EPOSI I KRESHNIKËVE NË FILLIM TË SHEKULLIT XXI NË ANËN PERËNDIMORE TË MAQEDONISË SË VERIUT: RRETHINA E GOSTIVARIT
THE EPIC SONGS OF THE FRONTIER WARRIORS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE XXI-st CENTURY ON THE WESTERN SIDE OF NORTHERN MACEDONIA: THE GOSTIVAR SURROUNDINGS

Summary/Abstract: This paper is based on field research in the western part of northern Macedonia on the current state of The Epic Songs of the Frontier Warriors in 2012-2016. This research is part of the very large scientific research project “The Epic Songs of the Frontier Warriors – a monument of the Albanian cultural heritage in the Balkans: Kosova, Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia”, known as Project E5, hosted by Zymer U. Neziri. Project E5 is an evidence material of the Government Commission Dossier on its preparation for The Epic Songs to be declared as a value of the spiritual heritage of mankind in UNESCO. The results of this project are: 15 volumes of songs and written stories (with over 5 thousand pages) and 16 volumes of surveys (close to 6 thousand pages). Initially, this paper will address the research and collection of the Epic Songs of Frontier Warriors at the end of the last century in the vicinity of Gostivar, to continue further with data on active rhapsodists in the late XX- th and early XXI- st century, and their epic repertoire. An important result of the research of Project E5 in the vicinity of Gostivar and in other Albanian areas in the western part of Northern Macedonia, is considered especially the recording of group rhapsodists singing, polyphonic two-part singing, as well as singing without usage of musical instruments which are laid out in volume XV, including the written part of the songs and the part of the songs recorded with the camera. Registrations were made in: Kumanova, Skopje, Tetova, Gostivar and Kichevo. The E5 project was well evaluated by Albanian experts at its inaugural gatherings in Pristina, Tirana, Skopje, Tuz and Zurich. External experts from the University of Milan and Harvard University have also praised the E5 Project. In the competition, among about two thousand projects from about 50 countries, Project E5 of Kosova was awarded the prize by Europa Nostra, Special Thought 2016, in Madrid, in the research category. This special award is of great importance, because the Epic Songs of the Frontier Wariors is evaluated for the first time on a European scale, preceding the evaluation in UNESCO. This is the largest project of its kind in the Balkans, realized simultaneously, in the years 2012-2016, in the five Balkan countries where Albanians live.

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