Metro-rhythmic historical geography of folk music in Central Europe
The frontier of domination of triple and duple metre
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24031111 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rafał Miśta (0000-0002-7309-6352, University of Warsaw, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-31 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-11 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Cultural Geography (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0887-3631 • E-ISSN: 1940-6320 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/08873631.2026.2707433 |
| OpenAlex | W7202162433 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 22 |
The article discusses the problem of metro-rhythmic diversity in Europe – particularly in Central Europe – in terms of metre type. Using a spatial index of tunes from Oskar Kolberg’s nineteenth-century folk music collection (covering mainly the lands of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, but also other Slavic countries), all melodies were mapped with their assigned locations and metres. This approach made it possible to trace rhythmic diversity in Central Europe, especially the popularity of triple time in central and western Poland. By analysing the labels attached to some of Kolberg’s tunes, it was possible to examine metre diversity across different types of melodies, distinguished by their potential origin and time of diffusion. The analysis showed that the left bank of the River Vistula and the belt between Greater Poland and Warsaw played a particularly important role in the spread of musical innovations. The distribution of the triple metre cannot be explained by political boundaries or ethnic divisions, even though the spatial extent of the dominance of triple and duple metres reveals a cohesive territorial range. Ultimately, the spatial and statistical analysis of intangible cultural representations uncovers a hidden cultural frontier in Central Europe – porous and seemingly unrelated to visible social divisions.
Folk music · Folk song · Frontier · Historical geography · Historical record · Human geography · Diverse Musicological Studies · European Linguistics and Anthropology · Music History and Culture
Notes on Musical Areas
Tańce i melodie flisackie w zbiorach Oskara Kolberga
Four misunderstandings about cultural attraction
Searching for silenced voices in Appalachian music
The Seven Themes of Music Geography
The Polka before and after the Polka
Vernacular culture and the place of folk music
Free Rhythm
Economics of Music Patronage among Polish and Ukrainian Peasants to 1939
Musical Cartography and the Distribution of Music
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |