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

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223(1) Drone dissonant-based polyphony of <strong>the</strong> old European populations, and(2) Richly ornamented, free rhythm and non-metric time based monophony of <strong>the</strong>populations brought by at least some migration waves of Indo-Europeans.I suggest that this initial closeness of two main ingredients of <strong>the</strong> “Great EuropeanStylistic Mixture” created <strong>the</strong> similarity of <strong>the</strong> drone polyphonic traditions of EastGeorgians, Chameri Albanians, Corsicans or <strong>the</strong> Albacete residents from eastern Spain(to name a few), and not <strong>the</strong> westward migrations of Georgians to sou<strong>the</strong>rn Albania oreastern Spain, or <strong>the</strong> eastward migrations of Spaniards or Albanians to Caucasia.More mixture: The Influence of EuropeanProfessional PolyphonyStratification of European polyphonic traditions is fur<strong>the</strong>r complicated by <strong>the</strong>apparently late influence of European professional polyphony. European professionalpolyphony (itself a result of <strong>the</strong> mixture of Middle Eastern monody and ancient Europeanpolyphony) <strong>first</strong> appeared at <strong>the</strong> end of <strong>the</strong> <strong>first</strong> millennia, <strong>the</strong>n gained confidence andwent from strength to strength from <strong>the</strong> 15 th century on. By <strong>the</strong> 19 th -20 th centuriesEuropean professional polyphony became <strong>the</strong> most influential musical style of our planet,influencing indigenous musical traditions throughout Africa, Asia, Oceania, Australia,and America.Before we discuss <strong>the</strong> influence of European professional polyphony on Europeantraditional polyphonic cultures, let us name a few well-known and most importantfeatures that entered European traditions of polyphonic singing from Europeanprofessional polyphony:(1) Prevalence of parallel thirds and sixths between <strong>the</strong> parts,(2) Prevalence of triadic chords, and(3) Tonic-dominant-subdominant functional system with typical base movementsby fourth and fifths.Here is <strong>the</strong> list of a few traditional polyphonic styles of Europe that show signs of<strong>the</strong> late influence of European professional polyphony:• Singing “na bas”, very widely distributed in virtually all <strong>the</strong> Balkan polyphoniccultures, is mostly based on two-part singing, prevalence of <strong>the</strong> parallel thirds between<strong>the</strong>se two parts, <strong>the</strong> peculiar cadence formula in <strong>the</strong> base (jump of <strong>the</strong> base fourth down,often considered as a jump from Tonic to Dominant), and finishing musical sentences on<strong>the</strong> “empty fifths”;• Ano<strong>the</strong>r very important region of <strong>the</strong> distribution of <strong>the</strong> mixture of ancientEuropean and late European professional polyphony is <strong>the</strong> biggest mountain range ofCentral Europe – <strong>the</strong> Alps. Choral singing of <strong>the</strong> Alps mountaineers in Austria,Switzerland, Nor<strong>the</strong>rn Italy, and Sou<strong>the</strong>rn Germany is <strong>the</strong> backbone of <strong>the</strong>ir traditionalmusic. Harmonies here are usually fuller (three and four-part) than in <strong>the</strong> Balkan mostlytwo-part singing tradition of “na bas”. The influence of European professional polyphony

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