Béla Bartók in Biskra - June, 1913

from Béla Bartók Letters, pages 122-123:

For 8 days now I have been doing collecting work in the oases villages – thanks to the letter of introduction – the work is going more easily than in Hungary. The Arabs accompany almost all their songs with percussion instruments; sometimes in a very complicated rhythm (it is chiefly varying accentuations of equal bar lengths that produce the different rhythmic patterns). This is the most pronounced difference between their singing and ours. Apart from this, there are many primitive melodies (confined to three adjoining …   more >>

cite as

Béla Bartók, and Demény, János (ed.), Béla Bartók Letters (London, 1971), p. 122-123. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1450109196668 accessed: 28 March, 2024

location of experience: Biskra

Listeners

Béla Bartók
Composer
1881-1945

Listening to

hide composers
Popular music

Experience Information

Date/Time June, 1913
Medium live

Notes

Letter from Béla Bartók to Géza Vilmos Zágon, Biskra, June 19th, 1913 [Picture postcard: Vieu Biskra. Une Rue].


Originally submitted by verafonte on Mon, 14 Dec 2015 16:06:36 +0000
Approved on Sat, 23 Apr 2016 20:26:22 +0100