Hybrid Vocal Forms - Mixture of Old and More Recent Vocal Styles and of Traditional Music Dialects in Jasenica Region in Central Serbia

Abstract

The so-called hybrid forms, as a segment of the Serbian two-part rural vocal tradition combining the features of older and more recent two-part singing, have already been discussed in a number of papers (Dević, 1979, 1997; Jovanović, 1999; Ranković, 2007)1. Serbian ethnomusicologists have determined that songs with such features can be found in areas where confrontation may be observed between the features of older and more recent village tradition, as well as between different cultural areas. Such regions are central Serbia, where influences of the vocal traditions of Dinara, Kosovo-Metohija, Љop, Morava-Vardar2 and the indigenous ones (Dević, 1997; Jovanović, 1999: 32) converge, and Lijevča Polje, in northern Bosnia, where influences from the cultural zones of Dinara and Pannonia are present (Ranković, 2007: 39-40). The recognizable physiognomy of hybrid forms gives a significant mark to the vocal heritage in these areas. The aim of discussing this interesting and complex subject in this paper is to contribute to this topic and point to new possibilities in establishing criteria for their differentiation.