The Tamburitza Tradition: From the Balkans to the American Midwest

Folklorist March's (former folk arts specialist, Wisconsin Arts Board) fieldwork on tamburitza musicians in Croatia and the American Midwest took more than three decades to develop into a full-length book; as a result, it reads as casually as a personal journal despite being full of information. Extending the reach of Walter W. Kolar's A History of the Tambura and Milan Opacich's Tamburitza America, March contextualizes the factors that pushed a devotedly self-sustaining musical tradition into the present day. While the original Eastern European form has existed for centuries, a derivation began gathering in pockets of northern Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin in the 1890s. Shortly thereafter, new immigration restrictions and the ever-capricious touch of the film and recording industries created a mixture of intense localization and increasingly dependable opportunities for touring musicians. Nationalism and cultural appropriation became concerns on both continents, widening the figurative gap between them. March, who (like his aforementioned predecessors) is an experienced musician, delves into these complexities while explaining their place within the larger field of folklore studies.