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Czech-Balkan counterpoint: Ethnography of the phenomenon Balkan music in Prague
Libánská, Alena ; Jurková, Zuzana (advisor) ; Matoušek, Vlastislav (referee) ; Skořepová, Zita (referee)
This Ph.D. thesis deals with the musical phenomenon Balkan music in Prague. The so- called Balkan music (in the sense of Shelemay's 2006 soundscape) is considered to be the result of social negotiating (counterpoint) between the agents, i.e., the Czech musicians and audience, and also those (musicians and audience) who originally come from the Balkan countries. Using the tools of ethnographic research, the thesis explores the nature of this relationship. Specifically, I focus on the very creation of the concept Balkan music in the Czech scene and the role the Balkan migration plays in its formation. It turns out that the very imagination of the 'Balkans' plays a key role in defining the phenomenon, and the form of music itself is the result of the imaginations of (an imaginary) milieu (i.e., stereotypes) that is perceived as culturally distant (Todorova 2009).
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Theoretical Concepts in Ethnomusicology and Study of the Folklore Revival Movement: the Case of the Prague Ensemble Gaudeamus
Skořepová, Zita
This chapter discusses two theoretical concepts in ethnomusicology, their applicability to the study of the folklore movement and the potential of these concepts to widen research questions already posed, or to generate new questions. The methodology, based on oral history interviews, focuses on the individual perspective and refl ection of the participants’ activities in the past and present. How might then actors of the folklore movement be characterized as members of a specifi c cultural cohort based on their own narratives and answers to particular questions? The fi rst concept of cultural cohort comes from a book by the American ethnomusicologist Thomas Turino, Music as Social Life [2008]. Turino views different personal features, “habits”, as formative elements of a particular identity. People with similar confi gurations of these traits (thus similar identities) tend to join cultural cohorts and cultural formations. Another theoretical framework is provided by the concepts of superculture, subculture and interculture by Mark Slobin [2000]. On the one hand, the folklore movement offi cially acclaimed sources and inspirations from musical subcultures (urban people singing and dancing rural songs and dances), but, on the other hand, found its place at a supercultural music level. This concept can thus enrich our understanding of the dynamics between the superculture, subculture and interculture in the research of the folklore movement. Drawing on data concerning the Prague-based folklore ensemble Gaudeamus, the present paper outlines some preliminary fi ndings in accordance with these theoretical concepts.
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Towards a Typology of Czech Traditional Song and Music
Tyllner, Lubomír
This article therefore aims at a complex analysis of traditional music and its typology. On the basis of musical analysis, the im is to establish a typology of the Czech traditional folk song and music, to delineate historical, regional and or national features of Czech traditional music and thus help to incorporate it into a broader European musical and cultural context.
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Czech-Balkan counterpoint: Ethnography of the phenomenon Balkan music in Prague
Libánská, Alena ; Jurková, Zuzana (advisor) ; Matoušek, Vlastislav (referee) ; Skořepová, Zita (referee)
This Ph.D. thesis deals with the musical phenomenon Balkan music in Prague. The so- called Balkan music (in the sense of Shelemay's 2006 soundscape) is considered to be the result of social negotiating (counterpoint) between the agents, i.e., the Czech musicians and audience, and also those (musicians and audience) who originally come from the Balkan countries. Using the tools of ethnographic research, the thesis explores the nature of this relationship. Specifically, I focus on the very creation of the concept Balkan music in the Czech scene and the role the Balkan migration plays in its formation. It turns out that the very imagination of the 'Balkans' plays a key role in defining the phenomenon, and the form of music itself is the result of the imaginations of (an imaginary) milieu (i.e., stereotypes) that is perceived as culturally distant (Todorova 2009).
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