Current music and dance practice of central Kosovo and Metohija: Transformations since the 1990s

Abstract

Ethnomusicological and ethnochoreological research of the central part of Kosovo and Metohija has been conducted since the late 19th century up to the present. However, the gathered data are sparse and provide insufficient (and only partial) information regarding the music and dance tradition of this area. This fact was the main motive for arranging our own field trip to the region, during 2015 and 2016. The recorded material and numerous informants' narratives provided an important insight into the state of both previous and contemporary music and dance practice, enabling one to examine the transformations regarding music and dance that have taken place since the 1990s from several viewpoints: national and multinational, professional and amateur, local and regional. The causes of the changes that have occurred over the course of the last few decades, will be discussed in this paper through the political, ideological, sociological, and cultural prism. Thus, our attention will focus particularly on the national ensembles Shota (Pristina) and Venac (Gračanica), as well as on the local repertoire of different ethnic groups - Serbian, Albanian, Romani and Croatian, in former and contemporary conditions. An especially intriguing question is to what extent, and in what ways did geopolitical restructuring and cultural evaluations in the post-socialist period influence the sustainability, i.e. the change in music and dance forms, as important aspects of the self-representation of the ethnicities that exist in this region?