Chords for Croatian Folk Songs

Miroslav Sskoro

       G             Am
1. Vecceras mi dobri ljudi

           D7           G
   nemojte nissta priccati.

                    Am
   Neka suze mirno teku

          D7         G
   pa che manje boljeti.



   Refrain (2x):

   C                D7
   Ne dirajte mi vecceras

   G        B7  Em  Cm
   uspomene u meni.

   G                Am
   Ne dirajte mi ravnicu,

       D7             G
   jer ja chu se vratiti.


2. Mene zovu moja polja,        3. Joss u sebi ccujem majku,
   mene zovu tambure,              kako tuzzno govori:
   prije nego sklopim occi,       "Kad se jednom vratiss sine,
   da joss jednom vidim sve.       ja chu te ccekati."
   2xR.                            2xR.

I shall try to describe some general principles that are useful for guitar accompaniment. Of course, all that follows applies to any other polyphonic instrument (piano, harmonica), not only guitar. I believe I have some ``qualifications'' after many years of amateur experience (I started to play guitar as a student). This manual (or rather a harmonic cook-book) is a gift four You, if You are a `beginner'. Let me concentrate on two most important things for the guitar harmony:

1. back-cycling (in Croatian: ~odmotavanje),
2. parallel chords,

Comments There are three interesting harmonic points in this song: back-cycling, the role of B7 and Cm.

• The Am (appearing above `ljudi') is a start of a well known harmonic mechanism called back-cycling (from G in our situation). If the tonica (to be defined below) is G major, we simply play two or three chords on the cycle of fourths (12 chords)

  B -> E -> A -> D -> G -> C -> F -> B(flat) -> E(flat)=D# -> G# -> C# -> F# (-> B)

  preceding G, i.e.:

  A -> D -> G, or in our sitation Am -> D7 -> G.

  In other words, we go BACK along the CYCLE of fourths. The above cycle of fourths, if read in the opposite direction (i.e. by reversing the arrows), becomes the cycle of fifths (quints). You will do a great thing in understanding your guitar play if you try to learn it by heart (this will not come just overnight).

• For what follows we need a little preparation:
  1. Let us give a simple, practical definition of the parallel minor corresponding to some major chord. I'll give a geometrical definition based on the cycle of fourths. If we start say with the G major chord on the cycle of fourths, then we go three steps BACK to obtain E(m). So Em is the parallel minor chord corresponding to G. Similarly, the parallel minor of C is Am, of D is Bm etc.
  2. Less important, but often useful (especially for some songs from Meddimurje) is the notion of secondary parallel minor chord corresponding to a given major chord. We go one step more back on the cycle of fourths, i.e. four steps (instead of three). Thus for instance, starting from G, then going back four steps, we arrive to B(m), which is the secondary parallel minor of G.
  3. Conversely, if we start with say Em, then we say that G is the parallel MAJOR corresponding to Em. Similarly, G is the secondary parallel major corresponding to Bm.
  4. It is quite important to know the major chords and their parallel minors (and conversely). To summarize, we give a list of six most important tripples of chords (in the natural order with respect to the cycle of fourths):

                            Parallel        Secondary
           Major chords   minor chords   parallel minors
               E              C#m             G#m
               A              F#m             C#m
               D              Bm              F#m
               G              Em              Bm
               C              Am              Em
               F              Dm              Am
     

     For the remaining six cases you can try to find the corresponding tripples yourself. In any case, the pairs in the first two columns in the above table are the most important.

  5. If you ever try to harmonize of a song, you first start with a cycle of fourths. Next you think about parallels that will fill a trivial harmonization.
  6. One more convention: if a song is harmonized in, say, G major as a basic tonality (the so called tonica), then its left and right neighbour on the cycle of fourths are called dominant and subdominant respectively.
  7. A very useful remark: if a song has a minor tonality, then for sure you must expect the chords correspoding to the tonality of the PARALLEL MAJOR to appear in the song.
• The role of B7 in this song is to connect G (tonica) and Em (the corresponding parallel minor). It is possible to omit it, but the accompaniment then loses a lots of its flavor. Note that B7 precedes Em on the cycle of fourths, so it can be considered as a `local back-cycling' from Em with only one step.
• The Cm can be viewed to have a subdominant role with respect to G (subdominant is C), and it can also be omitted (at the expense of the loss of a very nice harmonic drive). In practise most often E(flat) is used instead of Cm (Zlatni dukati). Note that the chord E(flat) (=D#) is just a parallel major to Cm. In my opinion, Cm is much better, and more in the spirit of the song.
• A small but nice variation is possible in the second line, and the corresponding lines in the song:

               C     D7  G
       Nemojte nista pitati
  

  We have introduced C instead of D7. Here C is in fact a parallel major of Am. Through this variation of Am we procede with backcycling: Am -> (C) -> D7 -> G.
• A useful exercise for the beginner would be to play the whole song using trivial harmonization: G (tonica), D (dominant) and C (subdominant), and then to see how the above mentioned harmonic mechanisms ``fill in''.
• Exercise: try to harmonize the whole song starting with D as tonica (then try with C, A,...)

A request: I don't know if HTML has a `flat' mark. If so, please, do inform me.

Zvonko Bogdan

   Dm          Gm  Dm   G0 D0 A7Dm  C
1. Vech odavno spremam svog mrkova,

   F            B(flat)   F   C    C7 F  A7
   da se proddem ka    -  som od miline.

   B(flat)  E7     F  D7  Gm    C7      F    A7
   Da      obiddem staze, staze svog djetinjstva, |
                                                  |
   Dm          Gm Dm  C     C7 F A7               | 2x
   Dm          Gm Dm  G0 D0 A7Dm                  |
   za salassom zzelja da me mine.                 |

Refrain:

   F           C
   Nechu visse ichi na tu stranu,
   jer ne mogu suze oku skriti.
   Ili moram tugom okrenuti glavu, | 2x (the same harmonization as above)
   il plakati ili se napiti.       |

2. Nema visse dobrih tamburassa,
   fijakera, snassa, i salassa.
   nema visse konja, konja koji jure,  | 2x
   a u stvari nikuda ne zzure.         |
   (without refrain)

3. Vrag nek nosi moje snove puste,
   divojaccke duge kose guste.
   Vrag nek nosi tugom dobre tamburasse,
   fijakere, pisme i salasse.

   Refrain

• D0 = Ddim. Its usage often yields a very nice `sporadic' bass melody. You can also play A7 instead of D0.
• E7 is surprising, and sounds very nice. It connects the chords B(flat) and F. More precisely, the idea is to fill in the passage from B(flat) to F by using the chord diminished by ONE degree with respect to F: this is E7. In other words, we enter F from below. It is worth noting that it is precisely the seventh in the E7 chord, which gives the same tone as the one in the melody in the moment of usage!
• To see the meaning of this chord (E7), try to play the song without E7, i.e. with B(flat) instead.
• There is a lots of back-cycling here:
  1. C -> F,
  2. D7 -> Gm -> C7 -> F (look at the cycle of fourths above).

Another jewel. Kajkavian verses by Dragutin Domjanic, music by Vlaho Paljetak (born in Dubrovnik!).

    G
 1. Popevke sem slagal,

      Em   D7 G      E7
    i rozzice bral,

        Am         D7
    i (v)su svoju mladost

         D7        G
    sem drugim ja dal.

 2. Al' zzalost navek sem,
    vu srcu ja skril,
    ni nigdo me zzalil,
    i sam sem tak bil.

    G            G7
 3. Al' v mojem srcu,

        E7        Am
    tam suzah vam ni,

      Cm        G   Em
    i cce mi je tessko

       A7    D7 G
    popevka zvoni.

    Cce siromak sem
    se drugim bi dal
    popevke i srce
    i ne bu mi zzal.

Ova je predivna pjesma unakazzena izvoddenjem Dinamove ``himne''. Spomenutu ``himnu'' smatram najobiccnijim smechem. Za zzaljenje je da Radio 101 skoro svakodnevno izvodi tu bljuvotinu, ccesto i OTV.

I know it would be a fatal mistake not to provide an example for the people from Dalmatia (they are quite sensitive). Here is a nice back-cycling:

C#7 -> F#m -> B7 -> E

Try to harmonize the rest of this exceptional song yourself.

Verses: D. Domjanic, music: V. Paljetak

      G    C     G
1. Za saku dobru recc,

       C     G0    G
   kaj recci si mi znala!

      Am          D7
   Za saki pogled tvoj,

      A7    D7       D
   za saki smeh tvoj fala!

2. Tak malo dobrega,
   v zzivlenju tuj se najde.
   I cce je sunca trag,
   za oblak tak i zajde.

       G  F  E7   Am
3. Jer ti si srcu mi,

   Am       D7    G
   tak puno sunca dala!

       G F   E7     Am
   Kaj morem ti neg recc,

      Am       D7   G
   od seg ti srca fala.
   (repeat 3.)

The song has been rearranged by a well known conductor Emil Cosetto, on the occasion of Tito's death in 1980. It is regrettable that the message of this beutiful, innocent song has been so distorted.

text: Zdenko Runjic
music: O. Dragojevic

    E
    Ssoto voce piva klapa,

         C#7          F#m
    u to gluho litnje doba,

              B7
    i prolazi ispod skala

    F#m         B7      E
    di se sussi tvoja roba.


    Do pergula ricci lete,
    tu se misec smije gradu.
    Ti se dizzess iz kocceta,
    da poslussass serenadu.

                    C#7        F#m ...
            S ponistre se vidi Ssolta,
            piva klapa ispod volta.
            U daljini svitle kocce,
            piva klapa ssoto voce.

            Ti se oziress po sobi,
            slika je na kantunalu,
            onceg cha ga more odni
            u dalekem fortunalu.

    Opustila davno riva,
    zatvoreni su portuni.
    Soto voce klapa piva,
    tvoji mirissu lancuni.

    Tiho razmiccess koltrinu,
    zrila si ka litnje voche,
    o ljubavi i o vinu,
    piva klapa soto voce.

            S ponistre se vidi Ssolta,
            piva klapa ispod volta.
            U daljini svitle koche,
            piva klapa ssoto voce.

            Niko neche te kasstigat,
            kad bi skinila korotu.
            Zzivot che te svu desstigat,
            A joss moress dat lipotu.

     S ponistre se vidi Ssolta,
     zzmiga svitlo ispod volta.
     U po volta kada pasa,
     piva klapa ispod glasa.

    A          Aj7     A6 Aj7
    Sinoch kad sam ti prossa,

    A       Aj7  F#7     Bm           E
    mimo te bile dvore vidim te dusso Mare.

    D              E
    Vidim te dusso Mare,

                E7  A
    di s drugim govoriss.

    ....

F#7 -> Bm -> E -> E

Of course, many songs do not `tolerate' excessive harmonization, which is probably the case with the above song too. Another `extreme' is for instance ``Vu plavem trnaci'', a real (harmonic) challenge.

Ivan Trnski

    D             Em   A7    D
    Oj, jesenske duge nochi, oj!

    D     B7     Em    A7
    Oj, jesenske duge nochi,

    D           A7           D
    reko dragi da che dochi, oj!

     D       A7     D
    Ccuj me dragi ccuj!

    (repeat last three lines)
    ....

    D      Bm  Em     A7     D
    reko dragi da che dochi, oj!

          G         B7
1. Kad se Tena udavala,

   C            D7      G
   od ccasse se nisam mako.

        G            B7
   Zzalio sam sudbu svoju,

   C            D7      G
   Danima sam stalno plako.


   Refrain (2x):

   G         B7   C
   Udasse mi moju Tenu,

   Am       D7      G
   Doveli i tamburasse,

   G         E7       Am
   Meni osta samo zzelja

   Am       D7      G
   I neispijene ccasse.

2. Majka vicce: Ssto si bisan,
   zassto konje tuccess sine?
   Pa i drugih cura ima,
   sve su lipe sve su fine.
   2xR.

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