Avdo Međedović
| Avdo Međedović | |
|---|---|
| Born |
c. 1875 Bijelo Polje, Sanjak of Novi Pazar, Ottoman Empire |
| Died |
1953 (aged 78) Bijelo Polje, SR Montenegro, Yugoslavia |
| Occupation | guslar (gusle player and oral poet) |
| Nationality |
Ottoman (until 1918) Yugoslav |
| Ethnicity | Bosniak |
| Genre | Epic poetry |
Avdo Međedović (c. 1875 – 1953) was a Muslim guslar (gusle player and oral poet) from Montenegrin part of Sandžak.[1] He was the most versatile and skillful performer of all those encountered by Milman Parry and Albert Lord during their research on the oral epic tradition of Bosnia, Herzegovina and Montenegro in the 1930s. At Parry's request Avdo undertook to produce an epic of similar extent to the Iliad (15,690 lines), since Parry needed to investigate whether a poet in an oral tradition would be able to maintain a theme over such length. Avdo dictated, over three days and many cups of coffee (which, in turn, required much urination), a version of the well-known theme The Wedding of Meho Smailagić that was 12,323 lines long. On another occasion he sang over several days an epic of 13,331 lines. He claimed to have several others of similar length in his repertoire.[2]
Many years afterwards the Wedding was published in 1974 by Lord with a parallel English translation.[3]
Early life
Međedović was a Muslim Slav born in the town of Bijelo Polje[4][5] in 1875, while it was a part of the Ottoman Empire. His family had Serbian Orthodox ancestry, being related to the Rovčani clan and coming from Nikšić, having been converted in the past centuries, though Avdo himself did not know when or why the family converted to Islam.[6]
Works
- Ženidba Smailagić Meha (The Wedding of Meho Smailagić, 1935)
References
- Lord, Albert Bates (1960), The singer of tales, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press
- Avdo Međedović, The wedding of Smailagić Meho tr. Albert Bates Lord; with a translation of conversations [with Nikola Vujnović] concerning the singer's life and times, by David E. Bynum. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1974.
- Parry, Milman; Parry, Adam (editor) (1971), The making of Homeric verse. The collected papers of Milman Parry, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ↑ "Crnogorci ljube lance". SlobodnaEvropa. 18 February 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ↑ Video on YouTube
- ↑ "Povratak "Homera sa Obrova"". danas. 25 March 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ↑ "Trebješki je Višnjić naših dana". dan. 10 February 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ↑ "Zaslužujemo bogat kulturni život". danas. 4 August 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ↑ Albert Bates Lord (1991). Epic Singers and Oral Tradition. Cornell University Press. pp. 57–. ISBN 0-8014-9717-5.
In centuries past his family had been Serbian Orthodox and had come from central Montenegro; they were related to the Rovcani and came from Niksic.2 Avdo knew neither when nor why they had embraced Islam.
External links
- John Curtis Franklin, "Structural sympathies in Ancient Greek and South-Slavic heroic song": introduction (with photograph of Avdo) and link to full version of paper
- Mary Knight, "Homer in Bosnia: field notes"
- A clip made in the field on YouTube by Lord. From Lord, Albert Bates. 2000. The Singer of Tales. Ed. Stephen Mitchell and Gregory Nagy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000 2.ed.
- Movie Film Avdo Medjedovic documentary on YouTube