Abstract
The aim of this article is twofold: to introduce the Ingrian poetic singing culture, which is often referred to when discussing Kalevala-metric poetry, and to discuss aspects of performance and intertextuality. The central point here is to highlight that the meanings of a song are created on the various levels of performance; not only is the text itself worth studying, but likewise the other performance features, such as musical structures, singing conventions, and performance situations warrant analysis. After referring to the most central theoretical thoughts and concepts, I will introduce the geographical area and then proceed to a general portrait of Ingrian Kalevalametric poetry with its typical contexts and conventions of use. As case studies, I will first discuss the interperformative relationships and situational stylistics of West Ingrian swinging songs3 and lullabies, and then focus on the various uses of one poetic theme, The Sad Widow. With this general introduction of Ingrian oral poetry and the treatment of some particular cases, I hope to draw a picture of some aspects of situational variation and referentiality in performance.
Highlights
Kalevala (1835), which was compiled by Elias Lönnrot on the basis of folk poems
One of the extensively documented geographical areas of Kalevala-metric oral poetry is Ingria, and in all of Ingria the majority of the sound-recordings were collected from the western districts of Soikkola and Narvusi
The Ingrian practices, structures, and stylistics of singing were varied, and this area is often referred as a counterpart to or a point of comparison for Karelian singing of a more male and epic character (Gröndahl 1997; Siikala 2000)
Summary
Kati Kallio [Transcriptions and audio excerpts of sung materials are available at http://journal.oraltradition.org/issues/25ii/kallio]. The Baltic-Finnic ethnic groups used trochaic tetrameter called Kalevala-meter in their oral poetry. These ethnic groups included the Finns, Karelians, Estonians, Izhors, Votes, and Ingrian-Finns. Kalevalametric poetry was mainly sung, though it served as a vehicle for proverbs embedded in speech and recited charms. This form was the central poetic language of these groups, used in epic, lyric, ritual, and occasional songs. One of the extensively documented geographical areas of Kalevala-metric oral poetry is Ingria, and in all of Ingria the majority of the sound-recordings were collected from the western districts of Soikkola and Narvusi.
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