3.   Kali, the island of Ugljan
 

Female singing group from Kali on the island of Ugljan (Zadar archipelago) performs "The Poem about Mladen and Rosanda" (Pisma o Mladenu i Rosandi). Rosanda, a story of tragic love written in decasyllabic verses by Dinko Bekavac [9], was extremely popular and widespread all over Dalmatia. At the time, many local authors, inspired by Kacic's poetry, "wrote" (sklanjati) [10] the similar topic songs in decasyllabic verses. The manner of performing (singing or reciting) long epic songs is equivalent to local traditional musical (vocal) styles. The particular singing from Kali, frequently in an open guttural vocal style, is two-part non tempered singing or a narrow interval style with major second endings . Songs like "The Poem about Mladen and Rosanda", which depicts tragic events with tragic ending, were known as zalojke (zaliti - to mourn, mourning songs) (Bagur 2004:34). The singers from Kali distinguish zalojke as part of the popular singing repertoire. Singing about tragic events made them, at the same time, a style that combined singing and crying. Waiting for "news" is an integral part of their lives; their husbands are one of the most skillful tuna fishermen who spend most of their time at the sea – formerly on the Adriatic coast, now in the Pacific Ocean (particularly the Californian coast and Western Samoa).

Female singing group from Kali is constitutent of the folklore group Kualjske posestrine i pobratini ("Sisterhood and brotherhood from Kali"). They are bearers of an older tradition of singing and dancing as a reminder of the past time when this musical tradition was a part of everyday life in Kali.

Kali, otok Ukljan

(file wmv, 1'15", 801 Kb)


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