In order to unite the professional and the cultural aspects of music, within the project "Development of IRAM", we were concerned with the possibilities of the promotion and exchange of Macedonian music on the WWW, which would later enable us to examine Macedonian musical achievements.
The placement of music on the
Internet
belongs to two categories:
-
- Independent files of music samples;
- Web-sites containing music information
1. Independent music sample files
We have divided the music
sample files
in accordance to the concept upon which they had been created. We
arrived
at the following categories:
-
- Files created with MIDI graphic concept
- Audio files
1.1. Graphic files
MIDI files are based upon a graphical concept. With the emergence of the Internet in the 90s, MIDI specification was the obvious solution for placing music files on the Internet.
In the Republic of Macedonia, the Internet MIDI files include Macedonian folk songs with both scores and lyrics. Miroslav Ilic, Vlado Srbinovski and Trajce Andreevski have arranged these files into collections of folk songs.
("Srce me boli"scoreandMP3/Srcemeboli.mp3
taken from http://www.unet.com.mk/tetovski_starogradski_pesni)
1.2. Audio files
Audio files of Macedonian music on the Internet are more common than MIDI files. They include the formats: .ra, .rm, .wav and .mp3.
They can be found on music charts (Radio BubaMara), at the presentation of the contents of music CDs, sound samples in multimedia educational web-sites etc.
The most popular use of music files on the Internet is to include them in databases for direct downloading. The site www.mp3.com offers Macedonian electronic and techno music in MP3 files. Musicians from other genres place their music on local Macedonian databases.
(The header of the Macedonian music web page taken from www.mp3.com ).
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Shortcut
text
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URL
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Macedoniamp3
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GoceCar
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Archive
of macedonian music files
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Audio Macedonia
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Macedonian
underground music archive
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Tetovo
old urban songs
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Old macedonian
songs
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T.O.P.
10
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Web sites containing Macedonian music files
It is important to point out
that all
files can be freely downloaded. This opposes the general strategies of
online commerce.
The audio streaming technique is applied for live
broadcasting
in Macedonia. This process sometimes involves a combination of audio
and
video files.
(Chopin “Waltz” performed by Simon Trpcheski at Ohrid Summer Festival 99MP3/Waltz.mp3 )
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Radio
in RealAudio
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URL
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Macedonian
Internet Radio
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Macedonian
Radio
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BBC
World Service in Macedonian
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Deutsche
Welle in Macedonian
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VOA
in Macedonia
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Antenna
5 in RealAudio
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Kanal
77
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Radio
Buba Mara
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Radio
Ohrid
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Radio
Ros
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Internet
Radio / Audio
Streaming
The site http://broadcast.mt.net.mk
displays broadcasts and stores recordings of important music events.
2. Web-sites containing music information
Music institutions and musicians in Macedonia promote themselves via the Internet, as well as communicate with other institutions and individuals.
Based on the objectives of the
web-site,
we will categorize the web-sites related to Macedonian music into:
promotional,
commercial and educational web-sites.
2.1. Promotional web-sites
Web-sites that contain
different information
on Macedonian musical culture can be divided into two categories:
-
- promotional sites of Macedonian music institutions
- web-sites with general information on
Macedonian music
culture.
2.1.1 Promotional sites of Macedonian music
institutions
A certain number of music
institutions
from the Republic of Macedonia have created individual web-sites. This
confirms the awareness that exists about the importance of the
Internet,
the difference in quality of information and the range or access to a
much
larger global audience.
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Institution
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URL
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“Skopje
Jazz Festival”
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Festival
“Ohridsko leto”
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Festival
“Skopsko leto”
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FMU
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MMM
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MNT
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SOKOM
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Music institutions of the Republic of Macedonia presented on the WWW
Analyzing this information, we realize that it consists of general facts about the relevant institution. Unfortunately, this information is rarely updated, so web users often receive information about repertoires that are months old, or music festivals that have finished long ago. There are no accompanying MIDI or audio files. This is mostly a result of the poor financial status of the music institutions, and the inadequate approach of their management, which neglects the web-based promotional activities.
The web-sites of some of the
larger
music institutions include data about the musicians, the professors and
others working on projects. Unfortunately, none of these
institutions
uses the Internet in the recruitment of human resources.
2.1.2. Promotional sites for Macedonian music culture
The global dimension of Internet has resulted in the creation of promotional sites for Macedonian musical culture. We can find promotional sites created by Macedonian musicians who live abroad, or even from others who do not originate directly from Macedonia. These people are mostly part of the foreign work force who out of nostalgia or patriotism write about Macedonian folk music or perform the newly composed songs in a traditional manner.
A number of sites involving Balkan culture and Macedonian music culture also exist on the Internet.
Many renowned ethnologists
exhibit
their work on the Internet. By contacting these sites, one can easily
find
information on Macedonian folk music. These sites are especially
interesting
and significant, because they present Macedonian music objectively,
without
any commercial or patriotic subjectivity.
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Shortcut
Text
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URL
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Tamburaweb
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Zivce
Neceski
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“Balkanarama”,
Seattle
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The
Book of Home
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Culture
on the web
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Promotional web sites of Macedonian music culture
2.2. Commercial sites
Commercial sites are usually created by larger recording companies and radio and TV stations in the Republic of Macedonia.
Commercial recording companies
usually
submit their releases in mp3 formats, in order to enable the consumer
to
hear part of what the companies offer. These offers usually occur
within
their own site, even though Macedonian releases can sometimes be found
at international commercial sites.
(Bodan Arsovski “Tiresias” - End of Silence www.blesok.com.mkMP3/Tiresias.mp3 )
The National University Library
of
St Kliment Ohridski in Skopje has developed an online catalogue for
their
collections. This catalogue contains information on
literature,
video, sound etc. This library is planning an online checkout for
the future, which would enable a full online data transfer from the
hard
copies of their collections.
(“Tiresias” CD by Bodan Arsovski at http://www.planetshop.com)
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Organisation
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URL
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NUB
“Sv. Kliment Ohridski” - Skopje
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“Bagi
Music”
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“Ezgija”
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Web sites of Macedonian music containing online catalogues
2.3. Educational web-sites
The only educational music institution in Macedonia that has a web page is the School of Music in Skopje. This page is part of the web-site of the Music Council of the Republic of Macedonia: www.mmc.edu.mk/fmu.htm .
There is only one site in
Macedonia
that directly contributes to music education:
http://ii.pmf.ukim.edu.mk/diplomski/Blagica%20Rasolkoska/Blagica/index.htm
This site was created as a
joint project
of the School of Natural Science and the School of Music in Skopje. Its
purpose was to aid educational programs that involve Macedonian music
folklore.
( “Supelka”page from http://ii.pmf.ukim.edu.mk/diplomski/Blagica%20Rasolkoska
We would like to stress that
some of
the web-sites related to Macedonian music use Cyrillic fonts and the
Macedonian
language. The advantage is that these sites will be accessible to a
larger
audience in Macedonia, and will therefore be useful for educational
purposes.
The disadvantage is that they will create a problem for other users
outside
of Macedonia.
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Shortcut
Text
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URL
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Naslov/Topic
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Archive
of knowledge
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Tose vo
svetot na muzickite aplikacii
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Multimedia
educational software
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Interaktiven
multimediski obrazoven softver so prezentacija na Web.
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Odoserver
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Open
Distance Learning Study Centre -Skopje
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Macedonian files designed for music education
Finally, we can say that we
have tried
to present our main concerns related to Macedonian music and culture
over
the Internet. In our study, we have come to the following conclusions:
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1. The presence of Macedonian music on the Internet
is
minimal. It is available in popular music file formats. Among these,
audio
files from Macedonian techno and electronic music are most common.
-
2. Music and music culture from the Republic of
Macedonia
does not make full use of the opportunities offered by the Internet.
Commercial
recording companies and the major music festivals rarely use this
popular
medium. Music education participates with a small, but productive
number
of web-sites.
The World Wide Web offers services
that can substantially simplify music communication, enable interactive
education and create job opportunities. It is of great importance for
the
promotion and the development of Macedonian music culture and music
institutions
to concentrate their efforts on the creation and update of their
web-sites.
