Echoes of the secular and religious musical practices of the Prusac area in our time

Abstract

Prusac is one of the few places in Bosnia and Herzegovina that can be said to have retained features of the traditional life in which the speed at which we now live has not to any great extent displaced established cultural patterns. Even now, in the 21st century, Prusac is a place that cannot be described as either a town or a village. It is a homogeneous environment with a hundred per cent Muslim population, where religious is still widely practised. As a result, religious music is still very much present, thanks in considerable measure to the Ajvatovica ceremony, the largest and most significant event in this area. Secular music is also fostered in Prusac, as is evident from surviving musical expressions as well as from accounts of those that live on only in the memory of the people of Prusac. It was therefore possible during field research in the area to trace the echoes of both secular and religious music still present among its people. The recording of musical practice in this area was based solely on the results of field research, in the form of statements by interviewees.