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Written in Folk Roots issue 170/171, 1997

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Croatie - Musiques D’Autrefois
Ocora C 600006 (1997)

A timely release, of richly varied music recorded for Croatian Radio between 1958 and 1993 in the field and at folklore festivals. If for you the words “field recording” equate with “heavy going”, be assured there’s none of that here - the track sequencing flows musically, and it’s a treasure trove.
      Slavic, Mediterranean, Central European and Balkan traditions overlap in Croatia, and there’s too much in the 39 tracks moving through regional traditions from the north-west down to the Adriatic islands to begin to describe in any helpful way, except to say that, starting with Tereza Marcinjaš’s swooping solo vocal in a style reminiscent of Belle Stewart, each track opens a new window, with solo and ensemble vocals and instruments including the widespread tambura (lute) and its variants such as beglajt and dangubica, plus cimbal (hammered dulcimer), citura (drone zither fretted using a sliding noter stick as in some Appalachian dulcimer techniques), violin, svirala (double-tube flute, also called dvojnice), sopila (shawm) and diple (double-chanter bagpipe).


© 1997 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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