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It
has been said that the Boka Kotorska Bay is the bay of
fabulous beauty, created by the particular inspiration
of the nature creative forces. Somebody can be convicted
in this by entering the Bay by the sea side through the
narrow passage Verige. In the inner part of the Bay two
islands are placed, two pearls decorating the baroque
town Perast, which seems like being come to the surface
from the blue depths and glistered toward the sky and
Sun by its tall, thin belfries.
Perast flourished in 16th, 17th,
and 18th century since it was in that time an
important maritime center at the Adriatic coast. At the
beginning of the 18th century it had 3000
inhabitants and 40 big, long range, navigational ships.
Due to their nautical and military skills Perast’s
people fought for their town special status during the
governance of Venice Republic, and especially after the
Othman Empire concordance of the Boka Kotorska Bay. In
Perast of that time the marine trade flourished, and
some captain families had great amounts of money, which
they invest in building luxurious palaces, churches and
other buildings. The palaces: Bujović, Zmajević, Smekja,
Visković, etc. are the victims of those times and owing
to them Perast used to be even today the most beautiful
baroque whole at the east Adriatic coast.
Owing
to its rich marine tradition, Perast gave few eminent
persons, as famous baroque painter - Tripo Kokolja,
maritime captain - Marko Martinović, and the teacher of
Russian feudal lords of Peter the Great, the admiral of
Russian Baltic’s fleet - Matija Zmajević, etc.
Especially in the difficult times, Perast’s people
strived to protect their identity by nourishing the
mother tongue through the folk poetry, especially “bugarštica”,
the people songs of the long verses, whish were sang at,
in that time popular, and unfortunately today lost,
musical motives.
Klapa
singing as a part of musical identity of Mediterranean
towns originated from Dalmatia in the mid 19th
century, and in Boka Kotorska it became popular at the
end of 19th century, when the first groups of
singers appeared and performed folk melodies. In the
beginning it was spontaneous singing, and later it
assumed the organized form of the complex mostly four
voices “a cappella” compositions, being performed at the
appropriate concerts. Up to now, at the area of Boka
Kotorska a great number of men’s, women’s and mixed
klapas have been acting. But, this kind of singing never
reached the same popularity and quality as it had in the
neighbor Dalmatia. It lasted mostly due to the
enthusiasm of some compositors and klapas’ leaders, fans
of this kind of music.
The
idea of the klapa festival organization rose from the
awareness of the need for preservation klapa singing as
an important segment of the cultural heritage of Boka
Kotorska. By the other side, it seems that the festival
of such type can be stimulus to the further development
of klapa music, advancing of the existing bands and
forming new ones.
Frano
Alfirević in the “Putopisi I eseji” (“Itinerations and
Essays”), in 1942, wrote: “The small square in front of
the Church, with wonderful renaissance belfry, is sad
like the luxurious salon leaved by all who went after
the celebration…“
The
International festival of klapas has been performing,
since 2002, every year trying to give back life to
Perast, just as the traditional celebrities: “Mađ”,
“Gađanje kokota” (“Shooting of a cock”), “Fašinada”,
etc.
The
lights of the reflectors and the harmonious voices of
the well trained singers are merged with the “coating”
of the old stone walls of the ancient buildings giving
them new beautiful glance. Perast is alived, again…
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