Description
Ensemble Razlapushka meets in the beautiful garden of one of the singers in order to give an improvised performance that will be recorded on video. They sing lyric songs, sing and dance dance songs and chastushki, many of them from the repertoire of the Cherenovo grandmothers. They wear their costumes, which are original self-made and probably belonged to older generations before they were given to the singers. They perform in the garden and in the house. They also involve guests in dancing. Two video cameras are in operation: by Elena Bobretsova, the camera woman of the researcher team and by Vera, a friend of the singers. Vladimir Leonidovich Mymrin (Volodya) is the director of the Culture Center in the village Shangaly, director of ensemble Razlapushka and he also curates the Cherenovo grandmothers. He was researchers' main informant, he helped them to organise this field trip. The researcher team stayed in his house in Shangaly. He summoned the girls from his ensemble Razlapushka to give an improvised performance for the researchers. The other goal was to make a video recording of their performance. The girls put on their original Ustianskie costumes and made themselves pretty.They perform in a beautiful garden belonging to the house of Lyuba, one of the singers of Razlapushka. First they set up a dining table in the pavillion, drink with their guests and sing. At some point they get cold and go into the house to perform a couple of songs there. Unfortunately the room is not very suitable for dancing and the light is bad for video recording. They move outside again, sing and dance on a lawn and in a pavillion. Volodya plays garmon. They invite the guests to join them for dancing, instruct them and rehearse with them. They move into a summer kitchen, drink tea and sing. They wrap up with a nice still image of the singers in front of the house in the beautiful garden. Razlapushka sing mostly songs from the repertoire of the Cherenovo grandmothers. (For a detailed description of the core repertroire of Cherenovo Ensemble see Posidelki) Some of these songs have been recorded by the researcher team in Cherenovo (see Posidelki). The singers recreate the typical Cherenovo singing style very well. 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. Due to more freedom in splitting Razlapushka display more heterophonic elements than the Cherenovo grandmothers. There are some important differences to the performance of Cherenovo ensemble. First, Razlapushka involves garmon. Almost all dance songs are sung to garmon, all chastushki are sung to specific tunes played on garmon. Volodya is a highly proficient garmon player. Cherenovo grandmothers also used to sing to garmon. Their first director Pavel Suvorov was a great garmon player they say. He died many years ago and since then they don't have a garmonist to accompany them. Second, Razlapushka dance different kinds of quadrille (figure dance). Cherenovo grandmothers certainly used to dance figure dances, like Razlapushka they probably had prepared series of figures that they performed on stage. But now, probably because of their age, which restrains their movements, and due to a rather informal setting (like the gathering in front of Sanya's house two days before ), they allow much more improvisation. Their dancing style therefore differs from what Razlapushka display. Razlapushka's style corresponds to the descriptions of basic elements of northern Russian dancing style common in the literature: with their arms rather rigid and held down most of the time, never moving higher than their waist. They don't use handkerchieves. They dance figures in the learnt order. In contrast, the Cherenovo grandmothers afford much more freedom in arm movements. They hold handkerchieves as it has been common for centuries in many regions in Russia. They employ specific steps but don't dance many figures, often improvising, probably trying to remember what they used to dance when they were younger. Third important difference is that Razlapushka includes a male singer, Volodya. They to some extent restore the gender balance in singing and revive the richness of mixed ensemble singing. Old women in many regions in Russia say that it was common for men and women to sing together (see Natasha: men and women used to sing together, Glubokoe singers: why don't men sing anymore). The lyrical repertoire used to be performed in mixed groups. Unfortunately, men of the older generation have a considerably shorter life expectancy than women, in particular because they are more vulnerable to alcohol and because they are less able to adapt to new challenges of the rapidly changing world around them. Most of the old women we met were single, their husbands died. Those men that are still alive are not particularly interested in singing. Here we are surrounded by people who consciously preserve the old tradition, though they didn't receive it in the usual way from their parents. Among the participants of this revival movement there are probably as many singing men as there are women. This reestablishes the balance of genders in singing which was common to many local traditions and genres in the past and brings the richness of mixed group singing back to live in these traditions. Volodya is quite dominant in leading his ensemble and determines what and how should be sung and danced. He is certainly an authority for the female singers. The performance of Razlapushka is more staged than of Cherenovo singers during the gathering at Sanya's house. The reason is partly that the young singers are more aware of the camera and see this recording as the means for advertising themselves, whereas for Cherenovo grandmothers this is one of these informal events where they just have to sing their songs, they don't have such high expectations of their presentation. Songs from the Cherenovo repertoire sung by Razlapushka: Protracted lyric songs:'Не торопитесь-ко девки' (don't hurry girls): Cherenovo, Razlapushka This song was specifically related to the wedding ritual and was performed during devishnik ( a gathering of the bride's friends the day before the wedding )Compare the lead-ins in this song by Alexandra Fiodorovna Kashina (Sanya), the oldest singer of the Cherenovo Ensemble, with those by Appolinaria Mikhailovna Shubina (Polina), who is 20 years younger, and by Razlapushka, who are at least 50 years younger:1: Sanya, Polina 2: Sanya and Polina, Polina solo3: Razlapushka 4: Sanya, Polina, Razlapushka 5. Sanya, Polina, Razlapushka 'Пошёл то ли милой пошёл' (my beloved went): Razlapushka This protracted recruit songs seems to have been dropped by Cherenovo singers. Dance songs and chastushki:По деревне-то пыль столбом' (the dust is rising), Razlapushka 'Вечор был же я' (last night I was), Razlapushka This song is still performed by the Cherenovo ensemble, researcher Polina Proutskova recorded it in 2005.'Разлапушка', Razlapushka Dance and chastushki, Razlapushka These chastushki were recorded by the Cherenovo grandmothers. It seems highly probably that they also performed figure dances while singing chastushki as long as they had a garmon player accompanying them.'У нашего крылечика' (at our porch), Cherenovo, Razlapushка Examples of dance movements and figures performed by Razlapushka: one pair dancing to 'Вечор был же я' (last night I was) two pairs dancing to 'Разлапушка' another two pair dance to garmon and chastushki vos'miorochka - a figure for two groups of three, danced to 'У нашего крылечика' (at our porch) figure for four pairs to garmon and chastushki
