Vuk magare na plot nagonio (groktalica) – Žegar, HR

Obrad Milić: poziva, grokti
Kacper Siejkowski: poziva, grokti
Zofia Zaborowska, Aleksandra Mrozowska: prate

Obrad Milić: sings and plays diple and gusle. Born in 1938 in Žegar in the North Dalmatia, (currently Croatia). One of the most important Serbian traditional musicians. He learned music since childhood from his father Bogdan and developed his own unique style inspired by older musicians like Todor Komazec from Žegar.

The historical Village of Žegar located in the mountains of North Dalmatia in the region of Bukovica (currently Croatia) consists of 4 smaller villages: Žegarian Kastel, Nadvoda, Komazeci, and Bogatnik. It is inhabited by Dalmatian Serbs. The rough climate of the mountains complemented by the picturesque gorges of the Zrmanja River for ages has provided shelter to its inhabitants, at the same time isolating them from the outside world. For generations, the people of Žegar cultivate various archaic musical traditions: groktalica, kantalica, samacko pjevanie, pjevanje na bas.

Groktalica (also called Ojkanje) – a traditional style of polyphonic singing, cultivated in Dalmatia, Velebit, Lika, Kodurn and Karlovac. As described in the Harvard Dictionary of Music: Ojkanje is a particular style of melizmatic singing with sharp and long lasting voice-trembling on syllables “oy” or “hoy”. According to experts ojkanje is a relict of singing from Ilirian region of ancient Dalmatia (modern day Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Monte Negro). In 2010 this style was included in the unesco list of intangible cultural heritage as “Ojkanje singing”, in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.
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About us – Balkan Polyphony is a field research project that collects traditional music from the Balkan area. We are not interested in any ideologies, we don’t take sides in any historical conflicts. What interests us is traditional culture and its musical intricacies.