Vrbice, Vrbo Zelena (Serbian Trad.) - Live

The traditional Serbian song "Vrbice" performed by the newfound Norwegian choir Artemis on their spring concert "Reincarnation", april 2023.
"Vrbice" or "Vrbice, vrbo zelena" (Little green willow tree) is a traditional folk song from Serbia and is written in the Goran dialect. The Gorani people are a Muslim minority located mainly in the Gora area in Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia, but also in parts of Serbia. The song is sung around St. George's Day, and is an important celebration of the return of spring.
The song is sung in the Phrygian scale, which is very common in the Balkans, but perhaps especially in Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Serbia. Another ethnic group that uses this scale frequently are the Kurds. In Arabic, the scale is called "Maqam kurd" which translates to the scale of the Kurds. The Phrygian scale differs from the minor scale in that the second step is lowered by a semitone.
Soli: Caroline, Linn Kaia, Tonje, Therese, Marita
Arrangement and conductor: Daniel Bahram
Based on the arrangement by the wonderful polish group Laboratorium Pieśni.