Serbian Church Chant as Intangible Cultural Heritage – Preliminary View from Interdisciplinary Perspective

Abstract

  Serbian church chant represents traditional liturgical chant of Serbian Orthodox Church. It has its foundations in Greek medieval musical tradition and Serbian folk singing. Most probably it is established during the 18th and at the beginning of the 19th century. In this period, it was cultivated especially in the monasteries of Fruška Gora and theological and secular schools in the Metropolitanate of Karlovci. In the forthcoming decades, it was transmitted exclusively orally. Melographic scripts and sound recordings of this chant tradition, the ones from the 19th century, the ones from the beginning of the 20th century and the new ones, represent a testimony of living musical tradition within the Serbian Orthodox Church. This chant is preserved till today in its recognizable variants. We accept general definitions of intangible cultural heritage as living, dynamic and vital heritage and as a form of national property which can be found in oral tradition, language, songs and traditional music. In this regard, in this paper, we will demonstrate the significance of Serbian church music as a form of intangible cultural heritage. Thus, we found an important stronghold in several facts concerning church and folk music. The examples from the whole world ascertain the significant status of religious music on UNESCO’s (Representative) List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Furthermore, on Serbian National Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage are present various examples of traditional secular musical practice. By stressing the significance of Serbian church chant as a segment of Serbian cultural and spiritual identity, we will emphasize not only “ethnic”, but likewise global character of this church music tradition.