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"Playing ‘Til Your Soul Comes Out! showcases three styles of North Macedonian traditional music: Christian female village singing, Romani (Gypsy) zurli-tapan ensembles, and the Ottoman Turkish urban ensemble called čalgija.These varying styles demonstrate the ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity of North Macedonia.
Čalgija, the rarest of the three, is an instrumental urban style that uses the North Macedonian mekam, of which there are only three performers remaining. All but one of the musicians that Koenig recorded are now deceased.
Martin Koenig and Sonia Tamar Seeman provide historical background and unique insight via the liner notes, and include an overview of the music of mid-20th-century North Macedonia with historical and cultural context for each track, as well as transcriptions of all lyrics into English."
description from Smithsonian Folkways
The publication is now available only as liner notes at Smithsonian Folkways.
