ABSTRACT
Croatia emerged in 1991 as an independent state for the first time since the Middle Ages. Croatian traditional music is rooted in ways of life now abandoned or substantially altered, changing with the seasonal rhythms of land and sea and events in a person's life. Dances of South Slavic groups in Croatia are most frequently closed circles of mixed genders, dancing in compact spatial formations. Despite the predominance of singing in rural life, Croatia boasts many diverse rural instruments. Many Croatians view the Dinaric Alps as the wellspring of Croatian culture. A diatonic, narrow-range, monophonie style dominates Dalmatian vocal music. The dance style of the northern Adriatic zone has adapted many features of the Slovenian Alps, Italy, and Central Europe. The nationalistic songs and marches favored by Illyrian patriots in the early years of the national revival represent the beginnings of Croatian popular music, often called zabavna muzika by scholars and the popular media.
