Among European folk music traditions, Russian folk music is the one with the most complex and exciting history. Having survived the centuries-long ban on instruments and the authoritarian cultural policy of the Soviet times, it now aims to find its place in modern popular culture while retaining its traditional spirit. The modern Russian folk music stage includes bands and ensembles of various levels of authenticity and popularity based in different regions of Russia, as well as in many countries all over the world. The purpose of this paper is to research international online communities devoted to Russian folk music in order to find out what inspires them and how they maintain and facilitate Russian folk music tradition.
History of Russian Folk Music
Russian folk music has a long and complicated history dating back to the middle of the first millennium AC. Since the formation of the first Russian state of Kyiv Rus, the Slavic tribes have been famous for their love and mastery of music, singing, and dancing. The tribes that made up the country were not homogeneous, and so was the music, which included the elements of Finno-Ugric, Turkic, Siberian, and Eastern singing traditions (Tarushkin, p. 16). Until now, the music of the northern, western, southern, and central regions of Russia has its own distinctive features.
Russian folk music started as vocal music, with songs being an integral part of daily peasants’ life. The songs were sung from morning to night and reflected the significant events in people’s lives, change of seasons, and religious events (Maes, p. 68). The term “Russian folk song” embraces a variety of musical and poetic genres: songs associated with calendar rites, family rituals, lyrical songs, heroic ballads, chastooshkas, and romances.
The use of musical instruments was prohibited by the Russian Orthodox church from 16th up to the 19th century. As a result, instrumental music traditions almost disappeared and had to be restored from scratch when instruments started to be used again in the late 19th century (Tarushkin, p. 87). Traditional Russian folk instruments include gudok, a three-stringed pear-shaped fiddle; gusli, a harp-like wing-shaped instrument; doudka, a simple wind instrument; rozhok, a glute made of one or two wooden pipes. More sophisticated instruments are balalaika, a triangular-shaped string instrument; domra, a rounded string instrument, and accordion (or bayan), a box-shaped instrument with keys.
In Soviet Russia, folk music received significant support from the state, being categorized as democratic and proletarian as opposed to ‘bourgeois’ classical music. However, its authentic nature was severely distorted by the state’s ambition to professionalize performers. State-supported Soviet folkloric ensembles regularly toured abroad in order to promote Russian culture worldwide. Folk music was seen as an answer to Western pop music that was generally criticized (Olsen, p. 131). Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the spread of Western culture and ways of life in Russia, Russian folk music has been trying to find its place in the global context while retaining its traditions.
Contemporary Russian Folk Music
Contemporary Russian folk music can be divided into several distinctive categories based on its authenticity, background, audience, popularity, and message. The most authentic folk music is not performed by professionals and tends to reflect local traditions of a particular region. It is performed by small ensembles at local festivals, public events, weddings, and celebrations, with performers not seeking greater popularity. It is also the case with individual performers playing traditional instruments or singing folk songs for a small audience or at themed concerts and events. On the state level, folk music is represented by major ensembles, choirs, and singers who enjoy commercial popularity and receive government support, and independent folkloric bands that mix folk traditions with modern music trends. For the purpose of this research, several major folk music categories can be identified:
- Major ‘official’ artists and folk ensembles, such as the Alexandrov Ensemble, an official army choir of the Russian Armed Forces, or singers Nadezhda Babkina, and Lyudmila Zykina. They receive state support, their concerts are broadcasted on TV, and they are invited to perform at major state events and celebrations, such as the annual Victory Day parade. They tour abroad and are supposed to represent Russian national music on the international stage.
- Popular folkloric bands that incorporate Russian folk traditions into contemporary musical trends, such as Buranovskie Babushki, Ivan Kupala, Kalinov Most, etc. Some of these bands are popular in Russia, while some enjoy more popularity abroad. They tend to use traditional Russian music instruments and elements of the national costume, and usually play out national stereotypes in their music videos.
- Local folk ensembles of various backgrounds and levels of authenticity. Almost every Russian city or village has its own folkloric ensemble that performs on city festivals. Some of them are more authentic and aim to preserve local music traditions, while others have a more commercial purpose. Folk Russian ensembles made up of expats or the locals interested in Russian culture can be found in different countries all over the world.
- Individual performers playing traditional music instruments or singing folk songs. They play on local concerts or have their own YouTube channels with videos of their performances. Their performances are either authentic or based on academic music traditions with folk music elements and playing techniques used an inspiration.
Some of folk music bands, ensembles, and performers aim to preserve and maintain local musical traditions, carefully following them, collecting songs, and using handmade musical instruments. The others take authentic material, arrange it, and perform it in a manner that is only thought to be traditional by a general audience. Most folkloric bands perform in stylized costumes designed as traditional Russian outerwear but modified for stage use. Artistic interpretations of folk music are generally a mix of academic traditions with folk music elements.
Russian Folk Music Online
In terms of social presence, there is no homogenous community encompassing all Russian folk music threads. It is spread across many countries all over the world and incorporates many small communities interested in particular bands, music genres, or local music traditions. For the purpose of this paper, I researched two online communities: a Facebook group dedicated to Russian folk music, and the website and Facebook page of Ottava Yo folk band. The purpose of the research was to analyze how the members of the communities communicate with each other, what values they share, and what they do to preserve and facilitate Russian folk music traditions.
Lovers of Russian Folk Songs and Russian Classic Music
The Facebook group called Lovers of Russian Folk Songs and Russian Classic Music was formed in 2010 and has 1,800 participants and subscribers. Group description states that it is a community of people who enjoy Russian classical music, old Russian romances, and Russian folk music, and everyone who shares the love for this type of music is welcome to join. It is updated almost every day with posts published not only by the group administrators but also by its active participants. The posts feature mainly YouTube videos of various folk and classical music performances by Russian and foreign artists and receive from 1 to 10 comments on average.
For the past two months (from March 2020 to May 2020) the posts featured several types of videos. Most of them are performances of folk songs by well-known Russian singers and ensembles, such as Dmitry Khvorostovsky, Lyudmila Zykina, Arthur Eizen, Sergey Lemeshev, Pyatnitsky Choir, and the Alexandrov Ensemble, as well as local folk ensembles, such as Omsk Choir. The second type is videos of less-known performers playing traditional instruments or signing folk songs, for example, performances by London-based accordionist Igor Outkine. There are also videos posted by the musicians themselves, clips from Soviet films, and recordings of local folk performances.
The comments are written in different languages, including Russian, German, English, and Italian, with commenters mainly expressing their emotions or discussing the videos. Group members sometimes communicate with each other by means of the Facebook automatic translation tool, with one author writing in their native language, and the other answering in another language. The members of the community often discuss the songs’ origins, background, lyrics, and meaning.
The members of the community are united by their love for Russian folk music, not necessarily implying the profound knowledge of the language. In video descriptions and group discussions, native Russian speakers and people familiar with Russian culture usually provide necessary explanations, translations, and background information about the songs. The group administration particularly states that the page is devoted to traditional Russian folk and classical music only and does not feature videos by modern popular folk bands focusing on the authentic traditional musical culture.
Otava Yo
Otava Yo is a contemporary Russian folk band formed in Saint Petersburg in 2003. Initially, they played instrumental Celtic music, and then turned to Russian folk songs, with the album Do You Love released in 2018. The band uses traditional Russian music instruments, such as fiddle, bagpipe, violin, and darbuka, as well as more common instruments such as guitars and drums. They incorporate the elements of Russian traditional village music in their work and use songs found in ethnographic records. In their music videos, they use traditional Russian motives and costumes.
The band’s philosophy is based on the idea of preserving and maintaining Russian folk music traditions. The band leader Alexey Belkin says, ‘communists did everything they could to steal folklore from Russian people and replace it with fake academic ‘Kalinka-Malinka’-style music” (Peleckis). The group aims to show that Russian folk music is totally different from what everyone thinks it is. Alexey says that “traditional music inspires us, we respect it and try not to spoil the roots, but to refresh it with our music ideas” (Peleckis). They appeal both to the Russian and international audiences trying to arrange their performances in such a way so that anyone could understand them and feel involved without even understanding the lyrics.
The groups’ online presence includes an official website, a YouTube channel, and a Facebook group. The band’s Facebook page has 22,000 followers and is updated regularly, and their most popular YouTube videos have several million views. The band has performed in 30 countries and is currently on a world tour that was postponed due to the pandemic outbreak, with concerts planned in Berlin, Krakow, and Warsaw. It won numerous international awards, including California Music Video Award for the best foreign language music video for their song Once Upon a Time on a High Hill.
The comments to the band’s YouTube videos and Facebook posts mainly praise their music and acknowledge the viewers’ appreciation of it. They include comments in different languages from people living in different countries and parts of the world. They feature concert reviews and invitations to visit a particular country, or comments expressing one’s excitement about the band coming to their city. It cannot be said that commenters exchange messages with each other or engage in lengthy discussions, they are basically united by their admiration towards the band and Russian folk music in general.
Conclusion
Contemporary Russian folk music is centered around finding the balance between preserving national traditions and incorporating them into the modern music culture. It includes bands and ensembles of various backgrounds, popularity, and levels of authenticity based not only in Russia but in different countries all over the world. The online communities are also eclectic, some of them focused on the careful preservation of traditions, others just being fan pages of particular bands. By exchanging messages and expressing their admiration for this particular style of music, people do what they can to keep Russian folk music alive and contemporary.
Works Cited
Maes, Francis. A History of Russian Music: From Kamarinskaya to Babi Yar. University of California Press, 2001.
Olsen, Laura. Performing Russia: Folk Revival and Russian Identity. Routledge, 2004.
Peleckis, Mindaugas. Otava Yo: True Russian Folk Music, Not Just Another Balalaika Orchestra. Radikaliai, 2019.
Tarushkin, Richard. On Russian Music. University of California Press, 2010.