Explain how the Tarta Mountains have impacted the lifeways of the people who live along the mountains. According to WOM, why is the Tarta region considered unique, but at the same time its music is connected to other European music and even “worldbeat” music?

What will be an ideal response?

• The Tarta Mountains form a natural border between the southern tip of Poland and Slovakia and are part of the Carpathian mountain range, which runs from Romania through Ukraine, then along the borders of Poland, Slovokia, and the Czech Republic, and ends just north of Vienna (Austria). These mountains have fostered similar cultural practices among the people who live along these mountains.


• "The Tarta region is considered unique due to [this] mountain isolation . . . but the music is linked in significant ways to other European musical traditions, and, as we shall see, more recently to ‘worldbeat' music."