Estonian folk songs Taive Särg

1. Estonian folk songs Taive Särg

2. Folk song rahvalaul is folk vocal music. Usually stands folk song for old ethnic / national songs, e.g. Estonian, Russian folk song. Contemporary folk songs are often songs of (small) groups: student songs, soldiers songs.

3. Estonian folk songeesti rahvalaulstands mainly for village folk songs (~till the late 1800s), transmitted orally. According to contemporary folkloristics Estonian folk songs are all wellknown songs that has become popular in various groups of Estonians. Estonian folk songs are in Estonian and their content is in accordance with Estonian mentality.

4. Estonian folk songs can be classified: 1. archaic vocal genresolder folk songs 2. regilaulud (~runo songs) 3. end rhymed strophic songs more modern folk songs

5. Archaic vocal genres – archaic songs and song-like sounds. Solo songs (excl. wedding laments), without instrumental accompaniment, often very pragmatic. hüüded shouts – for communication, organizing rhytmical activity, ritual shouts. helletused – herding calls imitations of nature and other sounds – bird songs, church bells, music instruments loits / ud incantations, charms – for forces of nature, people, deceases lastelaulud children songs – lullabies, children rhymes, “chain songs” itkud lamentations – for funerals, weddings, soldiers, everyday life

6. Regilaul – a very old and characteristic style of Estonian folk music.Usually translated as runo song, runic song, Kalevala-metric song. Belonged to the jointtradition of the Baltic-Finnic peoples and its age is approximately 2000 years. Estonian cultural identity has been tightly connected with regilaul songs, because they represent archaic musical and poetic thinking, local dialects, folk religion, etc The main criteria for a song to be classified as a runo song are the poetic characteristics of its text called regivärss. Term. Old German regge, reie ‘song, round game’. Finnish term runolaul, Finnish runo ‚poem < singer, wizard’.

7. Regilaul characteristics The poetic characteristics of its text: word initial alliteration and assonance, parallelism, and a specific textual metre. Text lines were not organized into stanzas. Very poetic and old language. Mul on / väike / velle/kene, põlve/pikku / poisi/kene. Ta teeb / toa / tuule / peale, maja / marja/varre / peale, koja / kobru/lehe / peale.

8. Regilaulu värsimõõt

9. Old poetic language. Estonian words shortened in the 13.-17th century. laulemaie < laulemahe ‘laulma’ (=laulmasse’) kiike-jääle < kiike’elle < kiikekelle ‘kiigele’ lastatanni < lastadani ‘meie last’

10. The regilaul melodies usually have isochronic syllabic rhythm, not very strict metre, narrow ambitus, monophonic (polyphony in Setomaa), stepwise melody movement, and short descending melodic motives that reveal influences from Estonian speech prosody.

11. Rhythm.

12. Regilaul classification 1) Songs at certain activity: works (harvesting, herding, women house cores), calnedar traditions, weddings, dance and game songs, children songs. Usually very old, traditional, but include occasional Improvisations. 2) “Free songs” in different situations: lyrics (about singing, nature, everyday life, marriage etc...), lyroepics (cosmologocal myths, legends, songs about family dramas. works). Lyroepic songs are is very archaic, lyric songs more modern.

13. The more modern Estonian folk songs uuemad rahvalaulud began to spread at the end of the 1800s and had become very popular by the end of the 1900s. lõppriimilised salmilaulud end-rhymed strophic songs Those songs were borrowed directly from Indo-European neighbours or shaped, following their folk music styles, especially according to German folk music.

14. The modern folk songcharacteristics The modern folk song lyrics consisted of end-rhymed verses, grouped into stanzas. Song melodies and instrumental pieces also had a strict metre, wider ambitus (beginning from fifth), and melodic structure, based on the diatonic scale and harmonic functions characteristic of Western music. Songs could have instrumental accompaniment.

16. The classification  of more modern folk songs • Dance, round game songs • Sentimental love songs • 3) Songs about village life (“village chronicles”) • 4) War and prison songs • 5) Spiritual songs (folk chorals, mainly basing on Lutherian chorals) • 1-2) Women’s repertoire • 3-4) Men’s repertoire

17. The living old Estonian folk song tradition persisted until • the beginning of the 20th century, and in some peripheral • localities (ethnographical areas Setu and Kihnu) it is alive • even today. • Contemporary Estonian folk song comprises different music styles, including “authentic” folk songs, i.e. imitation of traditional song styles, various arrangements and popular music as well. • On the basis of context two main directions can be pointed out: • folklorism (perfromance on stage or festival), and • spontaneous group-singing.