who asked the first question? - International Research Center For ...

112regions (for example, Dalmatia) monophony prevails. Generally, the new style ofpolyphonic singing (na bas) is much more widespread throughout Croatia than the oldtraditional style with narrow intervals. Pannonia is thought to be one of the centres ofdistribution of the singing style na bas, (Forry, 2000:931). Here “the songs are usuallydiatonic, but a few have scales with augmented seconds, suggesting Islamic influence”(ibid, 931). A very interesting specific type of bagpipe (duda) was produced to play thenew style (na bas) songs. The bass has only two notes – the tonic and the dominant. The“dominant” note is a fourth lower than the tonic, and as in the same style of singing, thelower note is used to finish the musical phrases.SloveniaPolyphonic singing is an important feature of this country, which consists mainlyof forest-covered mountains. A few regional styles are distinguished in Slovenia. As inmost of the other Balkan people’s musical traditions, older and more contemporary stylesof traditional polyphony are present here as well. The tradition of contemporarypolyphonic singing is spread wider than the tradition of the older style. The regions ofResia and Bela Krajina retain the older forms of vocal polyphony. This style is based ontwo-part singing with a drone. The ancient tradition of singing in dissonant seconds isdisappearing and is being replaced by singing in thirds with cadences in unison: “In BelaKrajina in some Midsummer Night songs and in Istria, two-part singing emphasizes theinterval of a second, with some thirds and fourths and unison cadences” (Omerzel-Terlep,2000:913). This style is an interesting combination of the earlier singing style (singing inseconds) combined with the later polyphonic style (singing in thirds and the cadences infifths or unisons). Most of the polyphonic songs are performed in two groups, as anantiphon, sometimes with an interesting overlapping of both groups in differentharmonies as in the following example:Ex. 56. Slovenia. (Kumer, 1979:#238a)Contemporary style polyphony is based on the European classical musicallanguage and traditional European four-part arrangements. This style is taking over theolder style of drone polyphony. According to Omerzel-Terlep (2000: 913) there areseveral styles of contemporary polyphonic styles in Slovenia, ranging from two-partsinging up to five-part singing. The most popular style of contemporary polyphonyamong young people is three-part singing with the main melody in the middle.