Ethnic Russian music

"Russian music" specifically deals with the folk music traditions of the ethnic Russian people. It does not include art music, which in Russia often contains folk melodies and folk elements.

Ethnic styles

The performance and promulgation of ethnic music in Russia has a long tradition. Initially it was intertwined with art music, however, in the late 19th century it took on a life of its own with the rise in popularity of folkloric ensembles such as the folk choir movement led by Piatnytsky and the Russian folk instrument movement led by Vasily Andreyev.

In Soviet Russia, folk music was categorized as being democratic (of the people) or proletarian (of the working class) as opposed to art music, which was regarded as being bourgeois. After the revolution, along with Proletarian "mass music" (music for the proletarian masses) it received significant support from the state. In Post WWII Russia, Proletarian mass music lost its appeal, whereas folkloric music continued to have a widespread support among the population.

In the 1960s folk music in Russia continued to receive significant state support and was seen as the antithesis of Western pop music. The fact that numerous Soviet folkloric ensembles were invited for foreign tours raised the prestige of the folk performer to that of the academic musician, or even higher.

Ethnic (folk) music in Russia can often be categorized according to the amount of authenticity in the performance: truly authentic folk music (reproductive performances of traditional music), folkloric and fakeloric performance.

Russia is a multi-ethnic country with some 300 different ethnic groups, many of them non-Slavic, living within its borders. This article deals specifically with just Russian ethnic music.

Authentic folk music

This music is closely tied in with the village life and traditions. It was usually not performed by music professionals. In recent times, with the move to literacy and technology there has been a marked decline in authentic folk performance practice. Festivals, competitions and the work of ethnomusicologists have made attempts at preserving what has survived. In recent times there has been a movement by musicologists to study and reproduce authentic folk music in an authentic style on the concert stage. This movement in Russia is spearheaded by members of the Faculty of folk music at the Moscow conservatory under the direction of Pokrovsky.

Folkloric music

This category includes music by groups led by music professionals who take authentic musical material, refine it, and perform it in a manner suitable for the musically educated Western audiences. The category includes many of the folkloric ensembles popular in the Russian Federation such as the Kuban Cossack Choir. Often these folkloric ensembles specialize in collecting and maintaining the folk music traditions of the area of heir origins which they service. They perform in stylized stage costumes based on the authentic costume designs used in the village but modified for stage use.

Fakeloric music

Includes music composed by city intelligentsia and professional composers in a folkloric manner. Some 60-80% of contemporary Russian folk music marketed to the West is not authentic and can be loosely labeled as fakeloric. Much of the music of the Russian folk instrument orchestras can also be categorized in this group as it is based on academic music traditions but taking often folk music melody as its inspiration.

In recent times music professionals who have completed diplomas in noted conservatories performing on "Russian folk instruments" are now questioning their "folkiness" when they perform, as none of their music was never really performed originally by the folk in the villages. Some now refer to their music as being academic folk music which is an oxymoron.

This category can also include singer songwriters such as Zhanna Bichevska, Bulat Okudjava, and Vladimir Vysotsky.

Vocal music

Russian folk music is primarily vocal. Russian folk song was an integral part of daily life in the village. It was sung from morning to night and reflected the four seasons and the events in a villager's life.

Authentic village singing differs from academic singing styles. It is usually done using just the chest register. As a result it is often described as controlled screaming or shouting. Female chest register singers only have a low diapason of an octave to 12 notes.

Chest register singing has evolved into a style used by many of the Folk Choirs in Russia.

Instrumental music

Instrumental music for a long period was suppressed in Russia. In 1648 Tsar Alexei under the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church banned the use of all musical instruments. At that time it was stated that instruments were from the devil. As a result instrumental music traditions disappeared and did not have a fertile ground for development in Russia for many years. No musical instruments are used in Russian churches.

In the late 19th century Vasilli Andreyev, a salon violinist, took up the balalaika in his performances for French tourists to Petersburg. The music became popular and soon Andreyev had organized a club of balalaika players. This club grew into an orchestra, which in time grew into a movement. From a simple unsophisticated three stringed instrument this movement led to the development and implementation of many other Russian folk instruments.

The Russian folk instrument movement had its resonance in the cultures of other ethnic groups within Russia, the Soviet Union and the Soviet Block countries. Folk instrument orchestras appeared in Belarus, Ukraine, Kirgistan, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Moldavia, and Romania.

Traditional instruments

Chordophones

*Balalaika - three-stringed, triangular sound-board, played with the fingers. It comes in many different sizes. Two of the strings are tuned alike in prima, secunda and alto balalaikas.
*Domra - small three-or-four-stringed variant of the mandolin with a rounded soundboard, plucked or strummed with a plectum.
*Relia - a Russian hurdy-gurdy with an oval body and an attached triangular keybox.
*Gudok - a three-stringed, pear-shaped Russian bowed instrument which is usually held vertically.
*Gusli - one of the oldest known Eastern Slav musical instruments, described by the Greeks as early as the 6th century CE. Many different versions of this plucked string instrument exist.
*Kolyosnaya Lira - Russian version of the hurdy-gurdy with a violin body.
*Semistrunnaya Gitara (Semistrunka) - a seven string version of the acoustic guitar with its own unique open G major tuning.

Aerophones

*Bayan - a chromatic button accordion
*Garmon' - a kind of diatonic Russian button accordion, featuring a unique unisonoric design.
*Kalyuki - a hollow pipe with no additional air holes, used for whistling sounds.
*Kugikli/Kuvikly - simple panpipes
*Svirel - Russian flute
*Vladimirsky rozhok - made in Russia's Vladimir Oblast by shepherds who composed melodious calls on it. This horn has a range of two octaves and a very distinctive, idiosyncratic sound.
*Volynka - traditional Slavic bagpipe.
*Zhaleika - Russian folk clarinet/hornpipe.

Idiophones

*Buben
*Bubentsy
*Kokshnik
*Korobochka
*Lozhki - decorated wooden spoons.
*Rubel
*Treshchotki - set of wooden boards on a string that are clapped together as a group.
*Vertushka
*Zvonchalka

Ethnomusicology

Further reading

*cite book|title=A History of Russian Music: From Kamarinskaya to Babi Yar|author=Maes, Francis, translated by Arnold and Erica Pomerans|publisher=University of California Press|year=2001|id=ISBN 0-520-21815-9
*cite book|title=Studies in Russian Music|author=Abraham, Gerald E.|publisher=Reprint Services Corp|year=1988|id=ISBN 0-317-90761-1
*cite book|title=Songs of the Russian People: As Illustrative of Slavonic Mythology and Russian Social Life (Studies in Music, No 42)|author=Ralston, W. R.|publisher=Haskell House Pub Ltd|year=1970|id=ISBN 0-8383-1224-1
*cite book|title=Russian Songs: Text in Romanized Russian, English, and Music|author=Veryat, I.|publisher=Aspasia|year=1994|id=ISBN 1-882427-23-8
*cite book|title=On Russian Music|author=Abraham, Gerald E.|publisher=Scholarly PR|year=1976|id=ISBN 0-403-03757-3
*cite book|title=Biographical Dictionary of Russian/Soviet Composers|author=Ho, Allan and Dmitry Feofanov (eds.)|year=1989|publisher=Greenwood Press|id=ISBN 0-313-24485-5

External links

* [http://www.barynya.com/russian_folk.stm Barynya] - mp3s of Russian folk songs and detailed descriptions and photographs of most Russian folk instruments. You can also buy Russian instruments here.
* [http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/underhill/Music/russia.html List of Russian/Central Asian folk music CDs]
* [http://www.golosa.org/ Golosá: Russian Folk Choir of the University of Chicago]
* [http://www.ossipovorchestra.ru/ Official Website of the Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra (in Russian)] - one of Russia's leading folk orchestras with about 80 members. Some mp3 clips can be downloaded.
* [http://www.richka.com Music from Russia and Nearby Regions]
* [http://russia-ic.com/view/culture_art/music/folk_music/ Russian folk music]