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

135To complete the review of the Central European region, we need to mention aswell that two-part singing of the typical late European style has been recordedsporadically in Belgium and Holland (Bosmans, 2000:520)Vocal Polyphony in Western EuropeFranceGenerally speaking, central France is the largest territory of non-polyphonicsinging traditions in the Western Europe. As Hugh Shields put it, “centuries of classicalpolyphony have made little impression on the monophonic popular tradition and itsrealization mainly as solo performance” (2000:542). Elements of polyphony andharmony are usually confined to the use of accompanying instruments, or, in vocal music,to the use of heterophonic singing.Heterophonic elements had been documented in Breton (a specific historicalregion in western France) dance songs. Historical sources about the musical traditions ofBreton society documented the staunch resistance of their pagan rituals, songs anddances. For example, the ritual dancing around a fire on St John’s Eve has survived,despite a religious ban from the 600s (Kuter, 2000:561). The singing style tuilage, wheretwo voices (“singer” – kaner and “countersinger” – diskaner) alternate and sometimesoverlap, exists in Breton (and neighbouring regions).Other region with the elements of polyphony is the Southeast France andparticularly the Southwestern corner of France. Here (mostly in Bearn) there is a traditionof two-part singing mostly in parallel thirds, although the use of traditional modes (forexample the use of natural 7 th step) suggest older origins of this type of polyphony:This tradition of vocal part-singing could be connected to the influence oftraditional musical culture of neighbouring Basques. Basques are known to be the onlysurvivors of the pre-Indo-European population of old Europe. This unique position of theBasques is chiefly a result of the isolation of their language, the oldest and the only non-language in Western Europe. Therefore, the presence of the tradition ofIndo-Europeanvocal polyphony is quite interesting in this mountainous region. Basque traditional musicwidely uses the tradition of vocal polyphony, which has some traces of the late influenceof the European harmonic language. This influence is mostly heard in the wide use ofparallel thirds. Both Spanish and French parts of the ethnic territory of Basques areknown to be regions of distribution of this kind of two-part singing. (See musicalexamples of Basque polyphony later, in a section dedicated to Spanish traditionalpolyphony).Interestingly, one of the most developed traditions of vocal polyphony of theWestern Europe (and Mediterranean basin), Corsica, is a part of mostly monophonicFrance.Although paghjella was often mentioned in 19 th century accounts of travelers, asit was a case with many other polyphonic traditions of the Europe, Corsican polyphonywas not recorded until after the 2 nd World War. Felix Quilici and Wolfgang Laaderecorded this tradition in the 1940s and the 1950s. As soon as the Corsican tradition