Ottoman Influence on Folk Music Tradition of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The paper is aimed at outlining forms of traditional folk music making in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B-H) that were exposed to influences of Oriental-Islamic culture during the Ottoman rule. One can positively say that Oriental influence was crucial in the development of instrumental music making, spiritual music and shaping of B-H urban music practice. T . K A R A Č A B E L J A K , J . T A L A M • O T T O M A N I N F L U E N C E . . . .

Bosnia and Herzegovina (B-H) is considered the oldest South Slavic feudal state.Following the break-up of Roman Empire (in 395) into Eastern and Western, Bosnia becomes the borderline between the two great cultures.From the early Middle Ages, it was situated between Byzantium and Frankish Empire, and then Serbia and Croatian-Hungarian Monarchy.Over centuries, Bosnian people managed to achieve their own political, economic and cultural identity.It is important to remember ct that Kulin ban (1180-1204) already forged significant economic and cultural ties with neighbors.It is proven by the Contract on Trade with Dubrovnik, signed on August 28th, 1189.(cf.Imamović 1997).
Over years of research, academician Cvjetko Rihtman recorded specific vocal forms that cannot be encountered among other Balkans people.These are polyphonic forms performed according to inherited tradition and on certain sites in B-H.Rihtman established that some forms of this practice coincide with areas where some Illyrian tribes used to live.This fact led to his conviction that the described forms are a 'relic of Illyrian musical culture' (Rihtman 1998: 8).
The medieval Bosnian state is associated with the concept of Bogumilism 1 and Bosnian Church, which existed in this region over about 400 years (Hamidović 2000: 154).Sacred music related to the Bosnian Church is one in a series of unknowns associated with Bogumilism.In the late 13 th century, Franciscan order of Minor Brothers (Ordo fratrum minorum) came to Bosnia and rapidly gained popularity among people.In Franciscan monasteries, sacred music that corresponded with the spirit of the church music of the time was performed (Nilević 1998: 35).Mirna Marić emphasizes Missa Quotidiana 2 and Credo Cingalinum, and the Proper of St. Elias Mass.These forms were recorded in 'monastery song-book manuscripts and mass books compiled for their own needs' (Marić 2008: 239) Data originating from Dubrovnik Archives lead to the conclusion that music played a very significant role in the Middle Ages.Bosnian feudal lords adopted the medieval knightly-court culture, which attached a great significance to music.Courts held bands that gathered a number of musicians and artistes.In the 1410-1463 period, Bosnian musicians used to visit Dubrovnik, mostly at celebrations of St. Blaise, Dubrovnik patron saint.Ivan Čavlović writes that musicians are mentioned under the following names: pifferi and piffarri (pipers), lautarius i lautares (lutists), tubetae, tubatores and tubicinae (trumpeters), pulsatores (percussion players), quacharii, quacharini, gnacharini and gniacharini (drummers), campognatores (bagpupe players) and sonatores (players).(Čavlović 2006: 20)

Ottoman rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ottomans draw origin from Central Asia, from the nomadic tribe of Kayu Turaka.In the establishment of Ottoman state system, a significant role was played by merchants, craftsmen and ulema -Islam interpreters and teachers.In the late 14 th century, Bajazit I ruled the empire that spread from the Euphrates to the Danube.In 1384, during the rule of King Tvrtko I Kotromanić, Ottomans made the first raid to Bosnia.Bosnia was ultimately defeated in the spring of 1463, when sultan Mehmed I Fatih conquered Bobovac, the last stronghold of Bosnian kings.It should be noted that immediately upon the establishment of Ottoman rule, guardian of the Franciscan monastery in Fojnica, fra Anđelo Zvizdović asked for the freedom of religious activities for Bosnian Franciscans.In accordance with sheri regulations, sultan Mehmed I Fatih issued an adhnama -a written guarantee of the freedom of further religious activities.
1 Bogumil religion is considered a movement, i.e. an ascetic sect that believes in the sinfulness of matter.Bogumil preaching was headed by djed or an alderman.Byzantine writer Epigan believes that etymological meaning of the word 'bogumil' is 'let God have mercy'.2 Vinko Krajtmajer recorded that 'among numerous rites where music plays a prominent role that we find in practice or that existed in Bosnian Franciscans' practice, a particular interest is aroused by Missa Quotidiana (Lat.Quotidie -every day; quotidiana -daily).This is understandable, since it is an aspect of traditional practice that was not recorded in official publications and whose duration was mostly conditioned by oral lore'.(Krajtmajer 1997: 61).
Contrary to other South Slavic states, Bosnia preserved its territorial borders.Upon the Ottoman arrival, direct and intense ties between the medieval Bosnian and Oriental-Islamic civilization developed.Oriental civilization was founded on Islam, a religion that uses Koran to regulate various segments of life.Through the Ottoman Empire, B-H population learned about the Oriental-Islamic way of life in various segments: Islam as a religion, culture and art, as well as a military, administrative and economic system.
Ottoman rule in B-H lasted until 1878.Centuries-long Ottoman rule witnessed acculturation processes that have been very intense and that left significant marks recognizable in the B-H folk-music practice to this day.

Ottoman influence on B-H folk-music tradition
During the centuries-long Ottoman rule in Bosnia, the tradition lived and developed in a few parallel streams of unequal scope, intensity and duration, popularity and influence.At present, we can claim that Oriental influence was crucial for shaping urban B-H musical practice, deeply permeating earlier layers of Bosnian sound harmony.This influence left its trace, though to a lesser extent, in the rural musical practice as well.Until the Ottomans arrival, B-H folk-music tradition developed within the rural patriarchal, crop-farming and cattle-breeding culture.Due to its complexity, the older polyphonic practice remained firmly linked to specific areas.These are specific interpretations of people living in small communities, in settlements scattered and nestling on non-or hardly accessible terrains.The technique of polyphonic singing is such that it requires certain 'rehearsal' by the singer, certain continuity of performance and pronounced awareness of such aesthetic concept.The goal is to reach particular style-related ideals and general sound unity, thus achieving full voice unison of functionally same or different sections of polyphonic singing, as well as expressive strength.
It is very significant to mention singing by the pan, a practice that, according to Wolf Dietrich, started in the early Turkish period and represented one of specific forms of female rural musical practice (Dietrich 1976: 74).In folk language, singing by the pan is known as 'tepsijanje' ('panning').This technique is achieved by continuously rotating a pan on a sofra 3 .The pan is placed upright and rotated with the stretched right hand and using the wrist.Singing starts at the point when the woman rotating the pan feels that the pan sound has settled.The older way of performing includes a single person rotating the pan and singing.She would stand in a bent position and sing right above the pan.In this way her voice was reflected against the pan surface and created a specific echo.Nowadays, singing by a pan includes two women.The woman that rotates the pan bends on one side of sofra, while the woman who sings in the direction of the pan kneels sideways.By directing her face toward the copper pan surface, her voice is directly reflected against the pan surface.In this way, a distinctive singing quality is achieved, with the echo effect being its significant characteristic.While being rotated, the pan produces a steady, specific and even sound without a definite pitch, and serves 3 Sofra is a low round wooden base that used to serve as a dining table.

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as the bourdon accompaniment to singing4 .By the end of singing, the pan falls freely, and the singer ends her singing when the pan falls on the sofra.
Wedding is one of the most significant customs of all ethnic groups inhabiting Bosnia and Herzegovina.Muslim population eventually adopted some elements of wedding customs that were direct influenced by Oriental culture, although it should be pointed out that other parts of wedding customs, considered 'old-fashioned' remained unchanged.Rihtman writes that a foreign influence was 'adopted particularly easily when it occurred with songs accompanying parts of Muslim wedding custom, parts that are missing in Christian ones.Thus songs sung, e.g. during the bride 'krnanje', i.e. painting tips of her fingers and toes with 'krna' (red vegetal colour) on the day before the first marital night.' (Rihtman 1982: 12).The custom of bride knivanje or krnanje is primarily aimed at leaving a recognizable mark that it is a young bride, and it also has a symbolic function, that of protection from evil powers.During knivanje, songs functionally related to the rite were performed.Tunes related to this custom were typically unisonous.This phenomenon is also observed in the rural tradition characterized by polyphonic singing, which leads to the conclusion that it is an Oriental influence (Petrović 1989a: 132).
Ottoman rule in B-H brought about huge changes in the position, nature and role of towns.New urban settlements sprang up throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, or leaned on older ones.New towns differed from the European ones by their emergence, development and role.Bosnian beys preserved the custom of keeping professional singers for a very long time, and in this way inherited some forms of living transferred from the Bosnian medieval period.It was recorded that, in Sarajevo, people played and sang in the households of the Dženetićs, Porčas, and other respectable families.Smail-bey Dženetić lived in Ćemaluša Street and frequently organized get-togethers where the saaz was played.It was men who gathered at get-togethers, while women sat in the haremluk (women's section).Sources say that people also played in the house of Hasan Porča and his sons Mekhem and Abdija (died in 1877).Hadži Junuz Ekmić, Topal ejni-han priest, also played the saaz writes that 'hadži Junuz Ekmić is a haberdasher by profession… He died on August 19th, 1878 during the occupation of Sarajevo.Ibrahim-bey Hadžiosmanović remembers him well and says that he was very sociable, and could also play the saaz.' (Traljić 1937: 34-36).
Hamdija Kreševljaković mentions prominent folk singers that sang with tambura accompaniment: 'Until recently, there were some excellent folk singers, who sang heroic songs with the accompaniment of tambura at beys' fireplaces and in coffee houses.For some, singing was the only profession, while others had other jobs as well.Today, people even don't remember most of their names, while the memory of some remained in the foreword to the third volume of the 'Croatian folk songs' book, written by dr.Luka Marjanović.The most famous singer of the first half of the last century [19th century, op.J.T.] was Ćerim Čajić.He was the last Ostrozac captain Muratbeg's singer, and they say he could sing 366 songs.He died in Cazin, in about 1845.His son Mahmut and grandson Mašo are also singers.Mašo is alive, well and merry although he is about 90 years old.' (Kreševljaković 1935: 90-91) The overall life of B-H urban environments of the time led to the emergence of sevdalinkas.This complex time that was spontaneously experienced in music brought about this indigenous musical-poetic form which, in its base, contains the 'actual local temporal feature' (Rizvić 1969: 484), through naming real persons known in its environment, even accurately specifying neighborhoods they lived in.Sevdalinkas are thus 'contemporaries' memoir-like lyrical recordings of the personalities that were their ideal and role-model.' (Ibid: 484).In urban singing, one distinguishes between female and male songs.A woman lived 'within four walls', turned toward her family and a very narrow circle of closest relatives and female friends, and when she sang, she mostly sang 'for herself'.Her song is 'subdued', refined, subtle, it spoke of what moral norms did not allow her to express openly.On the other hand, the male song is more open, abandoned, lascivious, sung at get-togethers, dusk gatherings, 'by a glass', and hence its name, sarhoška (song of the drunk).Still, they have something in common: we recognize both as a sevdalinka, both sing of love, though in different ways.Both are essentially songs of intimate nature, intended for performance in a closed environment; in terms of dynamics, they are of lower intensity, traditionally performed by a single singer, without accompaniment or accompanied by saaz (and, more recently, accordion), with a pronounced possibility to express individual expressiveness and artistic capabilities.Distinctive features of these songs include a sentence of broad breath and scope, melisma, alteration and, in a certain number of cases, an augmented second.(cf.Karača-Beljak 2004: 57).
Sevdalinka did not grow exclusively out of Bosnian traditional sound sediment.Its shaping was also influenced by certain elements of Oriental music modal systems.The fact that this form is so well established primarily confirms the fact that, regardless of primary models, it was created by Bosnians, who introduced layers of their own spiritual heritage and elements of their own reality and homeland.
It is also important to point to secular and sacred forms of Spanish Jews -Sephardic Jews, who came to B-H as exiles from Spain and Portugal in the 1492-1506 (cf.Petrović 1989b: 54).These forms can rarely be heard today, and exist only among older Sephardi.For this reason, they deserve a special attention as a mark of cultural survival of a small ethnic and religious community on our grounds over five centuries.Sephardi preserved local cultural features of certain environments on the Pyrenean peninsula they draw their origin from (Katz 1973 237-243).Consequently, a special attention in Sephardic tradition should be paid to songs by Spanish romance writers, some of which originated on the Iberian peninsula in the late Middle Ages, as well as those created in our regions and sung in line with 'Bosnian mekam.'5

Sacred music
In this section, we will focus on individual segments of Islamic, Catholic and Orthodox sacred music that survived from the Ottoman age to this day.
Islamic sacred music is almost regularly associated with dervish orders, within which it was created, developed and remained to this day.Tesawwuf6 or Islamic mysticism in B-H is known as tarikat 7 -institutional tesawwuf, and its followers as dervishes.Čehajić writes that the 'emergence of dervish orders and raising of sufi institutions started as early as in the 15 th century: the Isa-bey one in 1462 [in Sarajevo, op.J.T.], and somewhat later, as can be seen from a 1489 defter (agenda), Ajas-bey's tekija (convent) in Visoko, sheikh Muslihudin's tekija in Rogatica'.(Čehajić 1986: 21).In the 15th-17th century period, nakšibendija, mevlevija, halvetija and kadirija orders appeared in B-H.Gathering places included tekijas and hakekahs 8 .Nakšibendija order was the most numerous and gathered urban and rural population. 9 Besides the described forms that emerged among people, one should also mention melopoetic forms that had the established lyrics known throughout the Islamic world.It primarily refers to ezan and salavats.Ezan is a melopoetic form that emerged during Hegira 10 , and it serves to invite believers to each of the five daily prayers.Ezan 11 has a unique text that consists of seven sentences propounding foundations of Islam.Contrary to the textual, ezan melodic pattern is not uniformly established, and its melodic patterns vary, although not essentially, both in some Islamic countries and in B-H.It is significant to note that some rural settings, such as Vukeljići tekija, preserved the custom of polyphonic performance of salavat and ezan during mubarek evenings 12 .Two or three 'callers' stand in front of the tekija, put their hand behind the ear and alternately call out salavat textual phrases.In certain moments their voices overlap and lead to two-part singing, which is in line with older rural tradition.
Word salavat 13 implies a blessing that has to be prayed upon the mention of Messenger's name.Salavats vary by content and tune, depending on the occasion.Their lyrics are always in Arabic, whose strict pronunciation rules affect the melody rhythm.Salavat is functional part of the Islamic religious ritual and as such has a certain musical significance.In its original form it has characteristics of Oriental musical practice, while in our region it adopted some indigenous traditional features of both rural and urban musical practice.
In tekijas, mostly of nakšibendija and mevlevija orders, poetry in Bosnian, Turkish and Arabic was created and cherished; it was spread by oral transmission or transcriptions in Arabica alphabet.Ilahija 14 is one of the most significant melopoetic forms of Islamic sacred music.The way of singing ilahijas was transmitted exclusively orally.
Singing tradition changed over time, the changes depending on musical abilities of people that transmitted them.Ilahijas can be sung in the following ways: by a soloist, by a group in unison, and by a soloist with rhythmical pronunciation of given textual phrases by all the participants in the ritual.Soloist singing of ilahijas in folk tradition was mostly recorded in cases of their performance in home settings.They are mostly sung by mothers as a form of lullaby15 , or to somewhat older children when they want to direct them to the Islamic way of life.Such ilahijas have long lyrics and are of cational character.Another way of performing ilahijas is encountered within religious celebrations or some significant events marked in a religious manner.The third way of performance is used only within zikr 16 .They are performed with rhythmical pronouncing by other zikr participants and are characterized by simple and short melo-verses of syllabic character.Thus, this is functional music where lyrics play the main role (cf.Talam 2003: 47).
During zikr, dervishes stand or sit in a circle.Performance of melopoetic forms can be understood as a discipline of breathing and sound pitches.In discussions on mysticism, Eva de Vitray Meyerevitch writes that 'sacred music is confirmed as a means of inspiring cognition, since it emerges out of gratitude, reminiscence in the Platonic sense of the word.Its goal is not the relish of listening to lovely tunes, but rather fathoming godly allusion.Music is awakening of the soul; it revokes time since it turns it into remembrance.Influences of invisible world, both auditory and visual, produce a powerful effect on the heart when they are in harmony with it, i.e. when the heart is pure.' (Meyerevitch-de Vitray 1988: 173) It was during the Ottoman rule that Catholic sacred music in Bosnia and Herzegovina experienced a significant growth.Special vocal forms sung during great Catholic feasts include folk songs.'By 'Bosnian' church folk lyric songs we imply tunes the structure of which shows a great resemblance or even identity with the parallel profane type of folk songs in Bosnia… Authors of these 'Bosnian' church songs are mostly unknown so far.They were probably gifted individuals or educated persons of Bosnian origin whose names have so far been unknown to us'.(Topić 1998: 149) Folk singing, essentially choral psalmody, was frequently transfigured and assumed stylistic features of local traditional musical practice.Very interesting examples of folk songs were recorded in west Herzegovina, their musical base being ganga -a special form of ancient Bosnian singing characterized by a small tonal sequence, minor and major second intervals experienced as consonances, as well as by use of rudimentary grace tones or tone groups 17 .
One of very interesting vocal forms is Our Lady's Tears, which sings about Christ's Passion in a distinctive way (Doliner 2001: 97-106) The first recording of Our Lady's Tears dates back to the first half of the 17 th century, and was made by fra Matija Divković (Jelaške by Vareš, 1563-Olovo, 1631).(Gavran 1988: 14-17) Our Lady's Tears was sung on all Lent days, most frequently on Good Friday or during the Way of Cross (Topić 2005: 177) As Cvjetko Rihtman claims, the influence of Islam on Orthodox tradition can be noticed even before the arrival of Ottomans.'One should not forget that long before Turkish invasion, Byzantium had been a mediator of this influence over a long time period, that it itself adopted numerous achievements of flourishing culture of the early Christian age from its eastern provinces and transferred them, together with Christianity, to its west neighbours.We know that, in the 12 th century, this role was taken by monasteries on Atos (Serbian monastery Hilandar being one of them), and that St. Sava, upon gaining independence for Serbian church, allowed a direct contact with monasteries of Syria and Palestine, without the mediation of Greek church.' (Rihtman 1982: 20).Rihtman made this conclusion based on the representations of some instruments of oriental origin found on paintings in the monasteries that date back to the Middle Ages, and in endowments of Serbian rulers who lived almost two centuries before Ottoman arrival.

Musical instruments
Traditional folk instrumental music of B-H rural communities corresponds with the described style characteristics of vocal music.Rural musical instruments are considered more archaic compared to urban ones.Studies so far have shown that, before Ottoman arrival, idiophone and aerophone instruments had a significant place in our rural practice.Ottoman arrival brought about the emergence of various kinds of music making that had not been known in B-H before.This primarily refers to Turkish military bands -mehterhanas, and traveling musicians in Romany population.'In Turkish army, music had an important position, which could also be seen in Bosnia, as well as among military personnel: in fortified towns, headquarters, and at pasha's, as well as in affluent beys' homes.Naturally, its function was not the same everywhere.Beyond their job, players (mekters) could play for people's entertainment.A 1654 sidžil (court protocol) from Jajce explicitly prescribes when players are bound to pay mekterija (type of tax), and when they are exempt from it.'Music' could be distinguished by instrumental ensemble, as well as by the number of players.Among military musical instruments, the most frequently mentioned ones include drums, kettledrums, flutes, zurnas, zilas and borijas, and, to a lesser extent, horn, trempas, čamparas and ahen-kahen' (Rihtman 1982: 12).A certain number of these instruments have been preserved in the folk music tradition to this day.The most significant ones include flutes with double reed -zurnas and chordophone instruments of the long-necked lute type, known by the common name of tambura among people.It is a fact that these instruments are of Oriental origin, although Bosnian people adjusted them to their own needs and made them in somewhat different variants.In his work 'Putovanje po Hercegovini, Bosni i staroj Srbiji' (Travelling through Herzegovina, Bosnia and old Serbia) (1972) Aleksandar Giljferding 18 noted following: 'The concert started upon the arrival of an old Muslim with the tambura.Tambura (something like our balalaika) is a beloved instrument of B-H Muslims.The Stolac artist was plucking its four high-pitched metal strings using a plectrum with unusual diligence.This produced a dull and, to be honest, non-harmonic sound for our ears.Hamza-bey (Rizvanbegović), however, listened with pleasure.At moments, he would get carried away with an emotional love song, at times he would laugh shouting: Aferim!Aferim!when the song would describe something funny.We asked Hamza-bey if he listened to songs often.'Every evening -it's my pastime.''(Giljferding 1972: 50) The use of tamburas in Bosnia is also proven by an 18 th century manuscript kept in the Gazi-Husrev bey's library in Sarajevo.It is Code 380, a collection of seven different books in the field of Koran interpretation.The seventh book in the collection is ilmihal (religion textbook) in Turkish by an unknown author, transcribed by hadži Sulejman, Muhammed's son, in Gradačac, on ševal 23rd, 1180 Hagira year (March 24th, 1767).One paragraph of the ilmihal says that 'a man who was using a kind of saaz in this world will be given the same saaz on the Doomsday and will play it; music will be on his mind at his death hour, and therefore he risks losing the faith.Will he be able, then, to think of God, or will he die thinking of saaz?Will he be able to listen carefully to prayers of Kelima -and šehadet 19 that those present besides him will pray at that hour?Will he be afraid of devil and saaz possessing him and moving to the Other World without faith.'(Dobrača 1963: 141-142) Such an unfounded attitude toward saaz and music in general was spread among Muslims as an Islam attitude.Still, in spite of such a negative view, instruments were very popular among Muslim population of Bosnia.

Conclusion
The paper was aimed at outlining achievements of Oriental-Islamic civilization, which had a significant influence on the B-H folk music tradition through Ottomans.The acculturation process lasted intensely for almost four centuries, and its traces are clearly visible even today through various forms of folk music expression.This primarily applies to the use of some types of aerophone instruments, and chordophone instruments of long-necked lute type known under the common name of tamburas among people, singing with a pan, wedding songs related to the custom of bride knivanje, urban love songs -sevdalinkas, Sephardi romances in Ladino language, as well as melopoetic forms of Islamic, Catholic and Orthodox sacred music.Austro-Hungarian rule (1878-1914) gave the European stamp and spirit of western civilization to the Oriental system of living -cultural patterns arisen as a fusion between medieval Bosnian tradition and Oriental-Islamic civilization.The result of these "encounters", evident in architecture and other arts is the foundation of the modern B-H society.

Bibliography
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