Traditional Songs Research Articles

The Beautiful Guantánamo

In "The Beautiful Guantánamo," Mansoor Adayfi, who was imprisoned for fourteen years there without charge, refutes the narratives and images carefully curated by the US government about its captives. Adayfi describes how men and boys speaking eighteen different languages and representing fifty nationalities shared their different cultures with one another and, through communal experiences, generated their own distinctive Guantánamo culture from 2002 to 2010. Beginning with the fear, estrangement, and abuse prisoners experienced upon their arrival, the author details how forming a common language and traditions in greetings, poetry, song, and dance created a brotherhood among those held and helped them to survive. From learning how to greet one another in their own languages to devising classes and cultural competitions, the prisoners forged a unique set of cultural practices to sustain themselves. The essay demonstrates how Guantánamo culture evolved as a mode of communication, self-expression, resistance, and survival and, in the process, as the author writes, ensured prisoners held on to the humanity that the prison sought to destroy.

Review: Battle Lines: Poetry and Mass Media in the U.S. Civil War, by Eliza Richards

Review: <i>Battle Lines: Poetry and Mass Media in the U.S. Civil War</i>, by Eliza Richards

‘Take it away, sure ’tis your own’: Negotiating authoritative voice in Irish traditional song performance through autoethnography

This article discusses the authoritative voice in traditional Irish singing, examining voice in negotiation with prevailing and conflicting ideologies of practice in this context. Opening with a discussion on vocal identity and vocality in traditional Irish singing, autoethnography is used to present and critically examine an individual process of learning and voicing a macaronic song from the Irish tradition. Findings contribute to further understand the social, participatory and presentational dimensions of Irish traditional song as it is learned, performed and transmitted. Issues of vocal enculturation, identity and construction are negotiated as authoritative voice and stylistic efficacy are conceptualized in voicing Irish traditional song.

한국 창작 뮤지컬 음악의 융합적 요인 연구 - 뮤지컬 『서편제』의 구조와 넘버를 중심으로 -

The musical 『Seopyeonje』 used as a main material of Korean antique melodies with the convergence and the main characters of this musical are Songha, Yoobong and Dongho who had been tried to find their own music through popular music and the traditional songs, Pansori. This paper investigated and analyzed the many types of convergence in style, structure and melody with the elements of music based on Changkuk and music theory of Korean traditional melodies through the main numbers of the musical 『Seopyeonje』. As a result, there are some high artistic values of structure, style and melody in the musical 『Seopyeonje』 by considering effectively the convergence of musical genres and ensembles of instruments and vocals. Firstly, from a structural point of view, the main three characters played two different music roles in Pansori’s melodies and the popular music performance as a production number, respectively. This structural convergence makes the audience to immerse themselves in the musical dramatically. Secondly, the most distinctive factors are the performance of Pansori enclosed in harmonic progressions of popular music and the pentatonic melody changed into tonal melody. Lastly, the remarkable numbers of musical 『Seopyeonje』 have included the same interval structure of Bonchung and Hachung which are the Korean traditional theory even though the melodies of numbers in the musical are not based on the pentatonic scale. There are some limitations in implementing several convergence methods by analyzing the musical 『Seopyeonje』. We suggest a better future research on many musicals by applying several convergence methods.

Spiritual component of the students-vocalists’ work (based on the Ukrainian composers’ repertory)

Statement of the problem. The history of Ukrainian culture is a continuous ascending path of trials, on which the mental level of Ukrainian music – its song melos, from crying and lyrics to heroics and jokes – appears as the quintessence of spirituality. A large layer of the Ukrainian folk song tradition and academic genres of music, in particular chamber and opera, from the past to the present, embodies spirituality as a guiding principle. Through the worldview position of its author, artistic images convey the “spirit of the time”. The creativity of a singerperformer is connected with the knowledge of the inner world of a person, its artistic “reflection”, with reliance on a strong spiritual foundation for realizing higher spiritual priorities in the hierarchy of values of national musical culture. So, the topicality of the topic is due to: a) the need to preserve national Ukrainian art at the current stage of development of higher art education in Ukraine; b) the needs of spiritual and personal education of young singers; c) understanding of the spiritual content of vocal works of various genres and styles, which are included in educational programs for solo singing. The significance of the formation of spiritual values of a creative personality is actualized in the scientific works of I. Bekh (2018), O. Oleksiuk (2017), V. Antoniuk (2007), O. Rudnytska (2001); the question of the spirituality of music is considered by L. Shapovalova (2014), S. Ship (2016). The innovativeness of the study is conditioned by consideration of the spiritual component of the vocal students’ creation based on the national musical background. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the role of external and internal levels of manifestations of spirituality as components of the student’s creative experience in the class of solo singing. The study of the problem of the singer’s spiritual education presupposes the application of general and special scientific approaches and methods, including: comparative typological analysis of the interpretation of vocal works; interpretative and instructive understanding of the performance through the reflection of the mentality of the imaginary hero (Shapovalova, 2014: 30); a personal and creative approach in creating a “spiritual circle” in the “teacherconcertmaster-student” system. The results of the study support the necessity of realizing the spiritual content of vocal works of different genres and styles included in the solo singing curricula. The special significance of Ukrainian song examened in the spiritual and personal dimension in the performing work of vocal students is emphasizes. Vocal pieces based on T. Shevchenko’s poems as the embodiment of a deep national idea are presented. L. Kolodub’s opera “The Poet” is given as an example of the genre of tragic-lyrical phantasmagoria, where the figure of Taras Shevchenko himself is presented. Another dimension of folk spirituality continuing of the traditionally funny images of Ukrainian opera, is considered in the example of the V. Hubarenko’s opera “The Reluctant Matchmaker”. Colorful images created on the stage of M. Lysenko KhNATOB by outstanding singers (E. Chervoniuk, V. Grashchenko) are considered in aspects embodying spiritual components of vocal image. The problem of the spiritual experience of creative communication between a teacher and a student in the solo singing class is considered in the individual context (according H. Rickert). The ways of forming a spiritual model of creative relations in the system “teacher-accompanist-student” are analyzed. Conclusion. It is proved that the professional self-affirmation of a vocal student is impossible without spiritual self-improvement and social orientation of his work, without realization the essence of the “inner feat”: during the performance he is both a spiritual reflection of the author and the personification of an imaginary hero. It was revealed that the precondition to form the spiritual foundations of the creative process is the general uplifting mood of the student and teacher, a feeling of festivity and “holiness” of the creative process. Individual manifestations of interpretive independence in combination with models implementing spiritual components within the creative circle “teacher-accompanist-student” become the basis for the formation of spiritual experience of a future singer.

THE SONG CELEBRATION AS POWER OF CULTURAL MEMORY AND A MISSION OF MODERNITY

Following the publication of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention in 2003, and its entry into force in 2006, the Song Celebration tradition and symbolism in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was added to the intangible cultural property. The tradition of the Song festivals, inspired by the protestant culture, has become an integral part of the Baltic States’ identity. The Song festivals were created to demonstrate the diversity of heritage and national history; now they also make efforts to modernise cultural practice, which is passed on from generation to generation, and they still retain the positive, immediate, uniting and mobilising function that is essential for the survival of the nation. Declaring national identity and creativity, the Song and Dance Celebration of the Baltic States reflects their patriotic and historical barriers, ideological conformism, and cultural maturity. What is the common reality of the Song and Dance Celebration as a national cultural priority in all the three Baltic States? It is the programme, the participants, a developed tradition, the creative, ideological and artistic value, the relationship with the media, the role of innovation in the television broadcasts and online communication – all this forms just a small part of topicalities related to the Celebration that requires attention, evaluation and reflection. The article studies the tradition of the Lithuanian Song and Dance Celebration as a multifaceted phenomenon, viewing it through the prism of contemporary cultural discourse. Following the French philosopher Michel de Certeau, the article examines the Lithuanian Song Celebration as a modern cultural phenomenon, which shapes our collective representations of the past and imports our traditional cultural heritage into the cities. The Song Celebration is also defined as a site of memory (lieux de mémoire) the significance of which is outlined by the French historian Pierre Nora, and which is used to strengthen the national authority and promote patriotism. It is also analysed as a practice of cultural memory (kulturelles Gedächtnis), which helps to reconstruct cultural identity and foster self-reflexive processes, as the German researchers Jan and Aleida Assmann claim. However, it can be observed that in recent decades many global memory projects integrate similar memory practices in transnational networks around the world. Besides, in the context of globalism, a very intense visual culture has emerged including a multitude of festivals and spectacles requiring revision and updating of the Song Celebration concept, which would allow us speak openly and boldly about the interpretation of the traditional culture and create new models of communication, without turning the Celebration into a commodity product, and finding original ways to discover a deeper meaning of ethnic culture.

THE CLASH OF OPINIONS REGARDING INNOVATION IN A TRADITION: THE CASE OF THE REPERTOIRE OF LATVIAN NATIONWIDE SONG AND DANCE CELEBRATION

In this article the tradition of Song and Dance Celebration (SDC) is analysed, focusing on the aspects of innovation of its repertoire and the effect these innova- tions may have on the development of traditions. Repertoire is the one aspect which pervades the whole SDC process and is dealt with by all actors – organisers, participants (choir members), conductors, audience members. Repertoire is also one of the most changing aspects of the SDC, because at the beginning of every five-year cycle it is redefined and is put together anew. Lately, the content of the repertoire has been a subject of discussions especially regarding the ability of partici- pants of the amateur-arts groups. The main goal of this article is to describe if and how innovations in the SDC repertoire are an obstacle or the source of a progress. In this article theoretical and empirical data gathered in the framework of research programme HABITUS have been used. Data show that participants are not satisfied with the proportion and content of the new compositions (innovations) in the repertoire. Nevertheless, article argues that the aspects of innovation are inevitable and necessary in order for this tradition to be sustainable, progressing and actual. It cannot be asserted that too many innovations in the repertoire could stop the SDC tradition altogether. However, it is suggested that few actions are taken in order for the tradition to keep on being widely practised and accepted by large groups of people.

The Global Jukebox: A public database of performing arts and culture.

Standardized cross-cultural databases of the arts are critical to a balanced scientific understanding of the performing arts, and their role in other domains of human society. This paper introduces the Global Jukebox as a resource for comparative and cross-cultural study of the performing arts and culture. The Global Jukebox adds an extensive and detailed global database of the performing arts that enlarges our understanding of human cultural diversity. Initially prototyped by Alan Lomax in the 1980s, its core is the Cantometrics dataset, encompassing standardized codings on 37 aspects of musical style for 5,776 traditional songs from 1,026 societies. The Cantometrics dataset has been cleaned and checked for reliability and accuracy, and includes a full coding guide with audio training examples (https://theglobaljukebox.org/?songsofearth). Also being released are seven additional datasets coding and describing instrumentation, conversation, popular music, vowel and consonant placement, breath management, social factors, and societies. For the first time, all digitized Global Jukebox data are being made available in open-access, downloadable format (https://github.com/theglobaljukebox), linked with streaming audio recordings (theglobaljukebox.org) to the maximum extent allowed while respecting copyright and the wishes of culture-bearers. The data are cross-indexed with the Database of Peoples, Languages, and Cultures (D-PLACE) to allow researchers to test hypotheses about worldwide coevolution of aesthetic patterns and traditions. As an example, we analyze the global relationship between song style and societal complexity, showing that they are robustly related, in contrast to previous critiques claiming that these proposed relationships were an artifact of autocorrelation (though causal mechanisms remain unresolved).

INSTITUTIONALISATION OF AMATEUR ARTS IN LATVIA: INVOLVEMENT OF AMATEUR ARTISTS IN DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

There are 69.6 thousand amateur artists in Latvia (3.5% of the population) who take part in various amateur arts groups. Majority of these amateurs sustain the tradition of the Nationwide Song and Dance Celebration, a phenomenon which has been inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Even though in many countries amateur arts groups are self-governed, in Latvia the process has been institutionalised, mainly due to the organisation of the amateur arts sector during the Soviet period. Groups do not usually operate as civic associations, but are affiliated to municipal cultural centres. Both local and national authorities have a decisive role in the process. The study aims to identify gaps in the communication and decision-making process between amateur artists, artistic leaders of the amateur art groups and institutionalised decision-making bodies. Quantitative and qualitative data have been collected to analyse the governance of the Celebration and to identify the forms of amateur involvement. Keywords:

«Home Songbooks» by S. Monіuszko and Spiritual and Ethical Aspects of the Biedermeier Culture

The purpose of the study is to reveal the genre-stylistic specificity of S. Monіuszko’s cycle “Home Songbooks” in the context of the spiritual and stylistic instructions of Biedermeier’s art, including in his Polish “model”. The methodology of the work is based on general scientific and special methods, among which intonation-stylistic, historical-cultural, genre-stylistic methods in their complex application are essential. The scientific novelty of the work is determined by the fact that it summarises for the first time the genre-stylistic specificity of S. Monіuszko’s “Home Songbooks” cycle in the context of Biedermeier’s typological features and his Polish “hypostasis”. Conclusions. The creativity of S. Monіuszko is an important component of Polish musical culture of the middle of the 19th century, which developed at the intersection of typological signs of romanticism and Biedermeier. The specificity of the latter, presented in almost all European cultures of the mentioned period, including the Polish one, is focused on the revival of spiritual patriarchal guidelines for human existence, on the reproduction of “life imbued with religiosity”. In the artistic and musical sphere, Biedermeier’s typology appeals to the typical and generally significant, to various forms of amateur music-making or to their stylisation. Within the framework of Polish culture, his instructions interact with the signs of Polish nobility and Sarmatism, as well as with the traditions of the national song and dance culture. The large-scale series “Home Songbooks” by S. Monіuszko was created on the basis of the best examples of Polish (A. Mickiewicz, S. Witvytskyi, J. Chechot, L. Kondratovych, etc.), as well as European poetry of various eras (J. Goethe, H. Heine, V. Hugo, V. Scott, J. Byron, V. Shakespeare). It includes about three hundred songs and is oriented to the artistic demands of a family circle or salon gathering, carries a spiritual and educational burden, reproducing the Polish “image of the world” and its ethical values.&#x0D; Key words: Polish musical culture of the 19th century, chamber and vocal cycle, chamber and vocal creativity of S. Monyushka, “Home Songbooks” by S. Moniushko, Biedermayer, Sarmatism.

Evolutions, Transformations and Trends in Kalenjin Traditional Songs

ABSTRACT Since the production of the earliest Kalenjin traditional albums in the 1920s, the community’s traditional songs have evolved and transformed. This article traces this historical process by considering how these songs developed from folk songs performed during Kambaget (sports competitions) and from the earliest compositions of Bekyibei arap Mosonik, Kipchamba arap Tapotuk and their contemporaries, to the modern-day Kalenjin popular hits. The article documents the earliest recordings of Kalenjin music tracks as well as the bands, and traces the legacies of Kipchamba’s Koilong’et Band from the artists of 1940s and those of the later decades through to the younger generations of the 1990s, 2000s and today. This is done in order to determine the zones of contact as well as departures from prototypical and popular Kalenjin traditional songs. Taking the 1990s liberation of the airwaves as focus, this essay analyses the extraordinary variety and complexity of “The Oldies” and compares these to contemporary artistic products that have recycled aspects of this historical canon.

Arrullo queer: patrimonio, performatividad de género y diversidad sexual en las músicas de marimba y los cantos y bailes tradicionales del Pacífico sur colombiano

The purpose of this article is to analyze the intersections between the spaces of deployment of the cultural traditions of the Colombian South Pacific, associated with the heritage of marimba music and the region’s traditional songs and dances, and the LGBTQ+ subjects who embody and enact them in their daily lives. How are the particular life experiences of these self-recognized LGBTQ+ subjects articulated with the reproduction and performatization of these cultural traditions? How is this gender diversity strained and negotiated in such spaces? What does the notorious invisibilization of gender diversity in intangible cultural heritage studies tell us? What contributions can queer epistemologies bring to the study of heritage processes? Discussions on gender and sexuality in the field of heritage studies are scarce and reveal a heteronormative reading of the field of studies itself and its specialists. In turn, gender studies have done little to address discussions on sexuality in the field of popular traditions and festivities in Colombia and Latin America. This article is based on an ethnographic methodology applied to fieldwork conducted since 2019 in the municipality of San Andrés de Tumaco (Nariño), prioritizing the analysis of an arrullo, a space of socialization typical of the region’s spiritual culture, where these melodies and songs are performed. In general, the findings lead to the conclusion that LGBTQ+ subjects are not necessarily excluded from these spaces; rather, they are places in which community ties, belonging, recognition, and social prestige are disputed and reaffirmed.

НЕМАТЕРІАЛЬНА КУЛЬТУРНА СПАДЩИНА УКРАЇНЦІВ (РЕГІОНАЛЬНИЙ АНАЛІЗ ПРОЯВУ)

The problems of fixation and preservation of the objects and phenomena related to the intangible cultural heritage of Ukraine are considered in the article. The history of mapping the ethnocultural monuments, especially in the realm of spiritual culture is revealed. An experience of popularization of the intangible heritage objects, as well as the concepts and approaches to the existence of a living tradition developed by scholars of the Institute of Geography of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, is analyzed. Attention is drawn to such issues as ideological pressure on the customary and ritual culture of Ukrainians during the years of the totalitarian regime, as well as to the danger of the spread of pseudo-folklore phenomena, and the need to create an electronic database of the intangible cultural heritage objects. The problems of regional manifestations of ancient and living practices existence of customary culture and the requirement to substantiate more clearly the selection criteria with the aim to include the traditions, holidays and ceremonies, trades and handicrafts, monuments of music and song traditions in the national list.

FRIENDLY FEELING SEBAGAI MODAL SOSIAL SISWA DALAM WARGA SEKOLAH MULTIKULTURAL PADA MATA PELAJARAN SOSIOLOGI

Friendly feelings should be applied to students, especially to school members who are very heterogeneous or diverse in terms of ethnicity, religion, skin color, customs, and race. This study aims to describe the sense of friendship or the character of this friendly feeling as students' social capital in school diversity. This research uses a quantitative approach to the type of survey at SMAN 10 Mataram in the Social Sciences department. The results showed that the social studies students, both male, and female, had high friendly feelings. The character of friendly feelings is supported by the application carried out by Sociology teachers through multicultural education with the design of learning models based on local wisdom. The local wisdom that is applied is the local wisdom of the local tribes, such as the traditional song of the nongak lizard, betemue culture, and weaving which can foster a sense of friendliness between students so that it becomes a habit to be able to appreciate a difference. Differences in things that must be disputed will make students collaborate and work well. Local wisdom can be the basis of educational practice.

Народная песенная традиция в поэзии пушкинской поры

The aim of the study is to trace the development of the folk song tradition in the lyric of poets of the Pushkinian era. Scientific novelty of the study lies in identifying the “collective emotionality” (A. N. Veselovsky’s term) in the poetic works of poets of the Pushkinian era. Folk songs reflected people’s lives, including the personality of their performers. As a result, it has been proved that in the lyric of poets of the Pushkinian era, the “collective emotionality” of folk songs found its expression in the constants of national consciousness - the memory of death, love of life, friendship, in literary devices (psychological parallelism, gradual narrowing of images) borrowed from folklore.

СЕЛО ЧЕРВЯНКА ИРКУТСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ: ЗАБЫТОЕ НАСЛЕДИЕ СИБИРИ (ПО СЛЕДАМ ЭКСПЕДИЦИЙ)

The problems of studying regional culture are embedded in the current course of interdisciplinary studies devoted to various aspects that reveal the rich originality and uniqueness of the culture of Siberia. The study of the culture of the region, including the existence of folklore traditions that have developed as a result of "secondary" localization, is one of the strategic tasks of modern cultural studies and ethnography, making an important contribution to the problem of preserving historical memory. The work presents the results of a historical and ethnographic study of the village of Chervyanka, Chunsky District, Irkutsk Region, systematizes the materials of an expedition to this area, carried out at the end of the 20th century. The authors, based on the study of disparate sources, for the first time reconstruct valuable data on the origin of Chervyanka — the area of local tradition. Thus, the ethnographic context of the functioning of the song tradition, which was practically lost for objective reasons, is partially compensated for, the deciphered samples of which are demonstrated in the article. The introduction of materials of the work into scientific use allows us to expand the idea of the musical culture of the region, to supplement the historical and cultural "landscape" of Siberia.

The Traditional Songs of the Assamese: Voice and Connection

The Traditional Songs of the Assamese: Voice and Connection

The Traditional Songs of the Assamese: Voice and Connection

The Traditional Songs of the Assamese: Voice and Connection The folk songs of Assam are mainly associated with rites and rituals; these folk songs reflect the livelihood of the Assamese community. The songs are related to Shitala Puja, Koli burhi nritya, Gopini naam, biya naam and Bihu geet, which have a unique position in traditional singing among the Assamese community. Sitala is a folk goddess and it is believed that she has is an intimidating presence who distributes infected pulses in village markets, or sends hordes of disease-demons, thus causing outbreaks of smallpox and other contagious illnesses. Only when properly worshipped she agrees to heal her victims (Ferrari 2015:2). The women sing Aai Naam to please the Goddess Shitala as she is described as the deification of smallpox. Koli burhi nritya is associated with Magh Bihu, which is a post-harvest festival, held in January. Koli burhi is an Assamese term, which means a black woman. Women put the burning banana leaves on their bodies and sing the song which is known as Koli burhi nrityar geet(the songs of black women). It is believed that burning banana leaves removes all the obstacles from their life. Durga Puja is a famous festival held in India and during this puja (The English term of puja is ritual) the Assamese women sing Gopini Naam to please the Goddess Bhagavati or Kamakhya (a form of Goddess Durga). Songs related to marriage are also very significant among the Assamese community, and these marriage songs are known as Biya naam. The song related to Bihu, which is the main harvest festival of Assam, held in mid-April, is known as Bihu geet. Merriment, love and sad these feelings are described through these Bihu geet. In this paper, an attempt has been made to highlight the traditional singing that is related to rituals among the communities of Assam, India.

Linguocultural Image of Traditional Kazakh Song Texts

The article deals in detail with the linguocultural image of traditional songs, which are the pearl of the spiritual culture of the Kazakh people. The contents of the texts of traditional songs of Kazakh people reflect the peculiarities of mentality, ethnic, linguocultural perception of music and folded history of the Great Steppe, the variety of everyday life, social consciousness and world picture. Traditional Kazakh folk songs are grouped according to the content-structural system as songs born in connection with ancient beliefs, songs born in connection with economy and occupation, household and ritual songs. Traditional Kazakh songs have a linguistic examination of the lyrics reflecting the brevity of the song. The lexico-semantic specificity in the linguocultural aspect of the texts of traditional songs of the Kazakh people is the richest in philosophical deep meaning and didactic content, various expressions and emotions, parables-sentences and aphorisms, phrases and syntactic parallelisms. In the traditional song texts of the Kazakh people on the basis of specific examples the emotive lexicon and linguocultures, connotations carrying semantic and stylistic meaning are differentiated. The functional activity of such pictorial means as rhythm, noise, rhyme, timbre, intonation, metaphor generating the figurative artistic image, comparison, epithet, parallelism, symbolism, personification that make up the harmony of melody and words in a song text is analyzed.

Linguocultural Image of Traditional Kazakh Song Texts

The article deals in detail with the linguocultural image of traditional songs, which are the pearl of the spiritual culture of the Kazakh people. The contents of the texts of traditional songs of Kazakh people reflect the peculiarities of mentality, ethnic, linguocultural perception of music and folded history of the Great Steppe, the variety of everyday life, social consciousness and world picture. Traditional Kazakh folk songs are grouped according to the content-structural system as songs born in connection with ancient beliefs, songs born in connection with economy and occupation, household and ritual songs. Traditional Kazakh songs have a linguistic examination of the lyrics reflecting the brevity of the song. The lexico-semantic specificity in the linguocultural aspect of the texts of traditional songs of the Kazakh people is the richest in philosophical deep meaning and didactic content, various expressions and emotions, parables-sentences and aphorisms, phrases and syntactic parallelisms. In the traditional song texts of the Kazakh people on the basis of specific examples the emotive lexicon and linguocultures, connotations carrying semantic and stylistic meaning are differentiated. The functional activity of such pictorial means as rhythm, noise, rhyme, timbre, intonation, metaphor generating the figurative artistic image, comparison, epithet, parallelism, symbolism, personification that make up the harmony of melody and words in a song text is analyzed.