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Catholic Praise and Worship Music and the "Rhytmic Song" in Czechoslovakia between the 1960s to 1980s
Holcová, Alžběta ; Zdrálek, Vít (advisor) ; Kratochvíl, Matěj (referee)
This diploma thesis is concerned with the phenomenon of catholic popular sacred music, locally known as "rhytmical" songs, in Czechoslovakia, to be more precise in present territory of the Czech republic between 1960s - 1980s. I try to cover the whole context of the "rhythmical" songs, not only in connection with the liturgy, but also with the whole religious life mainly of the younger generation of believers. Firstly, the thesis is concerned with the situation in Czechoslovakia in the end of 1960s, where the reforms in the international Church and domestic political landscape joined together and the activation of the local Church and religious life with its musical aspects were reinforced. Czechslovakia had opened to the "western" influence of the Christian popular music - appearing in the whole Christian world that time - which was partially being developed in the local Church. Secondly, the thesis is concerned with the Czechoslovak context and the term "rhythmical" song, which is the most frequent term related to the Christian popular music in Czechoslovak sources. This term describes not only the specific form of the liturgical music, but also the whole musical and religious culture of the life of its participants and consumers. The thesis introduces the development of the "rhythmical" songs in...
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Virtuosity and Performance of Masculinity: Music Ethnography of a Non-Roma Gypsy Jazz Group in Prague
Kašparová, Žofie ; Zdrálek, Vít (advisor) ; Jurková, Zuzana (referee)
Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Filozofická fakulta Ústav hudební vědy Virtuosity and Performance of Masculinity: Music Ethnography of a Non-Roma Gypsy Jazz Group in Prague Žofie Kašparová 2014 Abstract In this ethnography I examine the gypsy jazz band Sylvanio Orchestra which is based in Prague, Czech Republic. This research consists largely of my observations at their performances, interviews with the band members as well as my personal experience of being a musician and a woman in this predominantly male collective. Thus, this essay is partly an autoethnography. The research focuses on a group of non-Roma musicians which play gypsy jazz music. I describe how their performances work, which consist mostly of jam sessions (participatory performance), and which mechanisms occur in these environments. Virtuosity is one of the main characteristics of the genre and is coupled with a sense of competitiveness. The group appears exclusive from the outside which might be caused by intellectual musical communication codes which outsiders cannot read and which are connected with the virtuosity typical in gypsy jazz. I suggest that virtuosity, competitiveness along with other characteristics of gypsy jazz performance might be perceived as masculine. Finally, I try to explain the dominance of men in gypsy jazz. key words:...
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Musical ethnography of the creative collective SDBS
Poskočilová, Lucie ; Zdrálek, Vít (advisor) ; Kratochvíl, Matěj (referee)
This work presents the musical ethnographic research of the activities of the independent Prague-based community sdbs, which focuses on the organization of concerts and music festivals. The sdbs creative collective (that is the whole title of the group) appears at the "alternative" culture scene in the year 2010. Since then, the collective organised many concerts and music festivals, but it especially focuses on the organisation of two of them: Ruins of Intolerance and Psy-High. The sdbs collective is an intellectual group which strongly conceptualizes and theorizes its activities, a tendency that shows most prominently in the case of the two above mentioned festivals, a fact that informs my decision to focus my analysis on them During my research, I especially emphasise on the collective's activities in the field of music production. Through it, I try to understand the specific musical elements that I define as typical for this sphere of music. My endeavor is to describe specific musical activities through observation and insider experience and (based on interviews with the persons involved) to understand and interpret the mental concepts in the background of the activity being described. I use the anthropological model of Allan P. Merriam as a framework for my research, keeping track of three...
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The Performance of Masculinity in the Milieu of Czech Extreme Metal
Hradecká, Anna Marie ; Zdrálek, Vít (advisor) ; Turek, Pavel (referee)
Using a method of reflexive ethnography, this thesis deals with a question of masculinity performace in the Czech extreme metal milieu (to be specific I am concerned with the brutal death metal and related sub-genres). Participants of the brutal death metal subculture either in the position of performers or audience are with a very few exceptions men. Brutality, harshness, extremeness and other values are the main aesthetic criteria, which - as we can observe while doing the research - the participants connect with a coherent collection of ideas about a certain ideal of dominant manhood. To achieve these values to the greatest extent possible the musicians use particular musical features and topics of the compositions; and so does both the musicians and the audience via their visual image, with using specific kind of behaviour and having fixed movements and dancing during the music production. On the basis of an analysis of these values and means of their manifestation I am concerned with the question of what specific characteristics the masculine identity, which is performed in the given subculture, has. My research data show that these are: 1) mutual affinity with the other participants, 2) power as an ability of an aggressive attack as well as one's own endurance, and 3) coarseness, lack of...
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The Carnival in Dolní Chrášťany: Music Ethnographic Research
Podroužková, Lucie ; Zdrálek, Vít (advisor) ; Kratochvíl, Matěj (referee)
4 Abstract In Dolní Chrášt'any, something that could be described as a "new tradition" has been developing in recent years. The village of Dolní Chrášt'any is located on former German territory, so most of its original inhabitants were displaced after World War II, and the continuity of the carnival celebration was interrupted. After the subsequent settlement of the village, the carnival tradition was renewed, but it did not last long and was again interrupted as the inhabitants left. It was only in the new millennium, after 2000, when new immigrants from the urban environment, mostly from Prague, began to settle in Dolní Chrášt'any. It seems that they do not strive for "authenticity" at any cost. They do not want to create an 'open-air museum' of the original carnival, but to capture the social dimension of the festival and to reflect the current state and conditions of the local community, which, although at first sight may look very distant from the original ones, in essence fulfil an identical function. It is this paradox of the clash between folk tradition and its perception by people who did not grow up in the atmosphere of village traditions that I will primarily focus on in my research. The original intention to describe the current form of the carnival in Dolní Chrášťany and to outline the links to...
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We all Know That, Don´t We?: Situating Scholarly Knowledge about the Czech 'Folklore Movement'
Zdrálek, Vít
The text is a reflexive contemplation of the ‘common sense’ in Czech music folkloristics/ethnology from the point of view of the Czech ethnomusicologist whose personal as well as research experience has, significantly in this context, been formed outside the Czech folklore and folkloristics/ethnology practices and discourses. Partly based on reflexive ethnographic observations of the ongoing research project ‘Weight and Weightlessness of Folklore: The Folklore Movement of the Second Half of the 20th Century in the Czech Lands’ (2017-2019) hosted by the Ethnological Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, partly based on autoethnographic self-inspections of the author’s experience of the ‘alien affect’ towards the dominant Czech folklore discourse in the Czech-German ‘borderlands’ of the 1980s and the 1990s, and partly discussing the post-1989 folkloristics/ethnology versus anthropology debate and the less pronounced, but no less acute music folkloristics/ethnology versus ethnomusicology debate in the Czech Republic, the text formulates what it hopes to be the key questions for understanding the positionality of Czech music folkloristics/ethnological knowledge and creates an intellectual space for self-reflexive disciplinary discussion which it sees as critical for the future of the Czech music folkloristics/ethnological research.
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Gamelan as an Actor: Life of Javanese Gamelan in Prague
Koubek, Daniel ; Zdrálek, Vít (advisor) ; Šidlo Friedl, Marian (referee)
This work investigates the life of Javanese gamelan in Prague (the Czech Republic). The author's intention was both to show the differences between the lives of the two sets of instruments of Javanese gamelan that currently can be found there in the Czech Republic. In his argument, that is highly dependent on using the Actor-Network Theory, these instruments' different historical social roles, narratives, lie beyond their meanings as things, but can only be observed when understanding them as actors forsing people to particular behavior and way of thinking about them. In other words, the author analysed the way how people who had ever played one or both these gamelans describe their relation to these instruments or what they found to be the most valuable aspect for them about playing Javanese gamelan in Prague. While a strong fascination by the gamelan instruments from the Liběchov castle can be observed among people who had played them after they were brought to the Czechoslovakia in 1989 as a result of the Czechoslovakia-Indonesian diplomatic relation, in case of the gamelan possessed by Embassy of Indonesia in Prague, mainly people who had already been to Indonesia in person become those who furthermore currently spread the competence of playing the Javanese gamelan in the Czech Republic. In...
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Music ethnography of Prague catholic choir
Holcová, Alžběta ; Zdrálek, Vít (advisor) ; Šidlo Friedl, Marian (referee)
This bachelor thesis is concerned through musical-ethnographic method with functioning of Prague catholic choir Rytmig of church of st. Ignatius on Charles Square dealing with contemporary christian popular music. I try to understand the meaning of this musical activity not only in the context of catholic liturgy, by means of ethnomusicological research, that is from the view of active participant. I use the book Music as Social Life by Thomas Turino and work with the topic of music function of liturgy and other non-liturgical meetings of the schola. Regarding methodology, I use the ethnomusicological handbook for students by Simone Krüger and the book L'entretien compréhensif (in original) by Jean-Claude Kaufmann, dealing with method of interview, which comprises main part of the material. I am also concerned with approach to rehearsals and the emphasis on inclusivity, which takes preference over result. The opportunity of participation on liturgical performance and other activities is offered to everyone regardless of ability, experience or even religion. Keywords: ethnomusicology, choir, liturgy, catholic church, inclusivity, music function
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The Performance of Masculinity in the Milieu of Czech Extreme Metal
Hradecká, Anna Marie ; Zdrálek, Vít (advisor) ; Turek, Pavel (referee)
Using a method of reflexive ethnography, this thesis deals with a question of masculinity performace in the Czech extreme metal milieu (to be specific I am concerned with the brutal death metal and related sub-genres). Participants of the brutal death metal subculture either in the position of performers or audience are with a very few exceptions men. Brutality, harshness, extremeness and other values are the main aesthetic criteria, which - as we can observe while doing the research - the participants connect with a coherent collection of ideas about a certain ideal of dominant manhood. To achieve these values to the greatest extent possible the musicians use particular musical features and topics of the compositions; and so does both the musicians and the audience via their visual image, with using specific kind of behaviour and having fixed movements and dancing during the music production. On the basis of an analysis of these values and means of their manifestation I am concerned with the question of what specific characteristics the masculine identity, which is performed in the given subculture, has. My research data show that these are: 1) mutual affinity with the other participants, 2) power as an ability of an aggressive attack as well as one's own endurance, and 3) coarseness, lack of...
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