The Long Echo of Soviet Folklore: Composing and Performing New Songs in Modern Belarus

Hrynevich, Yanina

doi:0137-4079

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The Long Echo of Soviet Folklore: Composing and Performing New Songs in Modern Belarus Hrynevich, Yanina

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The Long Echo of Soviet Folklore: Composing and Performing New Songs in Modern Belarus

Hrynevich, Yanina

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences

ethnography -- journal ; Belarusian folklore ; Soviet folklore ; new folk song ; repertoire ; holidays ; amateur activity ; ensemble

This article considers a group of new songs that have appeared in the repertoires of folk ensembles in recent decades. The themes of these new songs are local and national holidays, glorification of the native village and the rural way of life and the wealth and prosperity of villagers, and they also include ironic chastushkas (short humorous folk songs) created on “the topic of the day”. These songs are “disguised” as folk songs, but have different performance pragmatics, connected with the dominant ideology, and are largely addressed to officials. Their origin is directly related to the implementation of the Soviet Folklore project in the 1930s–1950s and its consequences. We argue that the reconceptualisation of folklore’s social function – and the concurrent elevation of performers to authorial status in this period – represented a pivotal transformation, providing the framework for the subsequent flourishing of songwriting within folk ensembles. It was also facilitated by state support for amateur artistic activity. The study has revealed that a lack of critical rethinking of the Soviet Folklore project led to members of folk ensembles currently continuing to use the old Soviet strategies and models for creating new songs. New songs become part of a living folk‐type culture and gain “folk” status not through anonymous provenance but via collective authorship, ritual deployment and emotional response among rural residents.

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