{"id":2937,"date":"2026-05-06T09:42:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T06:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs2.abo.fi\/etnologi-folkloristik-norden\/?p=2937"},"modified":"2026-04-30T16:01:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T13:01:43","slug":"expressions-and-impressions-personal-and-communal-aspects-of-traditional-singing-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs2.abo.fi\/etnologi-folkloristik-norden\/2026\/05\/06\/expressions-and-impressions-personal-and-communal-aspects-of-traditional-singing-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Expressions and Impressions. Personal and Communal Aspects of Traditional Singing (2025)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edited by Mari V\u00e4ina and Taive S\u00e4rg
\nBook 27 in the\u00a0Studia Fennica Folkloristica<\/a>\u00a0series<\/p>\n

Expressions and Impressions: Personal and Communal Aspects of Traditional Singing<\/i>\u00a0explores 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.<\/p>\n

The authors \u2013 ethnomusicologists, musicologists, and folklorists \u2013 focus on various dimensions of traditional singing, including singers\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019 singing traditions in different parts of the world reminds us that singing may also become subject to ideological control and political pressure.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 both in its historical forms and in its contemporary manifestations \u2013 remains a5 vital cultural practice.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

You can find the book on the SKS website<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edited by Mari V\u00e4ina and Taive S\u00e4rg Book 27 in the\u00a0Studia Fennica Folkloristica\u00a0series Expressions and Impressions: Personal and Communal Aspects of Traditional Singing\u00a0explores 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 … Forts\u00e4tt l\u00e4sa Expressions and Impressions. Personal and Communal Aspects of Traditional Singing (2025)<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":645,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,14],"tags":[546,547],"class_list":["post-2937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antologier","category-publikationer","tag-singing","tag-tradition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs2.abo.fi\/etnologi-folkloristik-norden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs2.abo.fi\/etnologi-folkloristik-norden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs2.abo.fi\/etnologi-folkloristik-norden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs2.abo.fi\/etnologi-folkloristik-norden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs2.abo.fi\/etnologi-folkloristik-norden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs2.abo.fi\/etnologi-folkloristik-norden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2940,"href":"https:\/\/blogs2.abo.fi\/etnologi-folkloristik-norden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2937\/revisions\/2940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs2.abo.fi\/etnologi-folkloristik-norden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs2.abo.fi\/etnologi-folkloristik-norden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs2.abo.fi\/etnologi-folkloristik-norden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}