Burgenland Croatian Music

by Marko Kölbl

The music of the Croatian minority in Burgenland is characterized by transcultural dynamics within the multi-ethnic pannonic border region. Due to its conjunction of language and melody, vocal music plays a central role for the a minoritarian self-understanding regarding ethnicity and cultural identity.

Research on the music of the Burgenland Croats virtually coined the beginning of the department’s focus on music and minorities. An important impulse was Ursula Hemetek’s dissertation on wedding songs of the Croatian village Stinjaki/Stinatz in Southern Burgenland, constituting the first explicitly ethnomusicological research on Burgenland Croatian music. This was followed by research projects – “Traditional Music of Ethnic Groups in Austria,” 1990-1992 by Ursula Hemetek as well as “Songs of the Elder Generation in Mjenovo,” 1993-1994, conducted by Ursula Hemetek and Ruža Bonifačić, in cooperation with the Institute for Folkloristics and Ethnology Zagreb. The continuation of research on Burgenland Croatian music resulted in relevant publications for this research area, e.g.: „… und sie singen noch immer, Musik der burgenländischen Kroaten – … i još svenek se jaču, Muzika Gradišćanskih Hrvatov (Hemetek 1998, engl.: ... And They Still Sing, Music of the Burgenland Croats), Musik der Kroaten im Burgenland (Hemetek/Winkler 2004, engl.: Music of the Croats in Burgenland) as well as numerous articles and book chapters. The department’s archive contains fieldwork data from various Burgenland Croatian villages comprising a period of more than four decades. Next to two PhD projects of staff members Ursula Hemetek (Hochzeitslieder aus Stinatz. Zum Liedgut einer kroatischen Gemeinde des Südburgenlands, 1987, eng.: Wedding Songs of Stinjaki/Stinatz. On the songs of a Croatian village in Southern Burgenland) and Marko Kölbl (Burgenlandkroatische und kroatische Totenklagen, 2017, eng.: Burgenland Croatian and Croatian Laments) numerous students of the department worked on Burgenland Croatian music in their degree theses.
 

Fieldwork:

2023: Fieldwork: „Vlah villages,“ Marko Kölbl in Poljanci/Podler Bandol/Weiden bei Rechnitz and Rohunac/Rechnitz

1979-1984 Fieldwork dissertation Ursula Hemetek in Stinjaki/Stinatz

1986 within the scope of the fieldwork „Southern Burgenland“ in Jezerjani/Eisenhüttel and Žarnovica/Heugraben.

1990 within the scope of the project „Traditionelle Musik ethnischer Gruppen in Österreich mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der musikalischen Akkulturation“ (Traditional Music of Ethnic Groups in Austria with Special Attention to Musical Acculturation), Ursula Hemetek in Veliki Borištof/Großwarasdorf, Stinjaki/Stinatz and Mjenovo/Kroatisch Minihof

1993-1994 Fieldwork with the project „Lieder der älteren Generation in Mjenovo/Kroatisch Minihof“ (Songs of the Elder Generation in Mjenovo), conducted by stipendiate Ruža Bonifačić and Ursula Hemetek

2010: Fieldwork project with students in Stinjaki/Stinatz

2011-2017: Fieldwork project dissertation Marko Kölbl in Stinjaki/Stinatz

2016-2018: Fieldwork on Burgenland Croatian pilgrimages, Marko Kölbl

2019: Fieldwork „Čakavian Villages in Southern Burgenland“, Marko Kölbl in Jezerjani/Eisenhüttel and Žarnovica/Heugraben.