Zurla music, the invisible bridge between ethnic communities in R. North Macedonia

Music, as an invisible substance that cannot be touched but is felt only through the senses of hearing, has taken an important part of people`s lives since time immemorial. Regardless of the moments and role of music, it is most often associated with singing by people and with musical instruments as creators of sound, simple or more complex with the ability to create different pitches. Musical instruments throughout history have been created and crafted in certain territories according to the musical needs of those who produced and used them. Some instruments were used up to a certain point, then disappeared, then reappeared, and some have survived to this day.
The decline or complete disappearance from use of certain musical instruments was the result of various social, cultural, and even political influences. In reality, musical
instruments were most often created and made according to established patterns by the environments and communities that needed them, but frequently, they also experienced certain migrations from one environment to another, not typical for them. I can say that these migrations of musical instruments were the result of migrations of people who brought with them their folk traditions.
Through the given topic, I will address the musical instruments zurla and drum, which still occupy an important place in the Macedonian musical instrumental tradition today, with a brief overview of their origin, the players, and the use of zurladrum music among the various ethnic communities living in the Republic of North Macedonia.
Keywords: Instrumental tradition, zurla, drum, players, music, contexts.