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

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291North America (according to <strong>the</strong> physical anthropological, archaeological and molecularbiological evidence) streng<strong>the</strong>ns <strong>the</strong> idea of possible European connections of Ainupolyphony.• Elements of vocal polyphony of American Indians, scattered among differenttribes of North, Central and South America, streng<strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> suggestion of <strong>the</strong> growinggroup of scholars about <strong>the</strong> participation of European populations in <strong>the</strong> early settlementof <strong>the</strong> American continent.• Strong traditions of Polynesian vocal polyphony should not be neglected in <strong>the</strong>long running discussion on <strong>the</strong> settlement of Polynesian Islands. Links of <strong>the</strong> Polynesianpolyphony point towards three regions: (1) polyphony of Sou<strong>the</strong>ast Asian autochthonouspopulation, (2) polyphony of Melanesian populations, and (3) European polyphony viaAmerican continent. Typologically Polynesian polyphony is closest to <strong>the</strong> Europeantraditional polyphony.• Wide geographic distribution of ancient European vocal polyphony must beconnected to <strong>the</strong> dominating direction of large-scale migrations – going eastwards orwestwards. The same way East Asian populations were also spread very widely, althoughmostly north of <strong>the</strong> Equator. South America and Polynesia seems to be <strong>the</strong> only regionswhere <strong>the</strong> European and East Asian populations settled South Hemisphere in prehistorictimes (possibly via <strong>the</strong> Andean Mountain “passage”).• The historical model of <strong>the</strong> gradual disappearance of <strong>the</strong> tradition of vocalpolyphony in different regions of <strong>the</strong> world suggests, that general skepticism towards <strong>the</strong>presence of polyphony in ancient Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica is unfounded. I suggestthat Sumerians, Hurrians, and cultures of Mesoamerica must have been familiar withvocal polyphony as well.• Internal links between singing and playing blown instruments (based most likelyon a shared system of sound-producing - breathing) can revolutionize our understandingof <strong>the</strong> distribution of vocal polyphony in ancient period.• Polyphony of pearl-divers could be an extremely ancient phenomenon,connected to <strong>the</strong> singing traditions of Ancient Mesopotamia.• Well-documented late origin of European professional polyphony is unique in<strong>the</strong> history of human musical culture and should not be extrapolated on o<strong>the</strong>r (traditional)polyphonic traditions. Origin of European professional polyphony was itself a result of<strong>the</strong> mixture of <strong>the</strong> west Asian (early Christian) monophonic singing practice and ancientEuropean polyphonic traditions.• Professional and traditional polyphonic cultures use very different models ofmusic writing, transmission, and performance. Creative genius of <strong>the</strong> members of <strong>the</strong>Beatles brought back to contemporary popular music many systemic elements oftraditional polyphonic cultures. According to some important features of creative processand elements of musical language, <strong>the</strong> Beatles were closer to traditional polyphoniccultures than to <strong>the</strong> “classic” R’n’Roll.####### ####### ####### ####### ####### ####### #######The part 2 came to an end. We discussed wide range of topics connected to <strong>the</strong>comparative and historical perspectives of <strong>the</strong> polyphonic traditions from differentregions of <strong>the</strong> world. We have approached <strong>the</strong> “moment of <strong>the</strong> truth” – <strong>the</strong> very origins of

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