Microtiming Analysis of Two Dance-Songs from the Pirin-Macedonia Region of Bulgaria

Abstract

The non-isochronous meters of the Balkan Peninsula are traditionally described in ethnomusicological literature through notation indicating a 2:3 beat ratio underlain by a series of isochronous subdivisions. Within the Balkans, this theory of meter can be traced back to early twentieth century Bulgarian musicology and possibly even before, yet has not been revised or amended until relatively recently. However, recent microtiming studies nuance representations of meter that surpass the capacities of traditional Western notation through IOI (interonset interval) analysis. Through an IOI analysis of two dance-songs from villages in the Pirin-Macedonia region of Bulgaria, I show that the presumptive fixed proportions of the 3-beat ‘long-short-short’ meter (7/8, 3+2+2 in musicological terminology) of both songs do not align with and cannot be described by a 2:3 beat ratio. These quantitative findings are then contextualized in the metric perspectives of both conservatory-trained musicians and village musicians in order to assess possible epistemological obfuscation, and theorize potential revisions to theories of Balkan non-isochronous meters.