'Up there is a foggy mountain': An ethnomusicological-filological contribution on a traditional song from the Kopaonik region

Abstract

A comparative ethnomusicological and philological analysis was made of the narrative song (ballad) field recording Tamo gore maglita planina, from the village of Mrca, Kopaonik mountain region, South Serbia. The song was sung by Sultana Savic (b. in 1903) whose birthplace is the nearby village of Stava. Philological analysis revealed that the features of the song's language belong primarily to the Kosovo-Resava dialect type, with occasional influences from Prizren-Timok speech. The song's content shows its connection to old Balkan beliefs, partly personified by the shepherd mythological couple of Radoje (Vlasic Radule) and Janja. Ethnomusicological analysis provides numerous arguments (rudimentary monothematic form, refrain pause, tone row consisting of trichord, repetitiveness) to support the assumption that the song is a part of the archaic Balkan, Serbian and South Slavic ritual vocal tradition, formed, most probably, under the predominant influence of Dinaric rural vocal culture. These findings are also complementary to Jovan Cvijic's anthropogeographical remarks about the region where the song originates from.