Portugal versus Bulgaria: To what Extent do They Share Vocal Characteristics Focusing on the Songs of Dulce Pontes and Pirin Vocal Music

Also the great connections between these two genres definitely seem to be the fact that they are binary. Not an unreasonable conclusion seeing that the simplest and easiest way to transmit and maintain an oral tradition would be in this form, it is also the most common musical structure found in world music as well as western folkloric music. The diverse use of tonality seems to be another common trait. Both genres make a great usage of semitones, quartertones and even microtones, something rarely - if ever - seen in western culture. This achieves unresolved dissonant levels of tonality that seem almost out of tune to the inexperienced listener. The ornamentation in both Bulgarian and Portuguese pieces is based mainly around the use of different vocal techniques. The fact that the Pirin region actually have names for their specific vocal techniques demonstrates their uniqueness, however, Dulce Pontes makes very similar usage of techniques although they do not seem to have been assigned a name in the Portuguese culture. You may notice that there is no doubt that Dulce Pontes makes use of very similar techniques as tresene and iso in all the pieces analyzed in this essay. …