The Echoes of Diplomatic Disputes. The Macedonian Question in the Work of Serbian and Yugoslav Music Scholars (original) (raw)

The disputes over primacy to western Bulgarian territories that emerged between delegations of two neighbouring countries – the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and the Kingdom of Bulgaria, in the Paris Peace conference in 1919 continued to taint their political relations in the following decade. As a consequence of dissatisfaction with ambitions of Yugoslav political elite to absorb parts of Bulgarian state to the newly founded South Slavic state, Bulgarian elites actualized the problem of cultural and political autonomy of Macedonians and reopened the so-called Macedonian question in the international public arena.The idea that the dominant Slavic ethnic group inhabiting the territory of Pirin, Aegean and Vardar Macedonia (Macedonians) had a right to express its individuality and attachment toBulgarian nation and culture was widespread among Bulgarian politicians and intellectuals at the time and it was reproduced in their diplomatic and cultural activities. Parallel to Bulgarian struggle to preserve close ties with the Macedonians, Serbian political leaders and influential scholars worked on their assimilation, turning them both to the South Serbians and the Yugoslavs. The conflict of interests of neighbouring countries and their overall strained relations in the 1920s were reflected in the work of Yugoslav, specifically Serbian, and Bulgarian musicians, particularly in their initiatives in the sphere of music performance, publishing, criticism, music research etc. Animosities over Macedonian question were mostly brought to light in the musicians’ collaborative projects, but were also visible in the studies of traditional music from Macedonia. In this chapter, the focus is put on the research of musical folklore from the territory of present-day North Macedonia, conducted during the interwar period in the Kingdom of SCS / Yugoslavia. Special attention is given to the circumstances of their planning and implementation, especially the reasons that motivated part of the intellectual elite, mostly of Serbian origin, to make the folklore music material from that territory a priority place in the process of studying and preserving of the national music tradition. One of the goals is to point to the ideological and political background of this process, as well as how it corresponded to the political and cultural climate at the time, inside and outside Yugoslavia.