The Aksak Rhythm, a Distinctive Feature of the Balkan Folklore

Nice Fracile

doi:10.1556/smus.44.2003.1-2.18

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Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae

Volume/Issue:: Volume 44: Issue 1-2

The Aksak Rhythm, a Distinctive Feature of the Balkan Folklore

Author:

Nice Fracile

Nice Fracile Akademija umetnosti Novi Sad

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Pages:: 191–204

Online Publication Date:: 22 Jul 2005

Publication Date:: 01 Feb 2003

Article Category:: Research Article

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1556/smus.44.2003.1-2.18

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The asymmetrical aksak rhythm represents one of the distinctive and most vital features of the musical traditions on the Balkans. In spite of that, this rhythm system - discovered only at the beginning of the 20th century in Bulgaria - has almost been unknown, both to the musicological/ ethnomusicological sciences, and to the world of serious music. Owing to inadequate transcriptions of most of the musical notations of the vocal and instrumental music from the beginning of the 20th century, it was hardly possible to perceive the presence of this asymmetric rhythm in the Balkan area. Because of that the ethnomusicological results of this paper are based primarily on the transcribed musical-folkloristic material dating from the second half of the 20th century. But, regardless of that or other difficulties, the musical material available enabled me to establish the presence and the different forms of the aksak rhythm in the Balkan region. Along this guideline, my intention is, on the basis of the available literatures and musical notations, to point out the most frequent forms and the distribution of the aksak rhythm, its earliest appearances in the works of composed music, as well as the continuity and changes of this rhythm in the vocal and instrumental tradition of the Balkan peoples.

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Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae

Print ISSN:: 0039-3266

Online ISSN:: 1588-2888

Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Language	English French German
Year of Foundation	1961
Publication Programme	changed title
Founder	Magyar Tudományos Akadémia
Founder's Address	H-1051 Budapest, Hungary, Széchenyi István tér 9.
Publisher	Akadémiai Kiadó
Publisher's Address	H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Responsible Publisher	Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN	0039-3266 (Print)
ISSN	1588-2888 (Online)