Chapter 13: Introduction to the Region Béla Bartók a respected ethnomusicologist and one of the centurys most famous composers heard a young nursemaid.

Chapter 13: Introduction to the Region

• Béla Bartók▫ a respected ethnomusicologist and one of the

century’s most famous composers▫ heard a young nursemaid (Lidi Dósa) sing a

haunting, simple tune The song inspired him to “collect the finest

examples of Hungarian folk music and raise them to the level of works of art.”

Chapter 13: Introduction to the Region

• Geography▫ This Part will concentrate on

Hungary Bulgaria Russia

◦ Russian culture extends into vast parts of Central Asia

◦ The Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union have sizable ethnic Russian minorities, and thus two (or more) distinct musical traditions coexist in them

Chapter 13: Elements of Eastern European Folk Music

▫ Below are some of the distinctive characteristics of the songs and other music of this region that help distinguish Eastern European folk music from that of Western Europe

Non-pulsatile Songs Asymmetric Meters Repetitive Dance Rhythms Bright Timbres Epic Songs Socialist Realism

Chapter 13: Elements of Eastern European Folk Music• Epic Songs

▫ singers are usually men, professionals or semi-professionals who have memorized poems often of several thousand lines

▫ The performer memorizes a certain number of stock melodies, called melodic formulas, and applies them to fit the poetic meter and mood of the text

▫ Improvised ornamentation is important▫ epic singers usually sing without accompaniment, or they

accompany themselves on an instrument such as a fiddle or plucked string instrument

Chapter 13: Elements of Eastern European Folk Music• Epic Songs

▫ bilini or starini - Russian epics they sang about wars against the Tartars during the

late Middle Ages◦ These epics died out in the early twentieth century and

the art is still lost

▫ Kantele - a plucked zither traditionally accompanied The Kalevala songs

◦ In Finland, the epic tradition is drawn from the Kalevala, the story of the legendary Finn leader, Väinemöinen

▫ Dumy – Ukrainian epic songs

Chapter 13: Elements of Eastern European Folk Music• Asymmetric Meters

▫ meters which also mix the two kinds of beats especially popular in Greece, Bulgaria, and some other

Balkan regions▫ For example, the graphic below shows a group of two

pulses and another of three may alternate to create a larger metrical group of five

Chapter 13: Elements of Eastern European Folk Music• Socialist Realism

▫ In the 1930s, Stalin made socialist realism a part of his cult of personality

▫ Russian composer Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971), who had used folk elements in his earlier works, left Russia forever in 1917

▫ The disruption of traditional ways of life through collectivization, mass movements of workers to urban factories, and the homogenization of language and culture also caused the decline of many folk art traditions

Chapter 13: Elements of Eastern European Folk Music• Professional Folk Ensembles

▫ some Communist governments formed ensembles of folk musicians who had sufficient training to play arrangements written by conservatory-trained composers

▫ While the sources of the music remained for the most part folk songs and dances collected from the countryside, the refinements that professional groups introduced, as well as performance contexts so different from the traditions of the countryside, clearly distinguish these performances from other folk music

▫ Russian musician Dmitri Pokrovsky sparked a revival movement in folk music that accelerated after the social liberalization movement known as glasnost (openness) began in 1985

Chapter 13: Hungarian Folk Music

• Historical Background▫ Verbunkos – recruiting

word associated with Romani instrumentalists, whose music was often used as an attraction at military recruiting fairs

◦ Cimbalom - the Middle Eastern hammered dulcimer

◦ other verbunkos instruments were usually two violins (one playing the melody and the other a countermelody) and a string bass


• Historical Background▫ Verbunkos

Magyarnota - nineteenth-century sentimental parlor songs

Csárdás - a distinctive dance of contrasting fast and slow tempos in simple duple meter, now the national dance of Hungary


• The Characteristics of Hungarian Folk Song

anhemitonic pentatonic scale—a scale of five pitches per octave with no semitones

parlando-rubato - an Italian term meaning free speech rhythm

tempo giusto - an Italian term meaning strict tempo


• Representative Hungarian Instruments▫ Hungarian musical instruments reflect the

diverse influences of this crossroads nation Citera - a plucked zither with frets Furulya – a shepherd’s vertical duct flute


• Dance House Music In the 1970s two young folk dancers, Béla

Halmos and Ferenc Sebö sought to incorporate the spirit of the music in a rousing new repertory played on amplified violins and bass in dance clubs

◦ Tancház - dance houses Since the fall of communism, tancház has

become state–supported


• Romani Folk Song▫ There is an absence of instrumental music, even for

dances, among the Vlach and Romungre ethnic groups▫ To accompany dances, they sing a repertory of highly

rhythmic songs that include: Fragmentary texts vocables (nonsense syllables) mouth sounds to create a kind of vocal percussion

known as szájbögö (mouth bass)


• A Performance of a Romani Szájbögö—Mouth Bass Song

▫ The percussive accompaniment for these dances is created entirely by the impromptu rhythmic syllables, mouth sounds, and claps of the singers; there are no other instruments

▫ Although many szájbögö dances are entirely without words, the lyrics of those that do are often light-hearted, humorous, nonsensical, and repetitive

▫ Singers, dancers, and onlookers may offer shouts of encouragement or teasing

Chapter 13: Bulgarian Folk Music

• Historical Background▫ Peasant women, not allowed to sing in church, became the

main carriers of the secular folk song tradition▫ In 1944 the country underwent a socialist revolution and

became part of the Soviet bloc The government formed and supported professional folk

ensembles in preference to traditional folk music▫ Filip Kutev (1903 –1982) was a pioneering composer and

choral director▫ One of the most popular genres is the dance music played

at weddings


• Bulgarian Folk Songs▫ Folk songs can be divided according to function,

and often each has its own distinctive musical characteristics

▫ Harvesting songs, for example, are generally sustained and non-pulsatile (parlando-rubato), They have a narrow range and an ornament called

provikvaniyo—a type of sudden yell upward at the ends of phrases

▫ Many songs are associated with holidays and other seasonal activities, although the actual subjects of the songs may be unrelated to the season


• Bulgarian Rhythm• folk dances, such as line dances or circle dances (horo),

tend to be lively and energetic communal activities▫ Some of these folk dance types are:


• Representative Bulgarian Instruments and Their Performance▫ Kaval - a rim-blown flute held at an angle in front of the

player▫ Gudulka - a pear-shaped vertical bowed fiddle with three

strings▫ Gaida - a bagpipe with a drone pipe and a melody pipe▫ Tambura - a longnecked fretted lute with four strings or

double courses▫ Tupan - a large cylindrical bass drum

▫ Bulgarian instrumental playing styles are known for their especially florid ornamentation


• A Performance of a Bulgarian Folksong▫ Filip Kutev, the most famous arranger of traditional

works for professional folk ensembles, arranged Dilmano, Dilbero, originally from the Shopski region, for folk ensemble and women’s choir

Chapter 13: Russian Folk Music

• Folk Songs and Genres▫ Folk wedding music includes a large number of

subtypes including laments ( prichitaniya), which are sung both at weddings and at funerals

▫ work songs, short work calls ( pripevki) similar to the holler of the United States

▫ calendar songs (songs for a particular holiday or season) table songs - sung traditionally around a table at

a party or banquet ◦ From the country of Georgia

Chapter 13: Russian Folk Music

• Folk Songs and Genres▫ Russian Instruments

Balalaika - an instrument of the lute type with frets and a distinctive triangular sound body

Domra – a lute with a round sound body, usually used to strum chords

Gusli - a plucked zither described as having a wing shape

bayan is a button accordion, a popular instrument since the nineteenth century, now found in many folk bands

Zhaleyka - a small single-reed shepherd’s pipe

Chapter 13: Russian Folk Music• Igor Stravinsky’s The Wedding

▫ Stravinsky researched folk songs and folk poetry relating to Russian weddings in order to celebrate his heritage

▫ Stravinsky’s celebration of this heritage, Svadebka (The Wedding), depicted a traditional wedding as a cantata, a series of pieces for singers, chorus, and orchestra that tell a story but without opera’s staging

▫ Stravinsky’s work represents the songs, the toasts, the conversations, and the atmosphere of a peasant wedding in a kaleidoscopic montage

formula song - consists of short repeating rhythms and motives repeated over and over, sometimes with isorhythm and sometimes in asymmetric meters

Chapter 13: Introduction to the Region Béla Bartók a respected ethnomusicologist and one of the centurys most famous composers heard a young nursemaid.

Documents

folk songs

folk elements

folk art traditions

ensembles of folk musicians

young folk dancers

absence of instrumental

statesupported slide

string bass slide