Folklore And Traditional Music In The Former Soviet Union And Eastern Europe

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This book explores popular music in Eastern Europe during the period of state socialism, in countries such as Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Estonia and Albania. It discusses the policy concerning music, the greatest Eastern European stars, such as Karel Gott, Czesław Niemen and Omega, as well as DJs and the music press. By conducting original research, including interviews and examining archival material, the authors take issue with certain assumptions prevailing in the existing studies on popular music in Eastern Europe, namely that it was largely based on imitation of western music and that this music had a distinctly anti-communist flavour. Instead, they argue that self-colonisation was accompanied with creating an original idiom, and that the state not only fought the artists, but also supported them. The collection also draws attention to the foreign successes of Eastern European stars, both within the socialist bloc and outside of it. v>

Presented here is a rare collection of some of the best Gypsy folk songs popular among the Romanies of Russia and Eastern Europe. All offered in the original Romany tribal dialect, as appropriate to each song, with easy-to-follow pronunciation guide specially formulated for the native English speaker and literal (word-for-word) English translation. the appended short historical and linguistic overview offers a rare insight into the history, traditions, language as well as the music and songs of this unique and mysterious people. Great addition to any pianist's collection!

"Russian folk songs are a living history of the Russian people, rich, vivid and truthful, revealing their entire life," wrote the great Russian writer Nikolai Gogol. Russian folk songs have always played an essential part in Russian life, culture, and music. They have played an important part in the work of many great Russian composers including Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Tchaikovsky, Prokoviev, and Stravinsky. In this new study, Vadim Prokhorov provides a historical survey and a description of the musical and poetic characteristics of Russian folk song. The songs themselves are classified into several categories: calendar songs, lyric songs, work songs, epic songs, historical songs, and the urban songs that emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries. Prokhorov provides a basis for understanding the ethnomusicological principles of Russian folk song. In addition to his discussion of the various categories, he includes a generous selection of songs arranged for voice and piano, together with texts and translations of the song texts. Anyone interested in this rich repertory of folk song, whether as teacher, singer, or music lover, will find this a rewarding collection.

This volume presents a unique study of war songs created during and after World War II, known in Russia as the “Great Patriotic War”. The most popular war songs, such as “Katyusha”, “The Sacred War”, “Dark Night”, “My Moscow”, “In the Dugout”, “Victory Day”, provide illuminating insights into the musical culture of the former Soviet Union and modern Russia. In the year of the 70th anniversary of victory in the war, the book studies the cultural heritage of famous war songs from a new perspective, exploring the historical background of their creation and analysing their lyrics as part of Russian cultural heritage. The book also discusses the modifications required when translating the songs from Russian to English. It concludes with a description an educational project studying war songs at Moscow schools run under the auspices of UNESCO.

This book investigates the place of music in Soviet society during the eras of Lenin and Stalin. It examines the different strategies adopted by composers and musicians in their attempts to carve out careers in a rapidly evolving society, discusses the role of music in Soviet society and people's lives, and shows how political ideology proved an inspiration as well as an inhibition. It explores how music and politics interacted in the lives of two of the twentieth century's greatest composers - Shostakovich and Prokofiev - and also in the lives of less well-known composers. In addition it considers the specialist composers of early Soviet musical propaganda, amateur music making, and musical life in the non-Russian republics. The book will appeal to specialists in Soviet music history, those with an interest in twentieth century music in general, and also to students of the history, culture and politics of the Soviet Union.