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111Ex. 54. Bosnia and Herzegovina, mixture of the elements of the old and newpolyphonic styles (Rihtman, 1953:#117)CroatiaVocal polyphony plays an important part in Croatian traditional music, althoughthere are differences in regional styles.The Dinaric Alps arguably represent the most ancient layers of Croatian singingstyle. T he reason for this long survival is well known for countries with mountains:“When the lowlands were depopulated by war and the coasts harried by invaders, Dinariccommunities retained their integrity” (Forry, 2000:927). The earlier layers of this regionare based on the local traditions of polyphony with narrow-interval scales.Ex. 55. Croatia. Older style polyphony (Czekanowska, 1983:148, #77)The tradition of a specific “shaking” (throat thrill) style is characteristic, forexample, for the district of Sinj: “the initial singer ‘drives’ (goni) the opening syllabicrecitation and ‘sing voj’ (voika – “holds a long note”), while the second voice ‘shakes’(trese – ‘performs a glottal ornament’)” (Bezic, 1967-1968, cited from Forry, 2000:926).Another Croatian polyphonic style, widely distributed in other areas of theBalkans, is a more contemporary singing style “na bas”. In this style (which is believedto had been introduced to Croatia from Slovenia) the melody range is wider (often asixth), the accompanying part often moves in parallel thirds with the main melody, and inthe cadences goes a fourth down in a final sound of the fifths. Another element ofpolyphonic music in this region is the abundance of polyphonic aerophones (double flutesand reeds). The music played on them is closely connected to the vocal singing style.Another interesting region is the Istrian Peninsula and a few islands (including theisland Krk). The traditional scale here is so specific that it is known as the “Istrian scale”(this scale represents a very peculiar succession of a tone-semitone combination withindiminished fifths: C, D, Eflat, F, Gflat). Polyphonic singing here is mostly based on theparallel movements of minor thirds (or the reversed interval – major sixths).Musical instruments are a very important element of local polyphonic traditions,playing two-part music based on the above-mentioned Istrian Scale. In some other