Višnjić about St. Sava

Abstract

The paper deals with the process of oral epic singing as illustrated by Filip Višnjić’s poems on St. Sava. Višnjić’s writing style unifies the two aspects of the folk singer, the singer being the keeper of tradition and the creator who goes beyond that tradition. As far as Filip Višnjić’s old repertoire is concerned, it is interesting to focus on the choice of the two poems on St. Sava. In a rather small folk song corpus on the greatest Serb saint, especially if the corpus is viewed in relation to “very substantial prose material consisting of stories and oral histories”, Višnjić’s strategy points to a thoughtful, mature choice empowered by national issues.