The first group were women singing various songs from various parts of this country, each one with it’s one tone and personality (that’s the music, not the women).
The first of the songs was accompanied by the traditional wind instrument made from the dried stomach of a sheep. The music is plaintive and discordant, eery in the most beautiful way. The other music was from Slovenia, which was rich and cheerful, from the area near Hungary where it was racy and gypsy like, and another song you could hear the influences of the Austrian music. The costumes were beautifully colourful (sorry about the photos), and the singing was one minute harsh and intense and then soft and feminine.
The band from Zagreb that followed was obviously influenced by a mutual love of African beats. They all had the matching baggy cotton pants - they had the total look down to a fine art. Last time I saw pants like that was at the hippy fairs in the Far North! The minute that they started playing I couldn’t keep my feet still – the beats were intense, the rhythm was unbelievable – so much music from only percussion instruments! I loved it, and they obviously loved playing it.
The last band which came on just before midnight was five musicians with even more energy and just as much humour – a double bass, various electric guitars and an electric violin. After two songs, the area in front of the stage was filled with dancing people. They played old Istrian and Slovenian songs that the people around me knew the words to, at least the people older than 40s did. It would be a shame for this music to die out with the globalization of music. A comment was made that the young people are not taught these songs and not given an appreciation of it at school any more. That’s a shame, but I guess it is the same cry world wide. I sound like an old grandmother ‘oh, it’s just that awful stuff that they listen to on the radio…”.
It must be said again – these people can sing! They have such wonderful voices and music and singing are such a huge part of their lives – I love it! And for me, to have these concerts to go to in the evenings, I feel so lucky.
Oh, and I see in the local paper that there is another cultural group performing in the town square on Friday night – the kapahaka group is coming from Wellington! I’m so excited, I’ll make sure that I get a front row seat!
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