“Our task is to return folk song “to earth””
The modern world leaves us virtually no opportunity to lead a calm and measured lifestyle, to take a thorough and thoughtful approach to everyday activities, words and actions. Speed is the motto of this century, which persistently forces everyone to constantly rush in order to meet some skillfully imposed standard of behavior for an inhabitant of the Earth in the 21st century, who must necessarily be dynamic.
The endless bustle, especially noticeable in big cities, is reflected in the ultra-fast rhythms of modern popular music that fill public spaces. Russian folk song corresponded to a completely different system of life. Just 50 years ago it could be heard not only from the stage or on television and radio; it was an organic part of any family holiday and just friendly communication. This long-standing tradition, in which not only the style of relations was manifested, but also the best features of our national character, today, alas, is almost lost.
Our guest today is a professional musician, a member of a folklore creative group, who not only preserves folk songs, but also strives to revive the need for it among our contemporaries.
Folklore ensemble "Kamyshinka" on Red Square on May 9
– Anna, tell us how you became interested in folk songs?
Grandmothers sing and sing. But what and what they sing about is unimportant. We are professionals, what are these grandmothers to us?
– The journey was long. While still studying at music school, we went on folklore expeditions. They were more touristy, with a lot of adventures. The process itself was attractive: going somewhere to the outback, spending the night in a tent, communicating with local residents... Folklore was present insofar as: grandmothers sing and sing. But what and what they sing about is unimportant. We are professionals, we know all the music ourselves, what do we need these grandmothers for?
At the school at the conservatory, I entered the performance department, preparing to become a pianist. But at some point I realized that I couldn’t stand the competitive race anymore, and switched to music theory, where everything was so calm - students quietly studied the history of music, wrote papers, listened to works by different composers. I wanted to know everything about music: how it works, why it exists in the world, all the most complex symphonies, operas...
Then she entered the conservatory at the Faculty of History and Theory. Musical folklore is studied at the conservatory for only one year - in the first year. A mountain of books was given on every topic, and these books were very difficult to read.
Anna Utesheva – Did your acquaintance with folklore come down only to theory?
– No, at the end of the first year, conservatory students have a mandatory practice – an expedition to collect folklore material. I was cheered up: there would be fun again. But there was no fun at all when we went on the expedition. It was necessary to work from morning to evening: in the morning to record a group of folk performers, and in the evening to transcribe the recordings. It wasn’t even always possible to go to the river... I decided to myself: I’ll never go on these expeditions again, I’ll never study folklore - it’s unbearable. But in the end, in company with a friend, that same summer I went on a second expedition, to the Krasnodar region. The heat was over forty, there was a huge amount of work, songs in Surzhik that were very difficult to understand and record. We worked with a group of local performers of 15 people who sang loudly, well, with soul, and wanted to amaze the audience, but after several hours of listening to this, we practically fainted. A few days later we went to the regional center, to the village of Kanevskaya, where a folklore festival was taking place. I, a Muscovite, have never heard or seen anything like this before.
– What exactly surprised you?
– People of different generations gathered – young, middle-aged, elderly. And everyone sings. Not only on stage, in folk costumes, but also in everyday life. They can simply meet on the street, by the pond, stand in a circle and start singing. And, first of all, men sing! This singing stirred up something in me that was hidden in the depths of my heart, it awakened me. Since then, I have become “sick” with folklore.
This singing stirred up something in me that was hidden in the depths of my heart.
– What changed in your life after this meeting with a real folk song?
– You can immediately see a newcomer to folklore, because his eyes sparkle, he always wants to sing, but little succeeds. This is akin to the feeling of being deeply in love. I had the same fever for a year, maybe two. Plunging into the world of folklore, you begin to fill your life with folk songs, follow the folk calendar, the holidays of which, as a rule, are inextricably linked with the church calendar. Many like-minded friends appear. In the city, people are divided, but here suddenly a feeling of unity appears: if you can sing with this person, then you can agree on everything with him.
– Can anyone sing folk songs? How important are natural vocal abilities for this?
- Anyone can sing. The main desire. Practice shows that after a few years, even those who initially had no data begin to intonate well and clearly. The voice can be trained. It is more important to have hearing and the ability to get along with others, not only in character, but also in singing. Mode is a very important concept in music.
– What helped you master folk singing in practice?
– I came to the folklore ensemble “Kamyshinka”. We have a unique creative community that has developed on the basis of the scientific activities of the team leader, Andrei Sergeevich Kabanov. He is a well-known collector and researcher of Russian folklore, the founder of a unique direction in science - practical folkloristics, who back in the 1980s created a folklore ensemble at the Research Institute of Culture (later RIC), where he then worked. The ensemble was a field of experimental activity for the preservation of traditional culture in the modern city. The main task then was considered to be to recreate the conditions in which folk songs would organically exist. First of all, it's singing on the street. The second task of the ensemble was educational: to interest, attract newcomers to the ensemble, show a real traditional song, primarily a drawn-out one, instill a love for folklore and teach singing. The scientific base of the ensemble was a huge archive collected by A.S. Kabanov for the 1960s–80s. He used the multi-microphone recording method - the voice of each member of the ensemble of folk artists was recorded on a separate microphone and a separate tape. The resulting unique materials made it possible to hear and then put on notes the melodic line of each singer individually in an ensemble consisting of 4–8 people. All this was described in detail by A. S. Kabanov in dozens of scientific articles.
In the 2000s, the staff of the Research Institute of Culture transformed into the folklore ensemble-laboratory “Kamyshinka”. The name comes from the drawn-out song of the Don Cossacks “On the Kamyshinka River” about the campaign of Ermak Timofeevich, which became a kind of anthem of the folklore movement.
– In your opinion, how popular is folklore today?
– It seems to me that folklore is always in demand. In the life of every person there comes a time to search for the meaning of life, for one’s roots. And it is through song that one comes to realize one’s belonging to a people, country, and culture. For example, I have Southern Russian roots. When I suddenly heard a southern Russian song, stood in a circle, began to sing along and dance, suddenly something stirred inside me, deeply, at the level of genetic memory. A folk song is so “catchy” - you know for sure that it’s yours, and you can’t get away from it.
It is through song that one comes to realize one’s belonging to a people, country, culture.
– Probably, the ability to feel one’s involvement in folk culture is still the lot of mature people?
– For everyone, this return to origins happens at different times. According to my observations, mostly after 40. It happens later - many folk performers entered their creative peak after 60. But young people also come to our team. Our technique allows anyone to sing, because the team always has a core consisting of participants who have been singing for a long time and know the songs well, and a second circle of newcomers who are involved in this song action. We work very closely with the archives of A.S. Kabanov. We continue to go on expeditions - for communication, sincerity, for the living local “dialect”, although we do not strive to copy the dialect, because this is impossible. Now our ensemble not only preserves traditional culture in a modern city, but has also become a laboratory for practical folkloristics. With the extinction of the song tradition “on earth”, the collective is its temporary carrier, or more precisely, its “carrier”.
– Folk songs are now almost unheard of on radio and television. Sometimes it seems that the musical taste of our contemporaries is so spoiled by “pop” that they simply no longer perceive real folk art...
– In order for songs to be heard again in the places where they were once recorded, it is not enough to bring a disc or book to the local cultural department. It is necessary to work with local residents - these could be concerts, lectures, conversations, or just meetings. It is direct, live communication that can captivate local residents, including young people, with their traditional culture. It’s no secret that people are very jealous of the fact that “outsiders”, Muscovites, come and perform songs that their own grandmothers sang 20 years ago. Our task is to encourage compatriots to recognize folk song as an important part of their own cultural identity, to interest people in traditional culture, and then to provide material for the development of song and choral creativity with friends and neighbors. The global task is to “plant” songs again in the ground where they previously grew.
The global task is to “plant” songs again in the ground where they previously grew
– Are there any special techniques for solving this problem?
– To “hook” people, you can act in different ways. It’s good to sing so that the listeners are inspired, or, conversely, to sing poorly so that they say: “how our songs are distorted, we need to perform them ourselves.” It is important that people create their own ensembles, either themselves or under the guidance of specialists still working in local cultural departments. Not all cultural departments have yet kicked folklorists out onto the streets. Unfortunately, now there is a systemic destruction of the folklore community, which is deprived of government support, rehearsal spaces, and performance venues. Folk song seems to many officials to be an anachronism, incompatible with the modern way of life.
– In winter, the Kamyshinka ensemble traveled to Poland for the Christmas festival, where they performed carols. How interesting is such religious folk art to today's Europeans?
– I want to emphasize that there are a lot of carols, and basically, of course, they have nothing in common with the religious tradition. Another thing is the performance of Christoslavias, psalms, and spiritual verses. This is a different type of folklore, later, of authorial origin, undoubtedly coming from church chants. By the way, at the Moscow Conservatory, one graduate student defended her dissertation on spiritual poetry, and it was very interesting to trace how church poetry moved into folklore and took root there.
The question of the relationship between folklore and Christianity is very complex and multifaceted. Unfortunately, neo-paganism has been actively spreading in recent years, and what its adherents are doing to folk culture is terrible.
– Why is this trend dangerous?
– If earlier neo-pagans only knew how to beat tambourines, now they are successfully mastering the folk song repertoire. They simply discredit our traditional national culture, replacing its spiritual component with their own, fictitious one, and this fiction is given a modern and attractive look. But this is a topic for another discussion.
In Poland we sang everywhere: at a festival, in Warsaw, when we walked around the city center, and then in the local Orthodox parish. Our songs were received very well, although as exotic. They were surprised to see Russian folk costumes on us, and did not immediately realize that they were Russian. The people of Warsaw were amazed that in Russia the tradition of singing folk songs and wearing folk clothes still lives on. We were received very warmly when we spoke to the parishioners of the Orthodox community in Warsaw.
– What did listeners respond to most?
– Hearing carols, which are very similar among Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians and Poles - the texts are almost the same, just the chants are a little different - people sang along with us. Russian folk songs were listened to with greater tension. They are really very difficult to perceive, especially if you do not understand Russian very well. Our compatriots themselves do not understand drawn-out songs well, because they are complex and long, and even more so for foreigners. But when we performed Russian romances, it was amazing to see how much the audience responded to them. I still can’t forget the audience’s eyes. They sang with us, some even cried. The communication was very cordial. At such moments you realize that our Slavic peoples still have a common genetic code. No matter how they try to quarrel us, this commonality - blood, cultural, spiritual - still shows up sooner or later.
Aphorisms about folk songs
Our Mother Russia is truly rich in talents, the pavements can be paved, but one problem is that they can rarely be heard, because... real art, Russian song has been replaced by foreign cheap fakes, false culture. But the song, like the Russian soul, cannot be destroyed; it glows like an unquenchable candle in its native hinterlands, like a lamp in front of an icon, protecting its true faith, its culture from unkind glances
Why, when we hear our native speech, the intonations of a Russian song, a painful and inexplicable sadness appears in our soul, and at the same time an amazing feeling of peace in our soul? What is the mysterious power and charm of folk song?
Everything is very simple. The intonations of a Russian song - the intonations of the Russian people - are the voice of the Motherland, the voice of the mother, the voice of our heart.
Russian song is the source, the carrier of culture, the basis of all musical genres. It is no coincidence that the Russian composer, founder of Russian musical classics F.I. Glinka emphasized that “Music is created by the people, and we only arrange it.”
The song culture is infinitely rich and multifaceted. Let us remember how a Russian song lovingly sings about our native side, about a dark night, about a beaten path infinitely close to us with a mournfully lonely sounding bell and the aching song of the coachman.
With what sorrow and sadness the people sing about the hard lot of women, about the lot of a widowed soldier, about that lot that matches our Mother Russia ( “Mother”, “Luchinka”, “Oh, you widow ”, etc.)
Oh, you, bitter fate - splinter,
The girl's beauty is crying in the field,
Like a woman’s share - destiny
I took it from my mother from Russia.
And vice versa – infectiously cheerful, witty, dancing and comic songs are another facet of the folk character.
Let us remember how the Russian people in folk songs say goodbye to the whole world before death. Here the picture of the highest morality appears before him. In the last minutes of his life, he does not curse fate, but calmly surrenders to the will of God, asking everyone for forgiveness, bowing to his parents, and his last will to his wife, so that she does not grieve and gets married to another, letting her go in peace and love, blessing her new life. Thoughts not about oneself, but about loved ones, are a striking example of the highest moral purity, the inseparability of the life of a Russian person with Christianity, an example of the fact that Russian song is a spiritual reflection of Orthodoxy in Rus'.
And most importantly, Russian song is a living testimony of historical events of different eras.
This is a kind of chronicle preserved by people's memory. Folk epic ballads and rune legends recreate pictures of hoary antiquity, the greatness and heroism of the people. Songs about the great Russian victories, about our grandfathers, the descendants of Russian heroes, raise the spirit of the greatest patriotism of the people, who feel the inextricable connection of their past with the present ( “Varyag”, “It happened near Poltava”, “Susanin”, “Soldiers - children”, "Ermak " etc.)
But the time will come and the people will wake up, There are big criminals
He will straighten his mighty back. They didn't like the law
He will find a stronger club. To destroy the royal throne.
"Dubinushka" "Alexandrovsky Central"
But, we must pay tribute, there are few such songs. After all, the ideal of Russian song has always been the desire for holiness. Russia is a country where people lovingly call their homeland holy - “Holy Rus'!”
