THE LONG ECHO OF SOVIET FOLKLORE: COMPOSING AND PERFORMING NEW SONGS IN MODERN BELARUS

Yanina Hrynevich

doi:10.23858/ethp.2025.46.3945

Published: 2025-12-23

Vol. 46 (2025)

THE LONG ECHO OF SOVIET FOLKLORE

Yanina Hrynevich

Ethnologia Polona

Section: Main topic of the issue

https://doi.org/10.23858/ethp.2025.46.3945

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

Belarusian folklore, Soviet folklore, new folk song, repertoire, holidays, amateur activity, ensemble

Download files

PDF

Citation rules

Hrynevich, Y. (2025). THE LONG ECHO OF SOVIET FOLKLORE: COMPOSING AND PERFORMING NEW SONGS IN MODERN BELARUS. Ethnologia Polona, 46. https://doi.org/10.23858/ethp.2025.46.3945

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

References

Achrymienka, Paviel. 1969. “Pra faĺklornyja zapisy na Homieĺščynie”. In Tezisy dakladaŭ na kanfierencyi, prysviečanaj vynikam dasliedavanniaŭ bielaruskaj narodnaj tvorčasci (liuty 1969 h.), edited by M. Hrynblat, K. Kabašnikaŭ, A. Fiadosik, 15. Minsk.
Google Scholar

Arkhipova, A. S., and S. Yu. Neklyudov. 2010. “Fol’klor i vlast’ v zakrytom obshchestve” Novoye literaturnoye obozreniye 101: 84–108.
Google Scholar

Babič, T. 2010. “Azierščynski narodny chor” In Kultura Belarusi. Encyklapedyja, edited by T. Bialova, 77. Minsk: Bielaruskaja encyklapiedyja imia Pietrusia Broŭki.
Google Scholar

Bartaševič, Halina. 1969. “Novy sklad mastackaha mysliennia naroda i novyja jakasci bielaruskaha faĺkloru”. In Prabliemy sučasnaha bielaruskaha faĺkloru, edited by M. Hrynblat, P. Hliebka, 6-16. Minsk: Navuka i technika.
Google Scholar

Bogdanov, K. A. 2009. Vox populi: Fol’klornyye zhanry sovetskoy kul’tury. Moscow: NLO.
Google Scholar

Chistov, K.V. 1986. Folklor i kultura etnosa: Narodnye traditsii i folklor. Ocherki teorii. Leningrad: Nauka.
Google Scholar

Engelking, Anna. 2014. “Identichnost’ belaruskikh kolkhoznikov: mezhdu “panom” i “zhidom””. Dedy: daydzhest publikatsiy o belaruskoy istorii 13: 254-272.
Google Scholar

Hrynblat, M. Ja, and L.A. Malčanava. 1958. “Novyja zjavy ŭ bycie kalhasnaj vioski (Sproba etnahrafičnaha vyvučennia kalhasa ‘Baĺšavik’ Chojnickaha rajona Homieĺskaj voblasci)”. In Bielaruski etnahrafičny zbornik, edited by I. Kraučanka, A. Zaleski, M. Hrynblat, 5-121. Minsk: Vydaviectva Akademii navuk BSSR.
Google Scholar

Hrynevich, Yanina. 2024. “Belarusian folk songs on the stage from the 1880s to the early 1930s”. Bielaruski falklor: materyjaly i dasliedavanni. 11: 87–106. DOI: 10.29235/2411-2763-2024-11-87-106
Google Scholar

Hulak, Anastasija. 2019. “Bielaruskaja faĺklarystyka ŭ kantekscie idej i praktyki sacrealizmu”. Doklady Natsional’noy Akademii Nauk Belarusi 63: 633–640.
Google Scholar

Hulak, Anastasija. 2020. “Masavaja samadziejnaja tvorčasć Bielarusi 1940–1950 hh. u kantekscie dyjalohu z socyumam”. Izvestiya Gomel’skogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta imeni F. Skoriny 1 (118): 89–93.
Google Scholar

Hulak, Anastasija. 2021. “Faĺklor savieckaj epochi: stratehija kampramisu ŭ aficyjnym dyskursie”. In Tradycyi i sučasny stan kuĺtury i mastactvaŭ, edited by A. Lakotka (Vol. II), 454-458. Minsk: Prava i ekanomika.
Google Scholar

Hulak, Anastasija. 2022. Bielaruski vajenny faĺklor: evaliucyja, mifasiemantyka, paetyka. Minsk: Respublikanski instytut vyšejšaj školy.
Google Scholar

Hužaloŭski, Aliaksandr. 2018. “Pačatak kanstrujavannia stalinskaha faĺkloru ŭ BSSR (1934–1935)”. Pytanni mastactvaznaŭstva, etnalohii i faĺklarystyki 25: 141–146.
Google Scholar

Hužaloŭski, Aliaksandr. 2020. “Stalinski faĺklor časoŭ vialikaha teroru”. In Tradycyi i sučasny stan kuĺtury i mastactvaŭ, edited by A. Lakotka (Vol. 1), 425–429. Minsk: Prava i ekanomika.
Google Scholar

Kabašnikaŭ, Kanstancin. 1958. “Bielaruskaja narodnaja vusnapaetyčnaja tvorčasć savieckaj epochi”. In Bielaruski etnahrafičny zbornik, edited by I. Kraučanka, A. Zaleski, M. Hrynblat, 159-176. Minsk: Vydaviectva Akademii navuk BSSR.
Google Scholar

Kabašnikaŭ, Kanstancin, ed. 1970. Piesni savieckaha času. Minsk: Navuka i tehnika.
Google Scholar

Kabašnikaŭ, Kanstancin. 1998. Miesca faĺkloru ŭ sučasnych slavianskich kuĺturach. Faĺklor i nacyjanaĺnaje adradžennie. Minsk.
Google Scholar

Kramnik, A. 2006. Ispolnitel’nyye komitety. In Respublika Belarus’. Entsiklopediya, edited by G. Pashkov, Volume 3, 806–807. Minsk: Belaruskaya entsiklopediya.
Google Scholar

Lis, Arsen. 1989. Piesniu – u spadčynu. Minsk: Mastackaja litaratura.
Google Scholar

Lis, Arsen. 1993. Žniŭnyja piesni. Minsk: Navuka i technika.
Google Scholar

Miller, Frank. 1990. Folklore for Stalin. Russian Folklore and Pseudo-folklore of the Stalin Era. London: M.E. Sharpe.
Google Scholar

Morgenstern, Ulrich. 2022. “Communism and Folklore Revisited: Russian Traditional Music and the Janus-Faced Nature of Soviet Cultural Politics”. Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology 22: 7–34.
Google Scholar

Neklyudov, Sergej. 2013. “Kul’turnaya pamyat’ v ustnoy traditsii: istoricheskaya glubina i tekhnologiya peredachi. Fol’klor i postfol’klor: struktura, tipologiya, semiotika”. Ruthenia. Accessed 10 September 2021: https://www.ruthenia.ru/folklore/neckludov78.htm.
Google Scholar

Olson, Laura J. 2004. Performing Russia: Folk Revival and Russian Identity. London & New York: Routledge Curzon.
Google Scholar

Skidan, Vasil. 1969. Da historyi matyvaŭ liryčnaj bielaruskaj narodnaj piesni. In Tezisy dakladaŭ na kanfierencyi, prysviečanaj vynikam dasliedavanniaŭ bielaruskaj narodnaj tvorčasci (liuty 1969 h.), edited by M. Hrynblat, K. Kabašnikaŭ, A. Fiadosik, 9-10. Minsk.
Google Scholar

Rumyantsev, Sergej. 2000. Muzykal’naya samodeyatel’nost’. In Samodeiatel´noe khudozhestvennoe tvorchestvo v SSSR. Ocherki istorii. 1930–1950gg., edited by L. Solntseva, 280-420. Moscow: Gosudarstvennyi Institut Iskusstvoznaniia.
Google Scholar

Robotycki, Czesław. 1992. Etnografia wobec kultury współczesnej. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.
Google Scholar

Valodzina, Tatsiana. 2018. “Introduction: Belarusian folklore studies”. Folklore 72: 7–14.
Google Scholar

Voronich, T. 2007. “Klubnyye uchrezdeniya”. In Respublika Belarus’. Entsiklopediya, edited by G. Pashkov, Volume 4, 87–88. Minsk: Belaruskaya entsiklorediya.
Google Scholar