Chapter 13: Introduction to the Region

2. 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.”

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. Chapter 13: Hungarian Folk Music • 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

12. Chapter 13: Hungarian Folk Music • 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

13. Chapter 13: Hungarian Folk Music • 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

14. Chapter 13: Hungarian Folk Music • 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

15. Chapter 13: Hungarian Folk Music • Romani Folk Song • There is anabsence 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)

16. Chapter 13: Hungarian Folk Music • 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

17. 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

18. Chapter 13: Bulgarian Folk Music • 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

19. Chapter 13: Bulgarian Folk Music • 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:

20. Chapter 13: Bulgarian Folk Music • 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

21. Chapter 13: Bulgarian Folk Music • 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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