologija ◽  
2008 ◽  
pp. 127-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Risto Pennanen
Keyword(s):  
Folk Music ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Musical Characteristics ◽  
Music Research ◽  
Printed Sources

Balkan folk music researchers have articulated various views on what they have considered Oriental or Turkish musical legacy. The discourses the article analyses are nationalism, Orientalism, Occidentalism and Balkanism. Scholars have handled the awkward Ottoman issue in several manners: They have represented 'Oriental' musical characteristics as domestic, claimed that Ottoman Turks merely imitated Arab and Persian culture, and viewed Indian classical raga scales as sources for Oriental scales in the Balkans. In addition, some scholars have viewed the 'Oriental' characteristics as stemming from ancient Greece. The treatment of the Seg?h family of Ottoman makams in theories and analyses reveals several features of folk music research in the Balkans, the most important of which are the use of Western concepts and the exclusive dependence on printed sources. The strategies for handling the Orient within have meandered between Occidentalism and Orientalism, creating an ambiguity which is called Balkanism.

Experiment role in the world music (based on the «The Road» album of the Ukrainian «Dakha Brakha» band)

2018 ◽  
pp. 215-227
Author(s):  
Iia Fedorova
Keyword(s):  
Folk Music ◽  
World Music ◽  
The Other ◽  
Modern Music ◽  
Musical Practice ◽  
The Road ◽  
Music Practice ◽  
The World ◽  
Binary Oppositions ◽  
Musical Practices

The main objective of this study is the substantiation of experiment as one of the key features of the world music in Ukraine. Based on the creative works of the brightest world music representatives in Ukraine, «Dakha Brakha» band, the experiment is regarded as a kind of creative setting. Methodology and scientific approaches. The methodology was based on the music practice theory by T. Cherednychenko. The author distinguishes four binary oppositions, which can describe the musical practice. According to one of these oppositions («observance of the canon or violation of the canon»), the musical practices, to which the Ukrainian musicology usually classifies the world music («folk music» and «minstrel music»), are compared with the creative work of «Dakha Brakha» band. Study findings. A lack of the setting to experiment in the musical practices of the «folk music» and «minstrel music» separates the world music musical practice from them. Therefore, the world music is a separate type of musical practice in which the experiment is crucial. The study analyzed several scientific articles of Ukrainian musicologists on the world music; examined the history of the Ukrainian «Dakha Brakha» band; presented a list of the folk songs used in the fifth album «The Road» by «Dakha Brakha» band; and showed the degree of the source transformation by musicians based on the example of the «Monk» song. The study findings can be used to form a comprehensive understanding of the world music musical practice. The further studies may be related to clarification of the other parameters of the world music musical practice, and to determination of the experiment role in creative works of the other world music representatives, both Ukrainian and foreign. The practical study value is the ability to use its key provisions in the course of modern music in higher artistic schools of Ukraine. Originality / value. So far, the Ukrainian musicology did not consider the experiment role as the key one in the world music.

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