Page 30 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2017. Glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti - Musical Migrations: Crossroads of European Musical Diversity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 1
P. 30
glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti
reputation for excellence. In other words, an ethos of professionalism had
deep historical roots in these lands. But in the early twentieth century there
was something of a step change, and this included the emergence of a star
system, with legendary singers and instrumentalists beginning to appear,
some of them leaving a recorded legacy. Soviet ideology played its custom-
ary role in this, of course, but it was by no means a sole cause. What it guar-
anteed was that a distinctive folklore movement appeared some time before
such movements became commonplace, indeed all but universal, in the af-
termath of World War II. And it had one other effect. The hierarchy of val-
ues created by folklore – everyday singers, professional singers – ensured
that right from the start there was an ambiguity at the heart of the collect-
ing process in the sense that collectors invariably sought out the best sing-
ers.
Undoubtedly the stylized performances of the Circassian ensembles in
Turkey owe a great deal to this earlier folklore movement, which followed
much the same pattern in the Abkhaz-Adygean lands as elsewhere in the
Soviet Union. A professional or semi-professional genre of “folk music” was
constructed on the ground of a traditional musical culture that was simul-
taneously made the subject of extensive collection and intensive study, and
all informed by a mixture of ideologically driven and genuinely disinterest-
ed (scholarly) motives. The tasks in the Soviet Union were threefold: to map
out regional musics on a systematic basis, to arrive at theoretical principles
for the description and classification of those musics, and to render tradi-
tional music applicable to the modern urban world, which meant creating
new institutions to support it. Of the three, it is the last that has informed
the movement in Turkey, and especially in respect of dance. It is notewor-
thy that the choreographing and training of the dance groups in the North
Caucasus often involved practitioners from long-established Russian tra-
ditions of classical ballet, and the results were transmitted in turn to the
ensembles in Turkey. In short, the song and dance ensembles might best
be considered simulacra, rather as Jean Baudrillard understood this term.
They simulated a reality that was not (or was no longer) there, gathering a
cluster of separate elements into a largely synthetic whole.13
Inevitably, there has been a further layer of modernization in more
recent years. Traditional instruments are still used, but not exclusively. A
modern clarinet appeared at one concert I attended in Kayseri, as well as an
13 Jean Baudrillard, “Simulacra and Simulations,” in Selected Writings (Cambridge:
Polity, 1988 [1981]), 169–87.
28
reputation for excellence. In other words, an ethos of professionalism had
deep historical roots in these lands. But in the early twentieth century there
was something of a step change, and this included the emergence of a star
system, with legendary singers and instrumentalists beginning to appear,
some of them leaving a recorded legacy. Soviet ideology played its custom-
ary role in this, of course, but it was by no means a sole cause. What it guar-
anteed was that a distinctive folklore movement appeared some time before
such movements became commonplace, indeed all but universal, in the af-
termath of World War II. And it had one other effect. The hierarchy of val-
ues created by folklore – everyday singers, professional singers – ensured
that right from the start there was an ambiguity at the heart of the collect-
ing process in the sense that collectors invariably sought out the best sing-
ers.
Undoubtedly the stylized performances of the Circassian ensembles in
Turkey owe a great deal to this earlier folklore movement, which followed
much the same pattern in the Abkhaz-Adygean lands as elsewhere in the
Soviet Union. A professional or semi-professional genre of “folk music” was
constructed on the ground of a traditional musical culture that was simul-
taneously made the subject of extensive collection and intensive study, and
all informed by a mixture of ideologically driven and genuinely disinterest-
ed (scholarly) motives. The tasks in the Soviet Union were threefold: to map
out regional musics on a systematic basis, to arrive at theoretical principles
for the description and classification of those musics, and to render tradi-
tional music applicable to the modern urban world, which meant creating
new institutions to support it. Of the three, it is the last that has informed
the movement in Turkey, and especially in respect of dance. It is notewor-
thy that the choreographing and training of the dance groups in the North
Caucasus often involved practitioners from long-established Russian tra-
ditions of classical ballet, and the results were transmitted in turn to the
ensembles in Turkey. In short, the song and dance ensembles might best
be considered simulacra, rather as Jean Baudrillard understood this term.
They simulated a reality that was not (or was no longer) there, gathering a
cluster of separate elements into a largely synthetic whole.13
Inevitably, there has been a further layer of modernization in more
recent years. Traditional instruments are still used, but not exclusively. A
modern clarinet appeared at one concert I attended in Kayseri, as well as an
13 Jean Baudrillard, “Simulacra and Simulations,” in Selected Writings (Cambridge:
Polity, 1988 [1981]), 169–87.
28
