New Sound 49, I/2017 In the Conclusion (pp. 211–214), the tic resemantization, which is a proof of the strategies are grouped in two basic ones, claim presented in the introduction that generalization and neutralization. They here we are dealing with a new, au- point to the expression of two basic aspects thochtonous lanuage. of the treatment of the past in Modernism: Bibliography (pp. 215–223) contains adopting or undoing one. The main finding 135 items, scientific studies and papers, in of the dissertation is the identification of the English, French, Russian and Serbian the common strategies of linguistic-stylis- languages. Article received on February 27th 2017 its development, as well as its contempo- Article accepted on March 10th 2017 rary varieties, which have been revitalized UDC: 784.4(497.11)(043.3)(049.32) as old urban music and occur in different performance contexts. The performance MARIJA DUMNIĆ process is crucial for preservation, espe- Institute of Musicology of the Serbian cially since preservation implies patination. Academy of Sciences and Arts, Urban folk music is considered to be popu- Belgrade lar folk music of various geographical and individual origins, which was performed vocally and/or instrumentally before World Istorijski aspekti i savremene prakse War II in the context of tavern music mak- izvođenja starogradske muzike u ing and transmitted via oral tradition and Beogradu [Historical Aspects and media. In musical and poetical terms, it Contemporary Performance Practices was characterized by adjusting folk melo- of “Old Urban Music” (starogradska dies from various local dialects to Western- muzika) in Belgrade]1 ized arrangements in terms of form, harmo- nization, and instrumentation (some synonyms include varoška and sevdalinka). The dissertation explores the performance Old urban music (which is defined here for aspects of “old urban music” from its past, the first time, in the domain of ethnomusi- i.e. “urban folk music” from the period of cology) is a contemporary nostalgic (histo- ricized or constructed) regional popular * Author contact information: practice based on the style of urban folk [email protected] music, in contrast to “newly composed folk 1 This review was written as part of the project music”. Both practices are vocal-instru- Serbian Musical Identities within Local and mental. The dissertation is focused on Bel- Global Frameworks: Traditions, Changes, Challenges (ON 177004), funded by the Minis- grade as the capital of former Yugoslavia, try of Education, Science, and Technological which made it the meeting place of musical Development of the Republic of Serbia. practices from both the south and north of 180 Defended Doctoral Theses Serbia and the crossroads between the East connected with live performances, where- and the West in the Balkans. It was the cen- from it took the material and fed it back tre of broadcasting, the place where presti- into the tradition. This system created the gious musicians of various origins came to industry of popular music, an important as- perform, and a wellspring of travelling mu- pect of which was the labelling of genres. sicians who both represented the local cul- This chapter provides data on Albanian and ture and adopted other repertoires and Bulgarian urban songs, the Greek rebetiko, styles. the Magyarnota, the Macedonian čalga, The analysis of the material (notated, Romanian Roma music, Slovenian old sound/recorded, documentary/administra- popular music, Turkish fasıl, Prague songs, tive, and journalistic) and literature was and Jewish, Romani, and Russian musical undertaken by combining theoretical and practices in the Balkans. The chapter also empiricist approaches. The material was discusses ethnomusicological texts about collected by means of archival work and urban music in the countries of former Yu- fieldwork. The chapter on theory and meth- goslavia (especially Croatia, Bosnia and odology establishes the coordinates of the Herzegovina, and Montenegro), as well as term “folk music” in ethnomusicology and certain parts of Serbia (Kosovo and Meto- popular music studies. The dynamics of the hija, Vojvodina, Vranje, Mačva, and Bel- concept of folk music can be classified as a grade). Finally, it addresses the emergence dichotomy of musical folklore and popular of the genre of old urban music in the music. The chapter discusses the method- 1970s, especially in the work of composers ological capacities of performance studies and arrangers Žarko Petrović and Đorđe and specific approaches deriving from the Karaklajić. That period was important for main discipline – historical and urban eth- Yugoslav popular music discography and nomusicology. sheet music market, especially for the pop- Chapter Three addresses the concep- ularization of zabavna muzika. tual, geographical, and chronological Chapter Four addresses the historical framework of old urban music. It provides aspects of old urban music performance in a deductive survey of the early develop- Belgrade, i.e. the performance of urban ment of global popular music (especially folk music between 1900 and 1941. The the French chanson, Italian canzona, Ger- chapter makes a special reference to the man Schlager, and Russian романс) and recollections used to form the discourse of deals with local ethnomusicological ap- the historization of old urban music. The proaches to urban folk music and old urban chapter reconstructs major performance music. An increase in cultural artefacts contexts – tavern (and salon) and radio per- used for entertainment in spare time led to formance, with all of the accompanying is- the emergence of today’s popular music. It sues, such as the professionalization of tav- stimulated the production of printed scores, ern musicians, official regulation of tavern later also recordings and broadcasting, thus music making, the institutionalization of enabling a wider urban audience to con- folk orchestras, the identification of vocal sume available music, with a folk signa- soloists, and repertoire regulation at Radio ture. That musical practice has been closely Belgrade. Bearing in mind the permeability 181 New Sound 49, I/2017 of borders between major categories of art, tural characteristics (melodic range and popular and folk music, the chapter prob- movement, harmony, tonality, tempo, lematizes “light” music, composed by Ser- metro-rhythm, form, arrangement, poetic bian composers of the time (in particular and verse structure, meaning of themes). Davorin Jenko, Stanislav Binički, Isidor The conclusion offers answers to the Bajić, Vasa Jovanović, Marko Nešić, Mita hypothesis and goals of the dissertation, as Orešković, and Vaclav Horejšek) and bour- well as a prediction regarding the future geois poetry, published popular music (the development of the genre of old urban sheet music editions of Jovan Frajt, avail- music. able 78 rpm gramophone records, and folk The dissertation contains 439 pages of music performed at Radio Belgrade), and text, 450 bibliographical units, 38 items of the repertoire performed in the taverns. The previously unpublished material, 43 illus- chapter provides a selection of repertoires trations (music scores, photographs, archi- and identifies songs that are still popular val documents), two appendices (a system- today. atic discography of starogradska muzika Chapter Five sheds light on contem- and a DVD with sound and video examples porary aspects of old urban music. The of representative contemporary perfor- concept of nostalgia (based mostly on mances), an abstract and keywords (in Ser- Svetlana Boym’s distinction between re- bian and English), a brief biography of the flective and restorative nostalgia) and two author, and acknowledgements. It was pub- different performance contexts are inter- licly defended at the Faculty of Music of preted by means of performance studies the University of Arts in Belgrade before a (emphasising the aspects of communica- committee comprising ethnomusicologists tion, affect, and commodification): perfor- and musicologists: Dr Mirjana Zakić (su- mances in the taverns of Skadarlija (Bel- pervisor), Dr Selena Rakočević, Dr Sanja grade’s “bohemian quarter”) and Zvonko Ranković, Dr Lozanka Peycheva, and Dr Bogdan’s concerts. The discourse of the Ivana Medić. It was recognized as the first genre of old urban music has been comple- scholarly study that intertwines theoretical mented with memories of old Belgrade, insights from musicology, ethnomusicol- Skadarlija, the taverns, rare records, distin- ogy, philosophy, sociology, culture, and guished musicians, and the repertoire of performance studies and skilfully and ef- urban folk music. The second subchapter fectively permeates historiography with deals with the repertoire of old urban music ethnography, seeking to clarify and demar- available in specialized discography and cate the folk and popular practices of urban sheet music. On the basis of an analysis of and old urban music, in diachronic and typical prescriptive notations and represen- synchronic terms alike. tative arrangements, the subchapter offers a discussion and classification of its struc- 182.