Uccelli [née Pazzini], Carolina Uccellini, Marco

(k) South Slavic.

Introduction. Although South Slavic immigration may have begun as early as the 17th century and continues to the present day, most immigrants from the lands of the former Yugoslavia left to escape economic hardship during the mass migration of 1880–1910. Most were peasants from the Austro-Hungarian territories of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, and to a lesser extent from Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia (which were under the control of the Ottoman Empire). By the turn of the 20th century, the principal communities had been formed (mostly in mining and manufacturing areas), and religious and social institutions – churches, fraternal organizations, newspapers and cultural organizations – had been established. It is estimated that between 1·5 and 2 million people of South Slavic descent live in North America.

A number of traditional contexts for music were transplanted to North America, including weddings, dances, informal home gatherings and the slava (family religious observance). New contexts include amateur singing societies, certain church services, bećar gatherings (see below), commercial recordings and public performances. The last is a particularly conspicuous part of Slavic American culture, as hundreds of groups dressed in traditional costumes perform regional songs and dances to the accompaniment of native instruments. Excellent relations between these groups and the government-sponsored matice iseljenike (immigrant societies) of the several former Yugoslav republics ensure continuing contact with the native cultures. In presenting traditional culture, transformed for the concert stage, Slavic American performing groups re-create and identify with an ethnic milieu in which they no longer live; contemporary Slavic American immigrant folklore, however, is generally not represented on stage.

Despite the enormous diversity of regional styles in South Slavic traditional music, the Slavic American immigrant repertories comprise somewhat homogenized musical styles. Vocal music, the largest part of the repertory, generally has rounded strophic forms, diatonic intervals and a manner of performance based to a large extent on evolving popular music styles in the home areas. This style was doubtless influenced by the presence of foreign élites (Austrian, Italian and Hungarian) in southern Slav cities at the time of the mass migration. Instrumental music, principally for dancing, also reflects these influences; the most common dance forms are waltzes and polkas, and Western instruments such as accordion, violin, guitar and wind instruments are more frequently played than traditional instruments. Nonetheless, distinctive regional hybrid styles may be found in Slavic American communities.

Slovenian. Americans of Slovene descent number some 350,000 individuals. As Slovenia is bordered by Austria and Alpine Italy, Slovenian folk music has an Alpine flavour that has been retained in the USA. Strophic forms, triadic harmonies and partsinging characterize the vocal music, whereas instrumental music follows the models of Alpine polkas and waltzes. Slovenian Americans such as Frank Yankovich have been in the forefront of the pan-ethnic polka movement in the Midwest, which created a hybrid American-style polka and waltz repertory. This style has been adapted to liturgical use in the so-called ‘polka mass’ shared by Slovenes, Croats, Poles and other eastern European Catholics. Yankovich's ensemble includes accordion, banjo, double bass, drums and voices, with woodwind and brass instruments sometimes added. While the conventional chromatic accordion continues to be the most popular Slovenian instrument, there has been a revival in recent years of ‘button-box’ orchestras, ensembles of diatonic button accordions.

Macedonian. Americans of Macedonian origin are thought to number some 60,000 individuals; many identify themselves as Bulgarians, and their culture has much in common with that of Bulgaria. They arrived later and in smaller numbers than other South Slavs and have not established cultural institutions to the same extent. Their music is taken largely from commercial sources in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and at Macedonian American gatherings traditional and modern songs, as well as a few Macedonian and Serbian dances, may be heard. Because of additive rhythms and scales with augmented intervals (the latter a legacy of Turkish occupation), Macedonian songs are considered somewhat exotic and oriental by other Slavic Americans and are very popular at their gatherings. As in other Slavic American groups, accordion and clarinet are prominent in dance and vocal accompaniment, and are sometimes augmented by guitar, double bass, tarabuka goblet drum or tapan double-headed bass drum (see also §(d) above).

Bosnians, Croatians, Serbians. Serbo-Croatian-speaking Americans and their descendants number some 600,000–1,000,000 Croats and 250,000–400,000 Serbs (including Montenegrins). The Bosnian Muslim population has swollen to an estimated 100,000 following the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, and Bosnians (including Bosnian Croats and Serbs) who might formerly have associated with other South Slavic groups are now forming their own communities. Four distinct musical style areas are included in the Croatian and Serbian regions of the former Yugoslavia, and isolated examples from some of these styles may be found in a few American communities: ojkanje (non-tempered diaphonic song form) among highland Croats and Bosnians, sevdalinke (Turkish-influenced love songs) among Bosnian Muslims, the playing of chromatic polyphony on sopila (oboes) among northern Adriatic Croats, linđo dancing to rhymed calls and lijerica (three-string fiddle) accompaniment among Dalmatians, and the performance of epic songs accompanied by the gusle (one-string fiddle) mostly among Serbs. However, these styles have generally not been transmitted to the second and subsequent generations and hence have not contributed to a Slavic American style. Rather, a hybrid song repertory is shared by many Croats and Serbs and has been passed to second, third and in some cases fourth generations. It consists of rural songs of a more recent style, urban songs composed on rural models and foreign song styles (mostly Austrian, Italian, Hungarian and to some degree Turkish) adapted to Serbo-Croatian texts. Such a homogenization of styles is probably due to several factors: the long association and common experiences of different Serbo-Croatian-speaking nationalities in North America, a pan-Slavic trend already current in the South Slavic region in the late 19th century, and (despite the frequent use of accordions and other instruments) the general preference of American Croats and Serbs for the tambura instrumental medium.

Tambura refers to a family of long-necked plucked lutes, of Turkish origin, found throughout the Balkans. By the time of the mass migration, the simple, hand-hewn instruments had been pressed into the service of southern Slav nationalists as a symbol of cultural unity and had been modified to serve in a European-influenced string ensemble. By the 1890s tambura instruments had arrived and were being manufactured in North America; this industry continues to flourish. Tambura instruments and ensembles rapidly spread throughout the USA and Canada, a movement aided by appearances in vaudeville of tambura musicians, recordings in Serbo-Croatian, and teachers and arrangers such as Paul Perman, John Rozgaj, Rudolph Crnkovic and the Crlenica Brothers.

Three trends in American tambura music may be discerned, parallel to those in the former Yugoslavia. The first is a cultivated tradition whose adherents seek to legitimize tambura as a progressive cultural activity through an emphasis on musical literacy, trained musicianship, concert performances and a semi-classical repertory. Its most prominent representative is Walter Kolar, who as director of the Duquesne University Tamburitzans and Junior Tamburitzans, has established the model for Slavic American folklore groups and tambura music education. The second, often known as bećar (‘young rake’) music, derives from rural traditions emphasizing orally acquired repertory and technique, small ensembles and an informal celebratory atmosphere. Dave Zupkovich and Marty Kapugi are important bećar figures; some groups, such as the respected Popovich Brothers Orchestra, are equally comfortable in concert and bećar environments. Bećar ensembles also play for dances, which in addition to waltzes and polkas include many kolo (circle) and other southern Slav dances.

The third trend is the result of recent political developments. Since World War II, and particularly since the Yugoslav wars, the hybrid nature of the Croatian-Serbian musical culture has been weakened by political and religious disputes and by the increasing preference of all Slavic Americans for artists and recordings of their own ethnicity. This has led to a keen awareness in both Croatian and Serbian communities of the distinction between American and European Slavic traditions. Although each tradition has its partisans, the American hybrids are increasingly the province of the older generations, while younger generations espouse ethnic musical monocultures. As tambura is coming to be accepted in the former Yugoslav republics as an expressly Croatian musical form, and American tambura music is dominated by younger Croatian tambura musicians such as Jerry Grcevich and the Slanina (‘bacon’) Orchestra, who are actively engaged with contemporary Croatian tambura music and its incorporation of international popular styles. Younger Serbian and other Slavic Americans, to the extent that they honour a musical-cultural heritage, do so within their own ethnic groups and in general eschew tambura music. At the end of the 20th century the established Slavic American cultural institutions and expressive forms were undergoing a fundamental transition.

USA, §II, 1(iii): Traditional music: European American: Eastern