All Letters of Music
G – GUSLE
Just a short step from V we have the letter G, our musical trail that carries us straight to the sound of one of the most popular instruments of traditional Serbian folk music. Today is the day to meet gusle, an instrument not only used for playing music, not only played so that people could dance, but rather used for accompanying the most important epic poems told by guslars. Just like shepherds usually make their own flutes, guslars craft their own instruments, from a single piece of wood, usually from a dry compressed maple or walnut tree, and occasionally from oak or other types of wood, and sometimes even from pumpkins.
Skilled guslars are very respectable. And while their art is most often associated with folk tradition, we can also find them in art music. Listen to the first act of the “Symphony 1804” for gusle and symphony orchestra, composed by Ivan Jevtic. The soloist playing gusle is Bojana Pekovic, and she is performing alongside RTS Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Bojan Sudjic is conducting.
Pay attention to the sound of this instrument. Notice how art is created on a single wire with the help of this unusual bow. Learn how to sing along to the gusle, but also what this instrument sounds like together with a symphony orchestra. These are some of the findings which the letter G uncovers for us today. And tomorrow we’ll be moving on, eager to find out what novelties will be brought to us by music. Join us, as a regular follower of RTS Music Production official Facebook page and Instagram profile.