Slovak Folk Research Articles

Popularization of Slovak Folk Tales in Poland

The reflection about research on Slavic folklore must be accompanied by a careful reminder that in the 19th century many people showed general interest in it and carried out field studies: these were amateurs, travellers, journalists and professional gatherers, i.e. ethnologists, and in the 20th century – folklorists (who continued the earlier work following accepted scientific curricula). The close linguistic affinity of the Slavs, similarity of political situations and social structures of folklore depositaries throughout history facilitated and developed comparative research on various folklore genres (tales, songs, legends, proverbs, comic stories). In the 19th century, Slovak songs were distinguished by Oskar Kolberg. Conversely, a concrete example of pioneering academic achievements in folk tale studies in Slovakia includes the tales collected by Pavol Dobšinský and Samuel Czambel, and later (in the first half of the 20th century) by Frank Wollman and his followers; and after World War II – by Viera Gašpariková. Many integrative, interethnic and comparative research initiatives have been directly linked to the tales and resulted in printing valuable collections of texts edited by folklorists from Poland and Slovakia e.g. Śpiewająca lipka. Bajki Słowian Zachodnich (The Singing Linden Tree. The Tales of the West Slavs), Zbójnicki dar. Polskie i słowackie opowiadania tatrzańskie (The Robber’s Gift. Polish and Slovak Stories about the Tatras), Słoneczny koń. Bajki słowackie (The Sunny Horse. Slovak Tales), Skarb w garncu. Humor ludowy Słowian Zachodnich (The Treasure in the Pot. Folk Humour of the West Slavs), Bajki słowackie (Slovak Tales by P. Dobšinský). According to the author of the article, Polish and Slovak work in the field of tales stands out among the research on folklore genealogy of the Slavs. Therefore, she focuses on the anthologies that promote and popularize Slovak tales in Poland.

Odraz ľudovej piesne v ponáškach Janka Kráľa

Slovak folklore played an important role in the Slovak national revival movement in the 19th century. Incorporating the elements of folk songs in poetry meant simplifying the language, substituting classical verses for syllabic ones, thus proceeding to a new romantic era. The authors were able to introduce and disseminate revolutionary ideas to common people in a comprehensible way. That is how “ponáška” - a syncretic genre of poems resembling to folk songs - was created. The aim of this paper is to analyse the similarities and differences of Slovak folk songs and “ponášky” to describe this syncretic genre more closely. Initially, basic features of Slovak folk songs - parallelism, natural imagery, typical repetitive motifs, importance of form - are presented. These are then identified in the interpretations of poems “Žíznim, mám studničku”, “Krajinská pieseň” and “Verše” by a major author of the syncretic genre: Janko Kráľ. The analysed texts resemble authentic folk songs both in form and meaning. The author uses isosyllabic verses to fit folk song melodies; incorporates traditional natural and social motifs; and most of all, applies the parallelism at all levels (form, content, and composition). On the other hand, the unique author's contribution in distinguishing ponáška from folk song is manifested in various means. He reflects the historical and social context in strong agitating images of “Krajinská pieseň”; or uses the theme of un-freedom, which is atypical for folklore. However, the crucial difference is a result of a perceptible and heartfelt dive into the lyrical subject, who experiences feelings typical of a romantic hero, such as loneliness, misunderstanding, even conflict.

Influence of Slovak folk music and Grieg’s stylizations of Norwegian folklore on the development of Bartók’s musical idiom

Influence of Slovak folk music and Grieg’s stylizations of Norwegian folklore on the development of Bartók’s musical idiom

Princípy hudobnej výchovy pre deti predškolského a mladšieho školského veku

The text deals with the principles that are key to the musical education of preschool and early school children. In defining the principles, the author is based on the laws of folk art in Slovak folk music culture and on the music-pedagogical principles of Carl Orff based on the musical manifestations of natural cultures.

The AMC Trio jazz combo and their inspirations drawn from Slovak folk music

In this study, we examine contemporary eclectic approaches to jazz and consider to what extent they allow for originality (notwithstanding the opposition between the terms "eclectic" and "original"). The music of the Slovak jazz combo AMC Trio is often seen as typically "Slovak", and the presence of Slovak folk music in their compositions is discussed in detail. Because AMC Trio is one of the most exported Slovak jazz groups, this study analyses their music to see what makes it exceptional in the Slovak context and for the introduction of European impulses to jazz. We point out the fact that the trio's compositions do not draw directly on Slovak folk music, but, nevertheless, they contain interesting parallels and indirect inspirations. These are what give a Slovak character and melodic originality to their music, which impresses even foreign artists who collaborate with them. It remains a question, therefore, whether eclecticism ultimately leads to new concepts in jazz or whether it in fact moves jazz further away from its Afro-American roots.

Verbal Formulas-Beginnings in Ukrainian and Slovak Folk Tales: Comparative Study

Verbal Formulas-Beginnings in Ukrainian and Slovak Folk Tales: Comparative Study

Ukrainian and Slovak Folk Dance Melodies: Comparative Study

Ukrainian and Slovak Folk Dance Melodies: Comparative Study

Local Fusions: Folk Music Experiments in Central Europe at the Millennium by Barbara Rose Lange

Reviewed by: Local Fusions: Folk Music Experiments in Central Europe at the Millennium by Barbara Rose Lange Joe C. Clark Local Fusions: Folk Music Experiments in Central Europe at the Millennium. By Barbara Rose Lange. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. [xiii, 239 p. ISBN 978-0-19-024536-8 (hardcover) $99; ISBN 978-0-19-024537-5 (paper) $35; (e-Book) $34.99] Political and economic events can play a significant role in the world of the arts, and Barbara Rose Lange chose two such occurrences to bookend her case studies of folk music experimentation in Central Europe: the 1989 fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the 2008 world financial crisis. Focusing primarily on Hungary, Slovakia—and, to a lesser degree, Austria—Lange presents several case studies from this era examining artists and how they addressed complex issues such as identity, gender, and politics through their music. Additionally, she explores how artists blended local traditions with other musical genres and artistic forms such as poetry and dance. Lange groups the nine chapters based primarily on geography. The last two consider electronic dance music (EDM), local sounds, and how the Internet has allowed sharing, producing, and distributing music globally. While “folk music” is in the subtitle, the focus is more on experimentation, with examples of artists who utilized elements of the traditional in their music. Much of the content comes from Lange’s field-work in Hungary since 1990, and from additional fieldwork in Budapest, Bratislava, and Vienna in 2006, 2007, 2012, and 2014. The book’s introduction offers an overview of the history, sociopolitical conditions, and the stratification of the arts that influenced the regional music under examination. Lange discusses capitalism and its relationship to the arts after the fall of communism in 1989, as well as folk music experiments before 1989. Due to the collapse of state-sponsorship of the arts, artists in the 1990s had to experiment and adapt in order to survive economically. As Europe began to integrate, numerous forces pulled artists in multiple directions, while allowing space for new and individual expression. Lange first considers gender and ethnicity in Hungary. In the first chapter, she explores masculinity and dance during the Hungarian folk [End Page 377] revival through the work of Ferenc Kiss and Szabolcs Gombai. Kiss was from an older generation, and his perspectives on masculinity are examined through the lens of his 1999 concept album Nagyvárosi bujdosók (Outlaws of the city). Lange contrasts this with Gombai (b. 1973) and his 2006 dance piece A férfi tánca (Dance of a man), which exhibits a more contemporary and less traditional view of masculinity. Chapter 2 presents singer Ági Szalóki, the Hungarian folk revival, and multi-ethnic femininity. Lange discusses how Szalóki, who has a mixed ancestry that includes Romani, resisted Romani expectations, and combined poetry, folk song, and jazz to create music that challenged gender roles, and, later, far-right nationalists in the 2000s. Lange utilises ethnographic observations and discourse analysis to consider the early career of singer and writer Bea Palya and the intersection between her life and art in Chapter 3. Special interest is paid to elements of women’s lives, including Palya’s collaboration with Samu Gryllus on creating a song cycle for Sándor Weöres’s Psyché. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 explore music in Slovakia, with an emphasis on new aesthetics. In Chapter 4, Lange offers a study of the musical group Banda and the Slovak folk revival during the 1990s and 2000s. She examines the practices of scenic folklorism, the role of capitalism, and the infusion of new and progressive elements into traditional music. Banda sought to build on sounds from playing with musicians in Slovak villages and incorporated musical elements from other cultures. Chapter 5 examines the Bratislava musical group Požoň sentimental and its attempts to convey nostalgia of their city’s past through collaborations, while Chapter 6 considers the Slovak punk band Hudba z Marsu (Music from Mars) and its efforts to integrate Slovak folk and Romani pop into their music. While Austria was not a member of the Soviet bloc and did not undergo the post-communist...

Odzemok: Cultural and Historical Development

Abstract This article characterizes the male dance odzemok as one of the most representative dances in the broad spectrum of Slovak folk dances. A more detailed analysis and subsequent analysis of the literature confirms the absence of a comprehensive integrated material concerning odzemok in a wider context. This text further highlights the historical development of said male dance in the central geographic area, and analyzes the factors that led to the development of its present form.

New Publication on Slovak Family and Folk Customs [Review of <em>Tradicie slovenskej rodiny</em>, comp. Marta Botniková

New Publication on Slovak Family and Folk Customs [Review of <em>Tradicie slovenskej rodiny</em>, comp. Marta Botniková

Analysis of the timbre of Slovak folk reed aerophones using source-filter model

Bagpipes are the only group of traditional folk reed instruments that have survived in Slovak folk culture until now. Unlike Scottish highland pipe, gaita, cornemuse etc., all the types of Slovak bagpipes use single reeds in both chanters and drones. Moreover the horns of the drones are partly closed with a plate having only a small opening for air output and sound radiation. This forms a Helmholz-like resonator - acoustic filter having a strong influence on the acoustic and aesthetic properties of the sound. The ideal of the sound timbre of these pipes is "less open" (compare to open and closed vowels in speech) and, in spite of its relatively high loudness, "less agressive" in comparison to pipes with open horns. This paper presents our approach to study the ideal of sound timbre of the Slovak bagpipe using a source-filter all-pole model. To identify resonance frequencies/formants, we applied inverse filtering technique using discrete linear prediction. Some properties of the source (reed) were studied using parameters like amplitude qutient and open quotient. The possible relations between timbre of speech sounds (vowels) and the timbre of the sound of musical instruments are discussed.

"The Works of Our People:" Dušan Jurkovič and the Slovak Folk Art Revival

Previous articleNext article No Access"The Works of Our People:" Dušan Jurkovič and the Slovak Folk Art RevivalCHRISTOPHER LONGCHRISTOPHER LONG Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 12, Number 1FALL-WINTER 2004-2005 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/studdecoarts.12.1.40663096 Views: 11Total views on this site Citations: 1Citations are reported from Crossref Journal History This article was published in Studies in the Decorative Arts (1993-2009), which is continued by West 86th (2011-present). Copyright 2004 The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and CulturePDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Michał Burdziński Poets who moved the air: Stanisław Witkiewicz – Dušan Samuel Jurkovič, (Jan 2021).https://doi.org/10.31338/uw.9788323549918.pp.153-178

Structure in Folk Theater: Notes regarding Bogatyrev's Book on Czech and Slovak Folk Theater

Structure in Folk Theater: Notes regarding Bogatyrev's Book on Czech and Slovak Folk Theater

Methodological Problems in Slovak Ethnomusicology

Ethnomusicology as a systematic scientific branch engaged in research in t e field of folk music, mainly wi h European, but also with the on-European musical cultures, arose in Slovakia in the proper sense of the word after the Second World War. Work was concentrated in two problems: 1) Investigations of Slovak folk music; 2) the solution of general, above all methodical, problems of ethnomusicology. The second problem had to be solved in order sufficiently to overcome the first one. Problems of method appeared in all fields of research, as in documentation (the system of field work) as well as in the evaluation of the material (transcribing, laboratory measurements), in its essential elaboration (cataloguing, analysis, classification) and theoretical work, without omitting comparative, music-theoretical and style-critical studies. It was essential to solve the main methodical questions, because they had to form this new field of research, because on them depended upon what theoretical foundations it would develop.

Problem of Variation in 18th Century Slovak Folk Music Manuscripts

No comparative, historical-genetic investigation of folk music can be undertaken without a thorough study of historical sources. This refers especially to the sources of East European music history, in which folk music always occupied a most significant position. Such investigation is of great use to the music historian for the clear differentiation of style between local and general West European music tradition, and the ethnomusicologist has supported, by means of identifying material of folk music records, the possibility of historical-genetic conclusions. Problems in this sense acquire particularly great importance in Slovak folk music, because it developed in the past, and is also developing at present, on the boundary of East and West European music culture. The whole development of our folk music is a continuous process of crystallization and assimilation on account of the boundary of these two cultural areas.

Czech and Slovak Folk Song, Music and Dance (Report of the Society of Ethnography of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and the Slovak Society of Ethnography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences). Karel Vetterl and others. (Prague and Bratislava, 1962.) 63 pp.

Czech and Slovak Folk Song, Music and Dance (Report of the Society of Ethnography of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and the Slovak Society of Ethnography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences). Karel Vetterl and others. (Prague and Bratislava, 1962.) 63 pp.

Some Observations on Slovak Folk Music Instruments

Some Observations on Slovak Folk Music Instruments

A Study of Central Slovak Folk Dance

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A Treasury of Slovak Folk Songs

A Treasury of Slovak Folk Songs

A Group of Slovak Folk Poems

A Group of Slovak Folk Poems