Two Generations of Russian Women Singing

This collection documents traditional music and dance from Ustiansky rayon, Arkhangelskaya oblast, northern Russia, recorded in July 2006. It features protracted lyric songs with highly complex phrasing and heterophonic voice leading, local figure dances, chastushki, garmon playing. The repertoire of the only remaining traditional folklore ensemble, which is based in village Cherenovo, is captured. Cherenovo Ensemble sings in a traditional setting of "posidelki": a gathering in a foreyard of one of the singer's house, as well as in a relaxed setting more popular today: at the table with food and alcohol, together with family members of younger generations. The music of Cherenovo Ensemble is placed in context in multiple ways: through lengthy interviews with the singers and their family members, footage of their everyday life activities, house interiors, local landscapes and architecture. Cherenovo traditional ensemble is compared to a "secondary" ensemble from village Shangaly of young people who devote themselves to an informed reconstruction of the endangered local musical tradition. The video footage is part of the field recordings and materials collected by researcher Polina Proutskova and photographer and camera woman Elena Bobretsova in 2005-2006 in the villages Cherenovo/Kadyevskoye, Glubokoye and Shangaly. The collection comprises 20 hours of video recordings (all filmed events were also captured on DAT tapes in high quality audio recordings), about 40 hours minidisc recordings, hundreds of photographs, lyrics transcriptions, etc. Originals of all 20 hour of video footage can be found in the National Sound Archive at the British Library. The DAT recordings and the minidisc recordings from 2005 can be found in Berlin Phonogram Archive. For previous work on repertoire and performance practice in Ustiansky rayon see Mekhnetzov A,M, Marchenko Ju.I., Melnik E.I. Устьянские песни (Ustjanskie songs), issues 1, 2. See also field recordings by Marchenko and Popova at St Petersburg Phonogram Archive. For a general introduction to Russian traditional song see Mekhnetzov 1985 as well as two publications of the Russian Institute of Arts History in Saint Petersburg, 1994 and 1995. For publication on "secondary" ensembles see Zemtsovskij I.I. 1979 and Olson, L. 2004. Collection summary in one minute compare the singing and dancing of the tradition bearers from Cherenovo with the young singers of ensemble Razlapushka, who learn from the Cherenovo grandmothers and reconstruct the local musical tradition. Collection summary Listen to an old protracted lyric song sung by Cherenovo grandmothers: "Эко сердцико" (my little heart). Consider the complex phrases, of which the verses are comprised, including melisma, text repetitions and adding non-denotative syllables and words. You can hear occasional splitting into melodic variants - these are the remnants of heterophonic singing which used to be widespread in Russia in the past. Compare their singing with the young women from ensemble Razlapushka: "Не торопитесь-ко девки" (don't hurry girls). With their young strong voices they probably give a good approximation of how the Cherenovo ensemble could have sounded 40 or 50 years ago. They learnt to "weave" in protracted lyric songs, they also sometimes sing higher parts which Cherenovo grandmothers have dropped. Razlapushka also reintroduce mixed male and female singing, which was typical in the past. Their youth and energy together with their knowledge of local traditions allow for vital reconstructions of local figure dances. Compare grandmothers trying a pair dance: "Гуляй гуляй Аннушка" (have fun Annushka) with Razlapushka dancing a similar figure: "Вечор был же я" (last night I was). Razlapushka reintroduce garmon accompaniment, which was lost in Cherenovo Ensemble after their garmon player passed away. They even instruct guests how to dance and so are able to show figure dances involving eight performers: Dance and chastushki with guests. In this case they dance to chastushki, of which Cherenovo grandmothers are great masters: chastushka. Consider the singing style of Alexandra Fiodorovna Kashina and Natalia Petrovna Baskakova, the older singers of Cherenovo Ensemble, who have retained non-tempered intonation, which is absent among younger singers: "Говорила мне-ка маменька" (my mother told me). Cherenovo repertoire also includes non-protracted lyric songs, of newer origin and spread wider across Russia: "Вниз по Волге-реке" (down the Volga river). Compare the traditional singing style of the grandmothers with the voice production of Alexandra's daughter-in-law Rosa, influenced by the official soviet folk singing: "Годы мои, как вы быстро промчалися" (my years, how quick have you passed). Her generation has lost the skill of singing old protracted songs, these songs have been substituted by modern lyric songs, often of urban origin, which lack any local musical or textual features. In Natalia Petrovna Baskakova's (Natasha's) speech you can hear the specific qualities of the local dialect: extensive use of unstressed [o] and short pronounciation of vowel sounds. She tells the researcher team how she used to learn songs from her mother when she was little. For a full list of Cherenovo repertoire captured in this collection see Posidelki. For details on local dance see Razlapushka You can find some of the extensive interviews with the singers and their families here: Katya, Nyura, Dusya (Glubokoye) Natasha Sanya and Pavla Katya (Cherenovo) Please ask at the National Sound Archive at the British Library for more interviews Home interiors have been filmed extensively in many events, especially at Natasha's home Food and drink at an improvised celebration and at a regular lunch (for guests) See a local shop and watch Cherenovo grandmothers buy their groceries Compare local architechture of traditional village Cherenovo with a relatively recent settlement Glubokoye See a wooden chapel on a road and a picture of a local church in a larger village which was destroyed by Bolsheviki. Local weaving crafts are presented in detail in the weaving workshop.