Koroška: A Selection of Original Recordings of Traditional Music

The CD contains 29 samples from the original release: love songs (Nos. 1, 5, 8, 1O, 11, 14, 20 and 24), narratives (Nos. 12, 15 and 23), children’s pieces and nursery rhymes (Nos. 2, 4 and 9), carols (Nos. 16, 26 and 28), wedding songs
(Nos. 6 and 19), a ceremonial dance (No. 3), a guild song (No. 22), a name day song (No. 29), a death lament (No. 21 ), a patriotic piece (No. 18), a study song (no. 13), a devotion (No. 17), a New Year cel­ebratory piece (No. 27), and two instru­menta! dance melodies (Nos. 7 and 25).

The song lyrics are given in a simplified phonetic transcription (by Dr Zmaga Kumer), while the music was transcribed by Julijan Strajnar (except Nos. 21 to 29, which were transcribed by Igor Cvetko). The monophonic pieces have been trans­posed so that the fina! note is G’, while at the end of the melody the original pitch is shown by a note with no tail. The poly­phonic and instrumenta! pieces are shown in their original pitch. The metro­nomic mark),= 86-11 O signifies an accelerando. The tirne signature is shown as (5/4), while (},) at the beginning of a line denotes a preliminary bar which only appears in some verses. + 1 /4 shows the value by which the basic bar is extended. ), ), denotes a ligature, which only occur irlcertain verses, and a dotted bar line (!) shows the principal accent or a sec­ondary accent in composed bar mea­sures.

Notes with tails in opposite directions (Jr) mark the rhythmic changes that occur in some verses, while v and r-. indicate the shortening or lengthening of a note by less than half of its value. * denotes an unpitched note. The place and date of recording are shown at the top of every score, along with the piece’s serial number in the sound archives (M 31.853). At the bottom of the score the name, pseu­donym and year of birth of the singer or musician are shown. After the lyrics a glossary of lesser-known dialect terms is printed as required.

The Slovenians settled Carinhia in the 6th century, at the same tirne as the other regions; in the 7th century their ethnic ter­ritory achieved its maximum expansion. But as early as the 8th century the Slovenian principality of Carantania lost its independence, and fell under Bavarian and Frankish dimination. Towards the close of the Middle Ages, partly because of foreign colonization, partly because of pressure, the northern fronthern frontiers of the ethnic territory began shifting southwards; thus the current area of Slovenian Carinthia is only a tenth of what it used to be. It in the Middle Ages Carantania was synonymous with Slovenia, and Slovenians on either side of the Karavanken range were called Carantanians, then as late as the 19th century Carinthia, in development of Slovenian culture, at least on a par with the central regions ot Slovenia, and Celovec (Klagenturt) in some respects outshone even Ljubljana. Neither at the end ot World War 1, nor at the end od World War II the Carinthian Slovenians were able to join their co-nationals in a single national state; they were destined to remain a minority, exposed to political, cultural and economic pressure. Nevertheless, Slovenian Carinthia is, from the viewpoint of ethnology, an inte­gral part ot the Slovenian ethnic territory, and popular traditions ony help to contirm this view.

Slovenian Carinthia is composed of a »garland of three valleys«, Rož, Podjuna, and Zilja, which at the same tirne repre­sent three distinct dialects. They differ considerably one from another, and their archaic traits set them apart also from the bulk of Slovenian dialects.

In linguistic and folklore terms Slovenian Carinthia is part ot the ethnically Slovene lands. The Carintian Slovenes are enthusiastic singers; they cultivate, with particular predilection, choral singing, for even folk song is polyphonic in Carinthia. The repertory of the choirs mostly consists of adaptations of folk songs from Carinthia and other Slovenian regions. Instrumental music is less significant, for it only serves to accompany dances, and the muscians are nowadays predominantly accordion players (mehač, or mehovec, in the Carinthian dialects).

The dances are the same as in the rest of Central Europe. A unique feature is the prvi rej of Zilja Valley, which formal­ly resembles Styrian dance (štajeriš) with song accompaniment, but differs from it both in rhythm and by its character of strictly ritual dance, held only once a year, after the stehvanje competition. Before the appearance of the accordion, the Carinthians used the same folk instru­ments as other Slovenian regions. The sources mention, for instance, fiddles and oprekelj. There is also a number of toy instruments and shepherds pipes with various dialectal names.

In content, the Carinthian folk songs are by no means a special development; they are closely linked with the general Slovenian musical traditions, though some songs are typical of the region. Since the Karavanken range was never an impassable barrier, the songs were transported from Carinthia to other Slovenian regions, and vice versa. There are remarkably few narrative poems in Carinthia, even less than elsewhere in Slovenia. Apparently after the 18th centu­ry short four-line songs in the jumpy »Alpine rhythm« prevailed; they derive from improvised mocking rhymes sung at the štajeriš dance. While in other Slovenian regions such rhymes encour­aged the development of various strophic forms with a greater number of lines, Carinthia has preserved the original fourline verse, sung in slow measure, often to specially developed tunes. If the four-part or five-part singing of Carinthia was at one time considered a regional trait, recent research indicates that it is only an ancient style of polyphonic singing once prevailing throughout the Slovenian territory. It was linked to sings of a wide tonal range and harmonic structure, which according to the experts belong to an archaic layer of folk tradi­tion. That this folk polyphony has not arisen under the influence of choral song, is proved, among other things, by the dialect expressions defining the various voice parts, and describing this style of singing. In the Zilja Valley, for instance, some songs are sung »up-and-down« (vis-pa-dov) one singer begins the song, and carries (vozi) the tune, a second embroiders the tune by moving at a high­er or a lower pitch, a third may join him as the »third part« (na trečo), while all the remaining singers take the bass part. The locals say the song must wind its course like the Zilja River. Carinthian singing pro­duces a full, harmonious and soft sound.

Warmest thanks go to all those who assisted in any way with the preparation of this CD. I am particularly grateful to my colleagues Zmaga Kumer and Drago Kunej, and to Vilko Ovsenik, who came up with the idea for the CD. Naturally my deepest gratitude goes to all the singers and musicians on the pieces; they are testimony to the persistence of our fellow Slovenes on the other side of the Karawanken Alps. Let us hope that this CD encourages them to preserve their national character.

Julijan Strajnar, Ljubljana 1998
Translation AMIDAS d.o.o.