Avdo Međedović
Avdo Međedović ()( – 1955) was a "guslar" (gusle player and oral poet) from Sandžak, modern-day Montenegro. He was the most versatile and skillful performer of all those encountered by Milman Parry and Albert Lord during their research on the oral epic tradition of Bosnia, Herzegovina and Montenegro in the 1930s. At Parry's request, Avdo sang songs he already knew and some songs he heard in front of Parry, convincing him that someone Homer-like could produce a poem so long. Avdo dictated, over five days, a version of the well-known theme "The Wedding of Meho Smailagić  that was 12,323 lines long, saying on the fifth day to Nikola (Parry's assistant on the journey) that he knew even longer songs. On another occasion, he sang over several days an epic of 13,331 lines. He said he had several others of similar length in his repertoire. In Parry's first tour, over 80,000 lines were transcribed. Many years afterward The Wedding" was published in 1974 by Lord with a parallel English translation. Avdo Međedović died in 1955 in post-war Yugoslavia. Albert Lord wrote after his death that "it may well be that he was the last  of the truly great epic singers of the Balkan Slavic tradition". Early life. Međedović was a Slavic speaking Muslim of Albanian origin, born in the town of Bijelo Polje (now in Montenegro) in 1875, while it was a part of the Ottoman Empire. He worked as a butcher.