Music as a Vital Factor for the Continuity of the Cultural Identity

Among the rural settlements of the Turkish population in Macedonia exist more specific communities that are characterized by geographical, ethnological, linguistic, and cultural autochthony. These features, which greatly contributed to the longer preservation of cultural heritage, are also reflected in the musical tradition. One of these communities is Kodzadzik village, municipality Zupa, Western Macedonia, the birthplace of the family of Ataturk. Today, Music in the village of Kodzadzik is still one of the vital factors that continually sublimate events of the rich history of many centuries. This is confirmed by our field research conducted during 2013 by collecting, recording, and monitoring of certain worldly events, in which music plays an important role. Hence, we focused on the wedding customs, sunnets (circumcisions), holidays, as well as everyday occasions. The structure of the performing ensemble depends on the occasion in which they perform a repertoire, and it can be both instrumental and vocal, or either one alone in a group or solo performance. Interestingly, the performing ensemble in collective events is still constituted of traditional instruments, davul and zurna and also are used the saz, wooden spoons, and tarabuka (hourglass drum). The repertoire consists of local traditional folk and Rumelian songs from the wider region and songs are epic or lyric in their theme. The music in Kodzadzik represents a spiritual monument of events and emotional conditions that leave a strong impression on people and owing to which it retains its authenticity to this day.