Starogradska muzika
Encyclopedia
Starogradska muzika is an urban
Urban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...

 traditional folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 of Macedonia and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

.

In Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

This music was very popular during early 1900s in Serbia. Today, this music can be heard in bohemian part of Belgrade, Skadarlija
Skadarlija
Skadarlija is a vintage street, an urban neighborhood and former municipality of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia...

. It is also most popular in the northern part of Serbia, Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...

. The most famous performer of such music is Zvonko Bogdan
Zvonko Bogdan
Zvonko Bogdan is an eminent performer of traditional folk songs of Serbia, Croatia, Hungary and Romania. Apart from being famous as a singer, he is also a composer, painter and harness racer...

.
The lyrics are often romantic and depict the city life, as well as some more rural scenes.

In Macedonia

Some of the most prominent Starogradska muzika performers are Ansambl Biljana from the city of Ohrid
Ohrid
Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has...

, which was considered an important center for this music style in the past along with Bitola
Bitola
Bitola is a city in the southwestern part of the Republic of Macedonia. The city is an administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial, and educational centre. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba and Nidže mountains, 14 km north of the...

, Prilep
Prilep
Prilep is the fourth largest city in the Republic of Macedonia. It has a population of 66,246 citizens. Prilep is known as "the city under Marko's Towers" because of its proximity to the towers of Prince Marko.-Name:...

 and others.

The emergence of the Starogradska music scene is related to the development of the cities and the bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...

 under the influences from the West in the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 occupied Macedonia during the 19th century.

Unlike the rural folk which portrays the life in the villages and the nature surrounding them, the hard agricultural work in the fields etc. the Starogradska muzika lyrics are about the life in the city, its famous loves and tragedies, its famous characters (be they rich traders or poor beggars) etc. Starogradska music uses instruments such as violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

s and clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

s instead of rural ones such as gajda
Gaida
The gaida is a musical instrument, aerophone, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag.The gaida, and its variations, is a traditional musical instrument for entire Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East....

 for example. Also, while rural folk performers usually wear traditional village costumes
National costume
Folk costume expresses an identity through costume which usually to a geographic area or a period of time in history, but can also indicate social, marital and/or religious status...

, the starogradska music performers are usually dressed in European old city fashions (suits
Suit (clothing)
In clothing, a suit is a set of garments made from the same cloth, consisting of at least a jacket and trousers. Lounge suits are the most common style of Western suit, originating in the United Kingdom as country wear...

, hats and neckties, as well as accessories such as pocket watch
Pocket watch
A pocket watch is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popular after World War I during which a transitional design,...

es, walking sticks etc.).

An important, if not the most important part of the Macedonian old city music is the musical genre called Čalgija
Calgija
Čalgija is a subgenre of the old urban traditional folk music of Republic of Macedonia.Čalgija is performed by ensembles called Čalgii with instruments such as a dajre and tarabuka providing percussion for ut , kanun , clarinet and violin.Čalgija is an old part of the whole...

 (not to be confused with chalga
Chalga
Chalga is a Bulgarian music genre. It is a blend of Arabic, Balkan, Bulgarian, Greek and Turkish influences, as well as motives from flamenco, filmi and klezmer music...

, which is a contemporary Turbofolk style in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

 and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

). In both rural and urban Macedonian folk, songs about famous revolutionaries also exist.

Other important starogradska muzika performers are: the vocal groups Oktet Makedonija from Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...

 and Oktet Kumanovo from Kumanovo
Kumanovo
Kumanovo is a city in the Republic of Macedonia and is the seat of Kumanovo Municipality which is the largest municipality in the country. Municipal institutions include a city council, mayor and other administrative bodies.-Name:...

, the vocal and instrumental ensemble Raspeani Resenčani from Resen
Resen (city)
Resen is a town in southwestern Macedonia, with just under 9,000 inhabitants. Resen is approximately equidistant between Bitola and Ohrid. The town rises 880 meters above sea level and is situated near Lake Prespa...

 and others.

Macedonian songs


See also

  • Music of Republic of Macedonia
  • Music of Serbia
    Music of Serbia
    Serbs and Serbia has a variety of traditional music, which is part of the wider Balkan tradition, with its own distinctive sound and characteristics.-History:...


  • Folk music
    Folk music
    Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

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