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

113MacedoniaSpeaking about Macedonian music we should remember that the ethnicMacedonian territory is divided between several Balkan countries, and only Macedoniansliving in Yugoslavia have political unity (first within the Yugoslavian Federation andfrom 1991 as a fully independent country). As the singing traditions of ethnicMacedonians seem to be one of the most polyphonic in the Balkan region, we havealready discussed the polyphonic traditions of Macedonians living in Romania andBulgaria.According to T. Bicevski, different types of polyphony exist in Macedoniantraditional songs. The most prominent is the Balkan traditional singing drone-type vocalpolyphony (both pedal and rhythmic) with dissonant intervals:Ex. 57. Macedonia. (Bicevski, 1986:26)When the main melody has several (and often ornamented) pitches, the dronepolyphony seems to be “in between” the pedal and rhythmic drone types. The drone canbe on one pitch only, or can change (usually by a major second up, although it can movea third and a fourth as well). These movements of the bass often cause the appearance ofmore seconds.Heterophony is another type of polyphony among Macedonians. There are alsovery interesting examples where heterophonic and drone types of polyphony alternate:Ex. 58. Macedonia. (Bicevski, 1986:#36)According to Tim Rice: “polyphonic singing occurs in three zones. Femalesingers in the east employ a two-part melody-and-drone style similar to eastern Serbianand Southwestern Bulgarian styles… Male and female singers in the Northwest sing anaccompanying part that moves in relation to the melody to emphasize the interval of asecond. Macedonians from the areas around the town of Kostur (in Greek, Kastoria) nearthe Greek-Albanian border sing in two- and three-part styles resembling southernAlbanian singing” (Rice, 2000a:974). The melody range of polyphonic songs is narrow.Part of the polyphonic songs are non-metrical, and the other part (particularly those that