“Vojvođanski gajdaši” presents valuable field recordings of bagpipers from Sivac and Kikinda, documented in the summer of 2015 and released by WMAS Records. At the heart of the album are authentic performances on large and small bagpipes, accompanied by bećarac songs, šalajka tunes and spoken testimonies from both older and younger tradition bearers dedicated to preserving Vojvodina’s musical heritage. The full, resonant sound of the large bagpipes is especially prominent in pieces such as “Gajdaško kolo” and “Paorsko kolo”, while the small bagpipes offer a brighter, sharper tonal color. The recordings are interwoven with personal accounts by the pipers (Vanja Ilijev, Maksim Mudrinić, Milorad Dobrosavljev, Ognjen Ognjanović, Igor Popov, Branislav Zarić, Božidar Simeonov), who reflect on their first encounters with the instrument, their musical beginnings and the role of bagpipes in local community life. A special atmosphere is created by the bećarac singers Zdravka Gecić and Verica Maričić, whose warm vocal timbre blends naturally with the bagpipe line, evoking the once-vibrant musical life of rural Vojvodina. The album is further enriched by a guest musician from Bulgaria performing on Thracian bagpipes in dialogue with Banat small bagpipes. The final track – a collage of sounds captured between interrupted and repeated performances – offers an original, almost documentary conclusion. “Vojvođanski gajdaši” stands as an authentic sonic testimony to the living bagpipe tradition of Vojvodina.

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