Edited by Mari Väina and Taive Särg
Book 27 in the Studia Fennica Folkloristica series
Expressions and Impressions: Personal and Communal Aspects of Traditional Singing explores traditional singing as a fundamental mode of expression and communication, situated at the intersection of individual experience and communal life. The thirteen contributions examine historical and contemporary forms of singing through archival and fieldwork-based material, drawing on a wide range of disciplinary and methodological perspectives.
The authors – ethnomusicologists, musicologists, and folklorists – focus on various dimensions of traditional singing, including singers’ personalities, the information embedded in songs, communication with direct and imagined communities, natural objects, the supernatural sphere, the effects of singing, as well as singing styles and performance contexts. Special attention is paid to the critical interpretation of historical sources, acknowledging that research on past singing practices relies on archival and printed material. Several studies demonstrate how older material can be studied using contemporary methods, including textual corpus analysis, acoustic analysis of singing style, and the combination of different analytical approaches.
The editors use the concept of traditional singing to bridge folkloristic and ethnomusicological discourses and to emphasise singing as vocal musical practice that takes place within specific communities or groups, and where skills and repertoires are transmitted at least partly through participation, listening, and memorisation. This inclusive definition allows the volume to address folk and traditional music, their transformations and revivals, participatory and congregational singing, and various contemporary communal singing practices.
The volume covers a wide cultural range and, with some exceptions, is authored by scholars who are closely connected with or originate from the cultures they analyse. While many contributions focus on traditions of Northern and Eastern Europe, including Estonian and Baltic traditions, the scope extends to other regions and cultural contexts, such as Italy and the Ainu people of Japan. The volume also highlights historical and scholarly connections between different traditions, for example between Latvian and Scottish researchers or between Estonian, German, and other European musical cultures. Analysis of minority groups’ singing traditions in different parts of the world reminds us that singing may also become subject to ideological control and political pressure.
The chapters demonstrate how traditional songs, through their creative reapplication, provide individuals with means to articulate personal experience while simultaneously offering shared frameworks that guide emotions, behaviour, and expression in recurring social situations. Such emotionally grounded connections can offer individuals lasting support and a sense of belonging and identity. The volume argues that traditional singing – both in its historical forms and in its contemporary manifestations – remains a5 vital cultural practice.
The book is written for scholars and students of music and folklore, educators, and readers with a broader interest in cultural history and communal forms of musical expression.