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chapter 1 The Soloistic Tambura Comes to the Balkans 16 As the crow flies, it is scarcely 100 kilometers from the center of Zagreb, the Croatian capital, to Šturlić, a Bosnian village. The rough terrain, rivers, and mountains make the actual journey on land a good deal longer, but even so, given this degree of geographic proximity, the cultural distance between Zagreb (a “little Vienna”) and Ottoman and Eastern Šturlić is nothing short of phenomenal. For nearly five centuries, until 1908, Šturlić and the Bosanska Krajina region of which it is a part represented the westernmost holdings of the Ottoman Empire, and today the region still is the home of a native Islamic culture. On the Turkish side of the border, Ottoman civilization made a lasting cultural imprint, yet just across the man-made line, in the lands that comprised the Austrian Empire’s Military Frontier, only a few obviously Ottoman cultural elements can be found. The Military Frontier was a region of fortresses and towers, populated by refugees from the southeast who were settled there by the Austrians to be the first line of defense against Turkish incursions (Clissold 1966, 27–31). For centuries, relations across this border were anything but cordial, a situation reflected in the belligerent and bloody epics sung on both sides of the line (Murko 1951). From 1918 to 1991, Bosanska Krajina and the neighboring Croatian regions of Kordun and Banija were part of Yugoslavia, but nevertheless strong cultural differences still remain. I met villagers from Šturlić in Slunj, the largest town in Kordun, only about fifteen kilometers down a bumpy, unpaved road from Šturlić. The Šturlić villagers had crossed the old Turkish-Austrian border to represent their locality at a folklore festival with a lengthy title: The Fifth Exhibition of Authentic Folklore of Banija, Bosanska Krajina, Kordun, Lika, and Pokuplje (V. Smotra izvornog folklora Banije, Bosanske Krajine ,Korduna,LikeiPokuplja).Fortheoccasion,theyhaddonnedtheir old-fashioned costumes—no longer the norm for everyday use. The men wore loose-fitting tunics of hand-loomed white linen and baggy trousers of the same material. Under their sandals of woven strips of leather, they wore white woolen socks. The only color in the costume was the faded red of the black-tasseled felt fez and a colored sash about the waist. The costumes of the women were of the same linen and of a similar cut. The tunics were longer and had light brown stripes from a natural dye woven into the material, but the baggy trousers (dimije) and their footwear were practically identical to those of the men. Bright sashes, cloth flowers sewn around the edge of their white kerchiefs, and necklaces of beads and coins lent a little color and femininity to their garb. I chatted with the Šturličani, and they sang a few songs for me to record. Following an ancient social custom, the women and men sang separately. The girls sang in a polyphonic style, which made use of a vocal drone and frequently the somewhat dissonant interval of the major second. The texts consisted of two-line verses of deseterac, the ten-syllable-line form of verse well known thanks to the numerous studies of South Slavic epic songs that are also typically sung in this form. Misliš diko da me neće niko A ja vraga svakome sam draga Šaren ćilim u malenu sobu Daj mi dragi usnice na probu [You think, my dear, that no one wants me / But the devil with you, everyone likes me // A bright carpet in a little room / Let me try out your lips, my dear] The Soloistic Tambura Comes to the Balkans 17 Members of the folklore ensemble from Sturlić, BosniaHerzegovina , June 1978. (Photos by author) The texts reflect sexual joking and teasing that goes on between the young women and men at the then still-vital folk custom of a communal work bee, called prelo, or sijelo, during which the tedium of repetitive handwork is relieved by song, jest, and socializing. The men’s singing was similar to the women’s except that it showed a greater degree of influence of the more recent na bas singing style, a style that has become widespread in their region (Bezić 1976, 199). A je lipa ona moja mala A je lipa ona moja mala Oj mati mati Zar da moraš za sve znati? Selom ideš, svašta čuješ Dojde doma, mene psuješ. [My little one is pretty / My little one is pretty / Oh Mother, Mother / Do you...

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