The "Serbian" Sung Word. A Contribution to Demystification of the Term Folk in the Phrase Serbian Folk Church Singing

Abstract

During the 19th century, monophonic church chanting in the Serbian Church received a complex name made up of the terms Serbian, Orthodox, ecclesiastical and folk. These epithets were never the subject of a thorough (ethno)musicological study, either in detail or as a whole. Certain articles, although sporadically and without an analysis based on arguments, pointed out the uniqueness of the Serbian vocal tradition and the interconnection ofecclesiastical and folk music. Theological discourse concerning the validity or invalidity of a certain pleonasm (Orthodox-ecclesiastical) and a signifier of nationality (folk-Serbian) in this compound was completely omitted. A thorough analysis of Serbian folk church singing should include various aspects, and each of these could be the subject of a separate study. However, I will dedicate my attention to the term folk and analyse it from the perspective of the "temptation of religious nationalism” which is more than relevant for the Orthodox nations in the Balkans during recent history. This, for musicology an apparently marginal phenomenon, becomes very important in certain historical, ecclesial, and socio-cultural circumstances