"Pjesme I Plesovi Naroda Jugoslavije - Kosmet" (1959)

Carried away with my sudden enthusiasm for old "Jugoton" archives, I continued my musical research with this 1959. EP recording for no other reason that I am vaguely familiar with music of other parts of Ex- Yugoslavia (each "Songs and Dances of Yugoslavia" recording covering a particular area) but honestly have no idea what kind of music they have in Kosovo. So there you go, where no man has gone before. 

Released in 1959. under the title "Pjesme I Plesovi Naroda Jugoslavije - Kosmet" ("Songs and Dances of Yugoslavia - Kosmet") this compilation was probably amassed from tracks already recorded previously by local folk artists. The cover picture shows male vocal trio dressed in traditional folk costume and this is perfect description of the music inside the package: rough-hewn, lilting, soulful and somehow yearning under the surface, despite strong rhythms. Since I was born in completely different part of the country and don't understand a word, this could all be from the Mars but I approached it all as an interesting music experiment and immediately noted certain similarity with music from nearby Macedonia and Bulgaria - its easy to imagine this as a kind of village dance music because each song has sinuous rhythm accented with dazzling drums and quite virtuosic accordions. The first thing you notice are singers and their strong, wailing voices but I kept my attention on excellent backing musicians who are really very good, in fact personally I enjoy some of these players even more than featured singers who are probably perfectly authentic but sound a bit harsh to modern listener. Ladies are also represented - Manakovska Gonđa and Pakaštica Behiđa - who are naturally much sweeter-sounding than their male colleagues, though their high-pitched voices remind me very much of music from India so its very interesting to contemplate how such strong Asian (Middle Eastern?) influence came all the way to Balkans. It is probably not something I will listen very often but its quite eye-opening (ear-opening?) and obscure enough to appeal to me.