Damjan Jovičin

From the residency

During my stay in Mijakovići, few things have significantly influenced my work. The Medieval town of Bobovac served as a podium for my imagination on the topic of possible pasts. What was the music? what was the spirituality back then? My ethnomusicological mind always strives to keep track of sources. My piece Metamorphosis should emphasize transformative character of music with its folklore. One of the elements that I chose for the music in Metamorphosis, are trills and polyphonic singing that is widespread across the Balkans and which constitutes a recognisable folk sound.

The element of spirituality which Minja and I were researching about brought us to the poem Molitva Bogumilova, written by Desanka Maksimović and which opens the Metamorphosis performance. The poem is in the form of a prayer of a medieval gnostic from the Balkan Areas of Macedonia, Raška, Dalmatia and Bosnia. If we imagine a sanctuary at Bobovac, Desanka’s words seem to create certain mood of rite, which could be interpreted as reimagining the rite.

The gamelan percussion score I created and named it Eclipse(Pomračenje), is the instrumental part that follows Eclipse in the Metamorphosis scenario by Minja Jovičin. The music consist of interaction of dense rhythms in soloist part and very dispersed accompaniment in the rest of gamelan.

From many thoughts that came across my mind during my stay in Mijakovići, what I would point out is the permanent change. Permanent change in nature, and in my ideas about music. While planning for the final presentation, my mind was saturated with ideas on Balkan folklore and the interaction of all parts of it, even the most contrasting types of folklore. For me, that is the puzzle that needs to be solved. My work as a music anthropologist is still long way to go...