Big Blog #2: Russian Traditional Music

In this blog I'll be talking about the traditional music of Russian. 

Let me begin by giving a quick lesson about Russia before getting into the music from there.

Russia, officially called the Russian Federation, is the largest country in the world in terms of landmass. It stretches from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean and from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea and the Caucasus. It expands through most of eastern Europe and north Asia and shares borders with fourteen neighboring countries. The really cold and dry climate of the country makes it nearly impossible to have any type of good agriculture. Mount El'brus, Europe's tallest peak, and Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake, are both found in Russia. 

Russia is a federal semi- presidential republic, meaning there is a prime minister who leas the legislature and a president who is the executive role in the government. The USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, fell in 1991. During the Soviet Era music was scrutinized and kept within certain boundaries. After a couple years of political crises, the current constitution and government were formed. 

The cultural legacy of Russia did not really come into place until after Peter the Great, czar of Russia from 1672- 1725, started westernizing the country.  Up until the 18th century Russian music consisted mainly of church music, folk songs, and dances then in the 1700s, Italian, German, and French operas made their appearance in Russia making opera a popular art form. In the 19th century, Russian really began making it's contribution to the world of music. This began with Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857) when he started to turn the world of purely Russian folk and religious music to classical compositions. His operas, which were modeled on Italian opera were considered "ground-breaking" works in the establishment of Russian national music.

Now let's get more into the traditional folk music of Russia!

Before the 18th century Russian music really only consisted of church music and folk music and dance. It was not till the rule of Peter the Great that Russia's culture really started to bloom. 

Russian Folk music can be dated as far back as the middle of the first millennium with the settlement of the Slavic tribes, who were known for their love of music. In the 10th century, Kievan Rus, the first state of what is now modern day Russia, had folk music in a lot of different languages including Slavic, Turkish, and Finno-Ugric. Even to this day, folk songs have a very distinct style that varies from region to region but one thing they all had in common was that they had mainly pagan ties. 

Russian Folk songs and dances are created under two rituals: by the calendar and by family life. Songs that are associated with the calendar are about sowing, harvesting, and other farming rituals and those associated with family life are about birth, death, and marriage. There were also individual songs that were ballades written about heroic characters in life as well as bylinas and spiritual verses, that have remained popular till this day. Here is a bylina about Ilya Muromets and the Robbers:

In the 1500s or 1600s in Moscow, lyrical song was formed and could even be considered the most complicated form of Russian Folk music. Lyrical song involved "multi-voiced singing" as well as solo voices. 

Weeping was also very popular and was used mostly at weddings and funerals. It was very melodic and uses improvisation. Here is an example of weeping at a wedding: 

In Russian Folk music, vocals were considered to be more important than the instruments. This was because of the Orthodox religion not allowing instruments to be played in churches. Instruments were used to accompany the singer. 

Now onto the instruments!

The first instrument is the balalaika. The name of this instrument most likely came from the words "to talk" or "to babble" because the musicians would play the balalaika and "babble" folk lyrics. It was a popular leisure instrument among people of the lower class. It is a chordophone with three strings and a triangular sound board. It comes in many different sizes; descant, prima, secunda, and alto. Here is an example of a balalaika:

 The next instrument is the domra or the "babushka of the balalaika". It appeared in the Slavic region and evolved from the Mongol's plucked string instruments. It is smaller and is not triangular like the balalaika but instead is shaped like a circle. It also uses a mediator. Here is an example of the domra:

The gusli is an ancient instrument from the 9th century. It has from 5 to 60 strings which the player, a guslyar, uses both hands to play. To this day you can come across a guslyar playing on the streets or metro in Moscow. Here is an example of the gusli:

There are many types of Russian folk flutes including the willow svirel, the maple pyzhatka, the birch zhaleika, and more. They are all called "dudka" and are used in music as well as in pastures, for hunting and during rituals. Here is an example of a dudka:

The last instrument I will be talking about is the drova. This is a slavic xylophone. It is made out of wood that you hit with a stick. Each piece of wood has a groove dug into it and the deeper the groove the higher the pitch. Here is an example of the drova:

I hope you enjoyed this last blog! I wasn't able to find much on Russian traditional music but I still hope you learned something! 

Bibliography:

https://www.rbth.com/arts/331963-russian-folk-musical-instruments

https://www.expresstorussia.com/experience-russia/russian-classical-music.html

https://www.infoplease.com/world/countries/russia

http://www.music-folk.com/russian-folk-music/#:~:text=Musical%20Russian%20Folk%20weeping%20is,to%20be%20played%20in%20Churches.