ASerb sings to the gusle (drawing from 1823). Serbian epic poems were often sung to the accompaniment of this traditional bowed string instrument.Guslar singing of the death of Lazar, at an encampent in Javor, during theSerbian–Ottoman War (1876–78).
Serbian epic poetry (Serbian:Српске епске народне песме,romanized: Srpske epske narodne pesme) is a form ofepic poetry created bySerbs originating in today'sSerbia,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Croatia,Montenegro andNorth Macedonia. The main cycles were composed by unknown Serb authors between the 14th and 19th centuries. They are largely concerned with historical events and personages. The instrument accompanying the epic poetry is thegusle.
Serbian epic poetry helped in developing theSerbian national consciousness.[1] The cycles ofPrince Marko, theHajduks andUskoks inspired the Serbs to restore freedom and their heroic past.[1] The Hajduks in particular, are seen as an integral part of national identity; in stories, the hajduks were heroes: they had played the role of the Serbian elite during Ottoman rule, they had defended the Serbs against Ottoman oppression, and prepared for the national liberation and contributed to it in theSerbian Revolution.[2]
The earliest surviving record of an epic poem related to Serbian epic poetry is a ten verse fragment of abugarštica song from 1497 in Southern Italy about the imprisonment ofSibinjanin Janko (John Hunyadi) byĐurađ Branković,[3][4] however the regional origin and ethnic identity of its Slavic performers remains a matter of scholarly dispute.[5][6] From at least the Ottoman period up until the present day, Serbian epic poetry was sung accompanied by thegusle and there are historical references to Serb performers playing the gusle at thePolish–Lithuanian royal courts in the 16th and 17th centuries, and later on in Ukraine and Hungary.[7] Hungarian historianSebestyén Tinódi wrote in 1554 that "there are many gusle players here in Hungary, but none is better at the Serbian style thanDimitrije Karaman", and described Karaman's performance to Turkish lord Uluman in 1551 inLipova: the guslar would hold the gusle between his knees and go into a highly emotional artistic performance with a sad and dedicated expression on his face.[8] Chronicler and poetMaciej Stryjkowski (1547–1582) included a verse mentions the Serbs singing heroic songs about ancestors fighting the Turks in his 1582 chronicle.[9]Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic used the phrase "to sing to the Serbian gusle" in his 1663idyllŚpiewacy (Singers).[9]
In 1824,Vuk Karadžić sent a copy of his folksong collection toJacob Grimm, who was particularly enthralled byThe Building of Skadar. Grimm translated it intoGerman, and described it as "one of the most touching poems of all nations and all times".[10][11]
Many of the epics are about the era of theOttomanoccupation of Serbia and the struggle for the liberation. With the efforts of ethnographer Vuk Karadžić, many of these epics and folk tales were collected and published in books in the first half of the 19th century. Up until that time, these poems and songs had been almost exclusively an oral tradition, transmitted by bards and singers. Among the books Karadžić published were:
A Small Simple-Folk Slavonic-Serbian Songbook, 1814; Serbian Folk Song-Book (Vols, I-IV, Leipzig edition, 1823-1833; Vols. I-IV, Vienna edition, 1841-1862)
Serbian Folk Tales (1821, with 166 riddles; and 1853)
Serbian Folk Proverbs and Other Common Expressions, 1834.
"Women's Songs" from Herzegovina (1866) - which was collected by Karadžić's collaborator and assistantVuk Vrčević
Thegusle (гусле) instrumentally accompanies heroic songs (epic poetry) in the Balkans.[13] The instrument is held vertically between the knees, with the left hand fingers on the neck.[13] The strings are never pressed to the neck, giving a harmonic and unique sound.[13] There is no consensus about the origin of the instrument, while some researchers believe it was brought with the Slavs to the Balkans, based on a 6th-century Byzantine source.[14]Teodosije the Hilandarian (1246–1328) wrote thatStefan Nemanjić (r. 1196–1228) often entertained theSerbian nobility with musicians with drums and "gusle".[15] Reliable written records about thegusle appear only in the 15th century.[14] 16th-century travel memoirs mention the instrument inBosnia andSerbia.[14]
It is known that Serbs sang to thegusle during the Ottoman period. Notable Serbian performers played at the Polish royal courts in the 16th- and 17th centuries, and later on in Ukraine and in Hungary.[16] There is an old mention in Serbo-Croatian literature that a Serbian guslar was present at the court ofWładysław II Jagiełło in 1415.[9] In a poem published in 1612, Kasper Miaskowski wrote that "the Serbian gusle andgaidas will overwhelmShrove Tuesday".[9]Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic used the phrase "to sing to the Serbian gusle" in his 1663idyllŚpiewacy ("Singers").[9]
Pre-Kosovo cycle (Преткосовски циклус/Pretkosovski ciklus) - poems about events that predate theBattle of Kosovo (1389)
Kosovo cycle (Косовски циклус/Kosovski ciklus) - poems about events that happened just before and after theBattle of Kosovo
Post-Kosovo cycle (Покосовски циклус/Pokosovski ciklus) - poems about post-Battle events
Cycle ofKraljević Marko (Циклус Краљевића Марка/Ciklus Kraljevića Marka)
Cycle ofhajduks anduskoks (Хајдучки и ускочки циклус, Хајдучке и ускочке песме) – poems about brigands and rebels
Poems about the liberation of Serbia and Montenegro (циклус ослобођења Србије, Песме о ослобођењу Србије и Црне Горе) - poems about the 19th-century battles against theOttomans
Unsorted (Неразврстане/Nerazvrstane) – poems that do not belong to any of the cycles mentioned above
Poems depict historical events with varying degrees of accuracy.
Kosovo Maiden byUroš PredićDyingPavle Orlović is given water by a maiden who seeks her fiancé; he tells her that her love,Milan, and his two blood-brothersMiloš andIvan are dead. —taken from the Serb epic poem
There two pines were growing together, and among them one thin-topped fir; neither there were just some two green pines nor among them one thin-topped fir, but those two were just some two born brothers one is Pavle, other is Radule and among them little sis' Jelena.
"I'm afraid that there will be a brawl. And if really there will be a brawl, Woe to one who is next to Marko!"
"Thou dear hand, oh thou my fair green apple, Where didst blossom? Where has fate now plucked thee? Woe is me! thou blossomed on my bosom, Thou wast plucked, alas, upon Kosovo!"
"Oh my bird, oh my dear grey falcon,[21] How do you feel with your wing torn out?" "I am feeling with my wing torn out Like a brother one without the other."
Modern example of Serbian epics as recorded in 1992 by film directorPaweł Pawlikowski in a documentary for theBBCSerbian epics; an anonymousgusle singer compares Radovan Karadžić, as he prepares to depart forGeneva for peace talk, toKarađorđe, who had led theFirst Serbian Uprising against the Turks in 1804:[22]
"Hey, Radovan, you man of steel! The greatest leader since Karađorđe! Defend our freedom and our faith, On the shores ofLake Geneva."
The ballads of Serbia occupy a high position, perhaps the highest position, in the ballad literature of Europe. They would, if well known, astonish Europe... In them breathes a clear and inborn poetry such as can scarcely be found among any other modern people.
Epic poetry is recorded still today. Some modern songs are published in books or recorded, and undercopyright, but some are inpublic domain, and modified by subsequent authors just like old ones. There are new songs that mimic old epic poetry, but are humorous and not epic in nature; these are also circulating around with no known author. In 1881,Elodie Lawton reported that for the amusement of his listeners, a member of theNational Assembly of Serbia fromRipanj named Anta Neshich[a] would recount debates over a monetary reform bill in the style of epic poetry.[23] Modern epic heroes include: Slobodan Milošević, Radovan Karadžić, Milan Martić, Ratko Mladić and Vojislav Šešelj. Topics include:Yugoslav wars,NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, and theHague Tribunal.
Popular modern Serbian epic performers,guslari (Guslars) include:Milomir "Miljan" Miljanić, Đoko Koprivica, Boško Vujačić, Vlastimir Barać, Sava Stanišić, Miloš Šegrt, Saša Laketić and Milan Mrdović.
^Wendy Bracewell (2003)."The Proud Name of Hajduks". In Norman M. Naimark; Holly Case (eds.).Yugoslavia and Its Historians: Understanding the Balkan Wars of the 1990s. Stanford University Press. pp. 25–.ISBN978-0-8047-8029-2.
^Matica Srpska Review of Stage Art and Music. Matica. 2003. p. 109....родовског удруживања и кнежинске самоуправе, а према механизму фолклорне рецепци^е садржаја званичне културе, српске епске јуначке песме, посебно бугарштице, прва је забележена већ 1497. године, чувају успомене и ...
^Milošević-Đorđević, Nada (2001).Srpske narodne epske pesme i balade. Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva. p. 10.ISBN9788617088130.Крајем XV века, 1497. године, појављује се за сада први познати запис од десет бугарштичких стихова, које је у свом епу забележио италијански ... Јанка, ердељског племића (чије је право име Јанош Хуњади) у тамници српског деспота Ђурђа Бранковића.
^Šimunović, Petar (1984),"Sklavunske naseobine u južnoj Italiji i naša prva zapisana bugaršćica",Narodna Umjetnost: Croatian Journal of Ethnology and Folklore Research (in Croatian),21 (1), Institute of Ethonology and Folklore Research:56–61 – via Hrčak - Portal znanstvenih časopisa Republike Hrvatske
^Bošković-Stulli, Maja (2004),"Bugarštice",Narodna Umjetnost: Croatian Journal of Ethnology and Folklore Research (in Croatian),41 (2), Institute of Ethonology and Folklore Research:38–39 – via Hrčak - Portal znanstvenih časopisa Republike Hrvatske
^Pejovic, Roksanda (1995)."Medieval music".The history of Serbian Culture. Rastko.
^Pejovic, Roksanda (1995)."Medieval music".The history of Serbian Culture. Rastko.
^Pavle Ivić (1996).Istorija srpske kulture. Dečje novine. p. 160.ISBN9788636707920. Retrieved9 September 2013.Бенедикт Курипечић. пореклом Словенаи, који између 1530. и 1531. путује као тумач аустријског посланства, у свом Путопису препричава део косовске легенде, спомиње епско певање о Милошу Обилићу у крајевима удаљеним од места догађаја, у Босни и Хрватској, и запажа настајање нових песама.
^Lawton, Elodie (1881).Kossovo: an Attempt to Bring Serbian National Songs, about the Fall of the Serbian Empire at the Battle of Kossovo, Into on Poem. Cambridge, MA: W. Isbister. p. 40.
Public domain)
