Музиката в сватбения обред на българите мюсюлмани от Тетевенско
The Music in the Wedding Ritual of the Bulgarian Muslims from Teteven Region

Summary/Abstract: This article presents the musical component of the wedding ritual among the Bulgarian Muslims from the region of Teteven. Some of the musical examples, examined in it, are "taken out" from the memories of the informants, others are parts of the wedding, as it could be observed today. The author makes an attempt at a reconstruction of the wedding rituals among this population, which is descriptive to some extent. This is necessary for clarifying the ritual context, in which the concrete musical pattern existed, or exists nowadays. Attention is focused mostly on those moments of the wedding, in which music is present, or which are necessary for explaining the essence of the musical component. The author registers the lack of engagement songs and analyzes the instrumental music, performed while the guests are invited (here the functional difference between the local instrumental group and the professional groups, hired for weddings, is defined). She admits the possible existence in the past of music, accompanying the preparation of the bride. Special attention is paid to the music (both vocal and instrumental), performed while the bride is taken out from her parents' house, as well as to the music at the wedding table and at the wedding how dances (and especially the specific regional variant of the Paydushko how and its place in the ritual). Object of analysis are also the melodies "at wrestling", which are no longer a part of the living tradition. The author draws parallels with the wedding music of the Christian population in neighboring settlements, and in northeastern Bulgaria, proving the unity of wedding rituals in the region and in northern Bulgaria as a whole.

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