Individual Rhythmic Variation in Oral Poetry: The Runosong Performances of Seto Singers

Janika Oras

doi:10.1515/opli-2019-0031

Abstract

AbstractThe article explores the individual differences of rhythmic variation in traditional sung oral poetry. The analysed group of ritual songs is part of the Seto singing culture – a subtradition of Finnic oral trochaic tetrameter. The rhythmic variation, created by different positioning of stressed syllables in the song line, reveals itself on two levels, in linguistic verse structure and in musical performance. In the singers’ performances the verse and musical structures complement each other, having a cumulative rhythmic effect. By designing the rhythm at both levels, the singers systematically take into consideration the linguistic features of the used words. A statistical analysis shows a remarkable divergence in the rhythmic variation of different lead singers. The results are more homogeneous at the level of linguistic verse structure and more diverse at the level of musical performance. Also, the rhythmic choices of the lead singer and his or her choir in the course of the performance may differ. We may speculate that this divergence in individual rhythmic strategies could have been caused by the singers’ type of creativity and skills, their different perceptions of genre features and intergeneric relations, and the musical influences between more closely related singers.

Highlights

Researchers of poetic metrics have devoted considerable attention to the differences in the verse rhythm of different authors and that of the authors of the same period within the same verse meter and versification system (Dobritsyn 2016, Plecháč, Ibrahim 2013, Tarlinskaja 2014)
The analysis revealed a clear divergence in the verse rhythm of the two groups of poets representing different time periods and literary movements, and disclosed individual differences between the authors of the same period (Lotman, Lotman 2011, 2013, 2014)
Tracing the diachronic changes in the poetic creation of individual singers or the singers of different time periods is more complicated because of the formulaic nature of oral poetry – the texts of a certain moment are largely built on the language and formulas of the previous periods (Bailey 1993, Lotman 2011: 35–40; Frog, Sverdlov 2016: 10)

Summary

Introduction

Researchers of poetic metrics have devoted considerable attention to the differences in the verse rhythm of different authors and that of the authors of the same period within the same verse meter and versification system (Dobritsyn 2016, Plecháč, Ibrahim 2013, Tarlinskaja 2014). To works of written poetry, it is possible to find and study individual peculiarities in the verse rhythm used by the creators/performers of the oral tradition, and to compare their individual. The most important of these changes are shortening of the words (syncope and apocope), and development of the system of three quantity degrees to replace the former system of two quantity degrees.. The most important of these changes are shortening of the words (syncope and apocope), and development of the system of three quantity degrees to replace the former system of two quantity degrees.1 Owing to these changes the word stress has acquired more prominence and this has influenced the metrical system of traditional poetry The most important of these changes are shortening of the words (syncope and apocope), and development of the system of three quantity degrees to replace the former system of two quantity degrees. Owing to these changes the word stress has acquired more prominence and this has influenced the metrical system of traditional poetry

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion