Bosnian root music (''izvorna bosanska muzika/изворна босанска музика'') is polyphonic type of singing. It is the most popular form of rural music in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. The singers are usually followed by

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

dvojnice Diple (pluralia tantum; pronounced , other Croatian names: ''"misnjiče"'', ''"miješnice"'' and ''"mih"'') is a traditional woodwind musical instrument originating in the Croatian Littoral, Adriatic Littoral. It is played in Music of Bosnia and He ...

and

šargija thumb The ''šargija'' ( sh, šargija, шаргија; sq, sharki or sharkia), anglicized as ''shargia'', is a plucked, fretted long necked lute used in the folk music of various Balkan countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Cr ...

. It is connected to ganga and ravne pjesme, which are also characteristic for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The origin of the music is unknown, but some characteristics, like different temperament from the standard music, suggest it is an old type of music.

Songs

The songs are about all kinds of things from being a "lola" and "baraba", about love of a woman, having a good life, but also about sad things like mostly the war in Bosnia, or the nostalgia that expatriates experience about their home country. More recently Bosnian root music has - in a humorous way - concentrated on some facets of the modern way of life, like the widespread use of Facebook and smartphones.

Bosnian Root Music groups and singers

Some well-known Bosnian root groups currently would be Sateliti, Raspjevani Meraklije, Marko and Ilija Begić, DiciMai and CrissMate, and many others. The music has proven to be a way for former enemies to become friends again. Root music is popular among Serbs from the areas in and surrounding Ozren, Croats from Usora,

Žepče Žepče ( sr-cyrl, Жепче) is a town and municipality located in Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, between Doboj and Zenica. ...

and

Posavina Posavina ( sr-cyr, Посавина) is a geographical region that stretches along the Sava river, encompassing only the inner areas of the Sava river basin, that are adjacent or near to the Sava river itself, namely catch region spanning fro ...

and even Bosniaks from

Podrinje Podrinje ( Serbian Cyrillic: Подриње) is the Slavic name of the Drina river basin, known in English as the Drina Valley. The Drina basin is shared between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, with majority of its territory being located in ...

Style

Bosnian root music is a polyphonic, or more commonly

heterophonic In music, heterophony is a type of texture characterized by the simultaneous variation of a single melodic line. Such a texture can be regarded as a kind of complex monophony in which there is only one basic melody, but realized at the same time ...

music, which is usually sung by two singers. The first singer starts the song, and after some number of syllables the other joins in. Intervals used in this type of singing are minor and major second, which is characteristic for most of the Bosnian and Herzegovinian music, and some parts of

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. Range of the songs is usually very narrow, consisting of only few tones. The two singers differ in the use of ornaments, so usually the first one who started the song uses

vibrato Vibrato ( Italian, from past participle of " vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms ...

and

trill TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) is an Internet Standard implemented by devices called TRILL switches. TRILL combines techniques from bridging and routing, and is the application of link-state routing to the VLAN-aware cus ...

while he is singing alone, and when the other joins in he uses no ornaments, while the other uses a lot of trill, which are produced from throat giving the overall performance its characteristic detuned nature. {{DEFAULTSORT:Izvorna Bosanska Muzika Culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina music