2.   Supetarska Draga, the island of Rab
 

Performing Kacic's and other's heroic poems as a part of the wedding customs was characteristic for many places, and it is still today preserved in Supetarska Draga on the island of Rab. Male singers from Supetarska Draga  perform pivanje po starinsku ("singing in the old fashioned way") or pivanje po musku (male singing) especially at the wedding ceremonies. The typical decasyllabic wedding epic song is Zenidba Sibinjanina Janka (The marriage of Sibinj' Janko) [7]. Singers start performing a part of the song at the most intense and celebratory moment - the taking of the bride. Singing of parts of the song continues through the whole wedding ceremony (Bagur 2004:42). The male singing group from Supetarska Draga performs in non-tempered intervals with a distinctive manner of ornamentation and decoration of melodic line, which matches the traditional singing in the regions of Istria and Quarnero islands. In the same time, singing techniques are typical for the mountainous Croatian area from where the inhabitants of Supetarska Draga possibly migrated. Strong vibrato or shaking of the voice (ojkanje) is typical singing manner of the mountainous areas and stock-raising culture. It is characterized by performing longer or shorter melisma, with the sharp and prolonged shaking voice on the syllables "oj", "voj", "ej", or "aj" (Marosevic 2000:414) [8].

In the cycle of poems about the Turkish incursion into Europe, Kacic dedicated particular attention to two heroes, Albanian nobleman Skenderbeg and Hungarian nobleman Janos Hunyadi, who is depicted in folk songs as Janko Sibinjanin. (Primorac 2004:15). The song Zenidba Sibinjanin Janka, Kacic's book Razgovori ugodni naroda Slovinskoga  ("Pleasant Conversations of the Slavic People") song number 43, is one of the most popular Kacic' songs (Bagur 2004: 42).

Supetaska Draga, otok Rab

(file wmv, 56",  1.06 Mb)

 


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