Vokale Mehrstimmigkeit auf dem Balkan und im Mittelmeerraum

Multipart music, one of the most fascinating phenomena in European folk music, has been a favoured object of research for a long time, particularly at national levels. Regional studies which extend beyond political boundaries, however, have been rare and sporadic. Since, as a rule, the regional and the political boundaries in Europe do not coincide, there was an almost untouched area for research into European folk music. The result was an initiative with the aim of moving multipart singing into the centre of attention of international ethnomusicological research. That led to the idea of the establishment of a "Research Centre for Multipart Music in Europe" in the shape of an international network of specialists, which would have its seat at the institute for Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Because of the great diversity of the various characteristics of European multipart music, a thorough examination can only be made by concentrating on specific topics and areas. Therefore the first publication connected with this research concentrates on "Multipart Singing in the Balkans and in the Mediterranean". It is based on a project supported by FWF, which brought together the researchers involved to a symposium with the title "European Voices. Multipart Singing in the Balkans and in the Mediterranean" (Vienna 11 - 13 March, 2005). This symposium was awarded a prize by the city of Vienna, the Vienna Economic Chamber, and the Vienna Convention Bureau. The geographical order of the articles in this book from southwest (Portugal) to southeast (Greece) was chosen to provide an overview of these European traditions. The inclusion of the Balkan countries was fundamental for us in order for them to be perceived as an indispensable part of Europe, which is still not necessarily the case. The issues dealt with in the articles offer different viewpoints, from the politics and aesthetics of two-part singing in southern Portugal (Castelo-Branco) to the new considerations of diaphony in southeast Europe (Brandl). In addition, this volume also considers multipart singing styles which had previously not been mentioned in scholarly research. This concerns first and foremost those in Spain (Ayats/Martinez) and mainland France (Casteret).