Ballads

pinpi_0008_72In our culture the importance and weight of the written word has until recently been limited. Our people, though, managed to find the way to convey beauty, create appealing imagery and produce and pass down fine literary works of art. Narrative songs have been one of the main means to transmit oral literature. The art of creating and singing songs is nowadays closely linked to lyrics or the expression of feelings. However, in our culture like in all cultures, there are and always have been narrative compositions suitable to be accompanied by pleasing tunes. This genre of poetry is known as epic poetry.

Beautiful and crude stories from our traditional lore have been transmitted by purely oral means in the form of ballads or folk songs. In our tradition the majority of the narrative songs are rhymed accounts of love affairs and relationships between men and women, often mixing narration and dialogue.

Here follow various examples of narrative folk songs.