Do They Sound Like Bells or Like Howling Wolves?
Interferential Diaphony in Bistritsa- An Investigation into a Multi-Part Singing Tradition in a Middle-Western Bulgarian Village
Published on 10. July 2013
Book
Hardback
419 pages
978-3-631-62910-9 (ISBN)
Description
This study represents a thorough investigation of a polyphonic vocal village tradition in Bistritsa, Bulgaria. Outsiders describe the narrow intervals of these songs as being «maximally rough», while the singers themselves experience their performance as smooth, beautiful and pleasant. Almost identical polyphonic traditions can be found in places sometimes thousands of kilometers apart. This inquiry is carried out within a very broad and comparative context, whereby historical sources, the origin of different constituents and etymologies as well as electronic sound analysis are taken into account. The results are stunning and ever more relevant - and not just for ethnomusicologists: The babi or grannies of Bistritsa and their songs have been inscribed on UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mankind in 2008.
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Additional editions
Gerald Florian Messner
Do They Sound Like Bells or Like Howling Wolves?
Interferential Diaphony in Bistritsa- An Investigation into a Multi-Part Singing Tradition in a Middle-Western Bulgarian Village
E-Book
12/2013
150th Edition
Peter Lang Verlag
€98.69
Available for download
Person
Gerald Florian Messner, an internationally renowned ethnomusicologist, has conducted extensive fieldwork in the areas of ritual and primary performance and different traditional singing styles in South-Eastern Europe, Oceania and Indonesia.
Content
Contents: Interferential Diaphony - <<Schwebungsdiaphonie>> - Multi-part singing - Vocal style - Narrow intervals - Ethnomusicology - Psychoacoustics - Audio-physiology - Auditory perception - Performance practice - Sonagraphy - Transcription - Bulgaria - Bistritsa - Papua Niugini - East Flores.