The Importance of the Cla(ri)net in the Musical Tradition of Golija

Folkloristics 7/2 (2022):
Author: Borisav Miljković
Text:

In domestic ethnomusicological literature, insufficient attention has been paid to the kla(ri)net (clarinet), an instrument that was an important carrier of instrumental folk practice in the past, and can still be heard in the field today. Although it is not considered a shepherd’s instrument, it was mostly played in the mountainous regions of the Dinaric massif, Golija and Pešter, and is also mentioned as part of the instrumentarium of other regions of Serbia. The field research of Golija, carried out in the period from 2009 to 2012 by Borisav Miljković and Branislav Stevanić, including recent research, testifies to the significant use of this instrument as the backbone of the dance-aesthetic-communicative social act. Besides recorded audio musical folklore material, the importance of the clarinet in this area is also evidenced by preserved instruments from many private collections, as well as in the narratives of informants, which will be presented in this review.

Keywords: klanet, clarinet, Golija (Serbia), musical folklore, field research.