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

136entered the scholastic circle, it became clear that it was one of the richest and finesttraditions of vocal polyphony in Europe.Polyphony is mostly spread through the inland, far from the coastal regions, oftenrepresenting the forest-covered mountains of the central and northern parts of the island.By the end of the 1940s, when this tradition was finally recorded and documented byethnomusicologists, it was mostly performed by local shepherds at informal gatherings.Its status was not very high and the tradition seemed to be fading. From the 1970sCorsican polyphony became a musical symbol of the Corsican political movement andmade a big appearance on the international scene of world music (Bithell, 2000b).The traditional polyphonic repertoire of Corsica consists of three main types ofsongs: the paghjella, the terzetti and the madrigale. Paghjella is the best known and the“most Corsican” local style. The term paghjella is connected to the term paghja (“pair”).Laade suggests this term could “refer to the pair of half verses, which together make oneline of the poem and a sung strophe” (Laade, 2000:569). Paghjella is a three-part singingtradition with a few distinguishing features:(1) All three parts – two melodic lines and the bass - are performed byindividual singers. The bass is the only part that can feature more thanone performer (Laade, 2000:569);(2) The two top melodic lines sing highly ornamented melodies (melismas– ricucetti), first following each other, then joining and concluding themusical phrase together;(3) The two top parts sing mostly in the same range, and there is noagreement between ethnomusicologists of which to consider thehighest or the middle part: secunda or terse (interestingly, there is nopart called prima!). Laade considers secunda (the one that startssinging) the highest and terza the middle(Laade, 2000:569), but Bithellconsiders secunda the middle (although the leading) voice and terzathe highest (Bithell, 2000:6). According to the stratification of thevoices in the cadence, as well as the stratification of parts in otherthree-part polyphonic European traditions, secunda seems to be the(4)(5)(6)(8)middle part.Paghjella is mostly performed by males, although two brilliant femalesingers (Patrizia Poli and Patrizia Gattaceca) were leaders of theinternationally renowned group Les Nouvelles Polyphonies Corses;Dissonant chords and intervals play an important role in the paghjellatradition;Links with the European major-minor harmonic system are obvious,particularly in the bass movements on T, D and S, and in the finalchord, based on the major tonic chord;(7) The paghjella often starts in a minor key and concludes in the same,but major key (reminiscent of the endings of many polyphoniccompositions of J.S.Bach).The rhythm, known among professional musicians as parlando-rubato,is free, which makes precise coordination between the voiceschallenging. Smooth rhythmic coordination is considered crucial for agood quality performance;