Tosk Polyphony

Tosk polyphony is the multipart singing tradition of Toskëria, southern Albania, one of the two great regional styles of Albanian iso-polyphony. Typically three voices take part: the marres who states the melody, the kthyes who answers and ornaments it, and the group holding the iso, a continuous drone sung on the vowel 'e' that gives the style its name and its hovering stillness. Melodies are pentatonic, phrases overlap in responsorial dialogue, and the repertoire runs from lyric love songs and wedding music to ballads of migration and heroic deeds, performed unaccompanied at the centre of social life.