Sunday, 14th September
14:00 Mokranje Holy Trinity Church courtyard
Artist’s portrait and audio material promotion Wallachian traditional folk music: Canto I,
by Dimitrije O. Golemović
Ethno group Gergina, Negotin
Students of Traditional Serbian music department of MS Mokranjac, Belgrade
KUD Mokranjac, Mokranje
KUD Abrašević, Kraljevo
On Sunday, 14th September, 2025, the program Threads of Tradition, dedicated to original folk art, will be held at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Mokranje, the village of origin of composer Stevan Mokranjac.
The program begins with a presentation of the character and work of the creator, Prof. Dimitrije O. Golemović, D.A., ethnomusicologist and the promotion of his audio material: Wallachian traditional folk music: Canto I.
Traditional northeastern Serbia Wallachian folk singing is unison. Along with solo forms, even those performed in groups are in unison, which unequivocally indicates the superiority of „melodic“ over „harmonic sense“. When talking about folk singing, not only among the Vlachs, but in general, along with the aforementioned consonant component, the text stands out as focal, and along with it, the tune, or melody. Songs among the Vlachs are created similarly to those of other peoples, by singing a new text to an already known tune. Other than that, Vlachs are able to recite song lyrics without difficulty, regardless of their length. This trait, which, by the way, testifies to the high level of „professionalism“ of individual performers, is observed among Vlachs as a trait of the entire people, for which there are two possible explanations. According to one of them, it is a product of the aforementioned freedom in the way they live, since they have as a people remained close to nature, and according to the other – that they are able to extract the text from a song because it is most often organized in singing – in clear verse formations, with frequent use of rhyme. The power of separating individual elements from the whole when it comes to singing also refers to the melody, which Vlachs not only effortlessly extract from a song, but its performance on one of the syllables: la, la, la, etc. serves as a kind of reminder of what song it is about.
The audio CD of Wallachian traditional folk singing contains a selection of 24 tracks, originating from the collection of audio material of ethnomusicologist and composer Prof. Dr. Dimitrije O. Golemović, who conducted research on Vlach music in more than 50 villages over a period of almost half a century (starting in 1978).
Dimitrije O. Golemović, ethnomusicologist and composer (Belgrade, 1954), studied at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, at the departments of ethnomusicology, composition and solo singing, and received his master’s degree and doctorate in ethnomusicology. From 1979 to 2019, he was employed at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, as a professor of ethnomusicology. As part of his work on traditional folk music, he conducted field research in hundreds of villages in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Macedonia, recording valuable audio and video material. He is the author of 125 scientific papers, of which 15 are books in the field of ethnomusicology, and 11 CDs.
In the second part of the program, the Gergina ethno group from Negotin will perform, as will students from the Department of Traditional Serbian music of the Mokranjac music school from Belgrade, as well as the KUD Mokranjac ensemble from Mokranje and KUD Abrašević from Kraljevo.
The ethno group Gergina (2012) was formed within the eponymous association in Negotin with the aim of preserving original Wallachian songs. So far, it has performed at the Gergina festival, as well as at numerous events and festivals in the country and abroad. Its recording of the song Venji najka-al mjeu asară (My dear came to me last night) is included on the audio CD of traditional Serbian music, which promoted cultural heritage at the prestigious world event – World Music Expo Womex 2016. On the occasion of the group’s tenth anniversary, a CD called Dunăre, Dunăre (Danube, Danube) with 19 original Wallachian songs was published. The association and the Gergina ethno group are the winners of the May Award of the Municipality of Negotin in 2022 in the field of protection and preservation of the identity and cultural heritage of the Vlachs.
The Mokranjac Music School (founded in Belgrade in 1899) is the oldest Serbian music and pedagogical institution in Serbia through which many famous musical figures from almost all parts of the former Yugoslavia have passed as professors and students. Serbian traditional singing and playing became a part of our musical education in this school 30 years ago, thanks to Prof. Sanja Ranković, D.A. and several ethnomusicologists, professors from the Faculty of Music. At the beginning of work, traditional singing was introduced, and later playing the pipe, gusle and kaval, the current professors are: Branko Tadić, Nataša Mihaljinac and Milica Đorđević (traditional singing), Miloš Nikolić (kaval), Sonja Šipić (pipe) and Mihailo Vučković (gusle).
At the Department, which at the moment has over 70 students, folk songs are taught exclusively in their original form, as they are cherished by the people in their customary practice, from all parts of the region where Serbs live. The department’s singing group has performed a number of times at various cultural events (Days of Mokranjac, BEMUS, Joy of Europe, Skopje Summer, Banja Luka Cultural Summer), and has also held concerts at the Ethnographic Museum, SKC, Belgrade City Library, Kolarac, the Temple of St. Sava, etc. Students of the Department of traditional singing and playing, who have also presented themselves to audiences in Japan, France, Croatia, Macedonia, Cyprus, Greece and Germany, are also winners of numerous awards at folk art competitions and festivals that foster traditional music, such as the Vocal Ethno Festival (VEF) in Negotin, the Krajiški biseri in Plandište, the pipe competition in Prislonica and others.
KUD (Cultural Artistic Association) Mokranjac from Mokranje officially renewed its work in early 2010. It currently has about fifty active members. The folklore ensembles perform mainly old original dances, which were once performed in Mokranje. The association has participated in traditional manifestations of original folk art, such as Village Meetings, Krajina Customs in Štubik, and as a representative of the municipality of Negotin, at the festivals ’Prođoh Levač, prođoh Šumadiju’ in Kalenić, Homolje motifs in Kučevo, FVNS Omoljanca, the Assembly of Tradition and Culture of Serbs ’Belgrade Winner’, as well as at the Days of Mokranjac festival.
KUD Abrašević has a significant role in the history of its city of where it has been operating continuously since its founding in 1926. After a break during World War II, the Drama section grew into the Kraljevo theatre in 1948. Today, the association has over 500 members who are active in the folklore section with nine groups of different ages, a choir and drama section, a male and female singing group, an ethno group, a folk orchestra and a music workshop. Abrašević is a member of the Serbian section of CIOFF and the organizer of the six-day festival Summer at Abrašević.