Serbo-Croatian epic

[Judywermuth at CS.COM]

The best studies of the Balkan guslari  (which existed until about World War 
II in Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Albania) 
are German. German scholarship was particularly concerned with Balkan folklore. 
The name Wilfried Fiedler comes to mind but I cannot quote particular titles 
right now. The text with which an epic song would start (in the beginning or 
after a break) was not set in stone. Traditionally, it was the music played on 
the gusla (or lahuta, a Balklan string instrument that sounds similar to a 
viola) that served as a prelude or an intermezzo to the story. 

Judith Wermuth-Atkinson
Columbia University   </HTML>

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