ob simpoziju o družbeni vlogi ljudske pesmi
MARIJA KLOBČAR
Ljudska pesem je bila v letošnjem aprilu povod za poseben razmislek o sami sebi in o družbi, v kateri nastaja, živi in se spreminja v novi pesemski spomin. Med 13. in 15. aprilom 2005 so namreč svoje poglede na njeno vlogo in spreminjajočo se podobo v družbi v okviru simpozija Ljudska pesem kot družbeni izziv med seboj soočili domači in tuji raziskovalci. Na ta način so v veliki dvorani Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti poleg Slovencev iskali stičišča in razpotja raziskovalci iz Avstrije, Italije, Madžarske, Bosne in Hercegovine in Ukrajine. Besedila njihovih razmišljanj so, hkrati z uvodnim pozdravom akademika dr. Kajetana Gantarja, strnjena v tej številki Traditiones.
S pričujočimi besedili je tako predstavljen simpozij, ki ni bil samo soočenje narodov in različnih znanstvenih misli, temveč tudi posebno soočenje z zgodovino. Povod za to znanstveno srečanje je bila namreč stoletnica velike zbirateljske akcije, ki je pred sto leti z zanimanjem za ljudsko pesem želela kulturno in politično povezati vse dedne dežele avstro-ogrske monarhije. Tako projekt Das Volkslied in Österreich, na katerega se stoletnica nanaša, kot tudi akciji Die österreichisch-ungarische Monarchie in Wort und Bild (1887—1902) ali Die Völker Österreich-Ungarns iz osemdesetih let devetnajstega stoletja, so nastale iz potrebe družbe, ki je čutila svoja notranja razhajanja in jih je želela preseči na zrelejši način. V teh razhajanjih je akcija Das Volkslied in Österreich iskala ljudsko pesem kot izraz prepoznavnosti narodov, ki bi s spoznavanjem lastnega začeli spoštovati tuje. Projekt svojega političnega cilja ni dosegel, saj je v času, ko je akcija še trajala, Avstro-Ogrska razpadla. Dosegel pa je globlje, notranje poslanstvo: pomembno soočenje z lastno dediščino. To dediščino so posamični narodi s številnimi zapisi ljudskih pesmi, enakovredno pozornimi do besedila in melodije, in s prvimi zvočnimi posnetki prestregli pozabi.
Drugi cilj tega velikega projekta je moč uresničevati šele po sto letih, v času novih političnih združevanj in globalizacijskih teženj: s tem ko se evropski narodi ob združevanju soočajo z novimi pastmi, ima dediščina, s tem tudi ljudska pesem, inštrumentalna glasba in ples, znova razločevalno in povezovalno vlogo. Ta vprašanja je ob stoletnici ustanovitve centralnega odbora akcije Das Volkslied in Österreich, novembra leta 2004, na Dunaju odprl že simpozij Kulturelles Erbe bewahren, vermitteln und entdecken. Tako kot dunajski simpozij je tudi znanstveno srečanje v Ljubljani hkrati opozorilo na to, da šele zrelost narodov omogoča odgovoren odnos do lastne dediščine in spoštovanje dediščine drugih.
Na simpoziju Ljudska pesem kot družbeni izziv pa ni prišla do izraza samo drugačnost, zapisana med narodi. V posamičnih prispevkih so se izrisala različna miselna in spoznavna
obzorja, razpeta med vrednotenje zgodovine in vizije sedanjosti. Hkrati je prišla do izraza tudi moč, ki jo ima ljudska pesem pri razkrivanju resničnosti: eden od prispevkov, ki obravnava raziskovanje ljudske pesmi na dvojezičnem območju, namreč prav ljudsko pesem izpostavlja kot nezavedno pot do razkritja zamolčane etnične pripadnosti.
Vsebinsko so bile razprave na simpoziju povezane v tri skupine, to razvrstitev pa smo ohranili tudi v objavah. Besedila so večinoma objavljena v angleškem jeziku; na simpoziju so bila slovenska besedila predstavljena v slovenskem jeziku, gostje pa so jim sledili s pomočjo angleških povzetkov in računalniških predstavitev. Prva skupina razprav se odziva na vprašanja družbene vloge ljudske pesmi pred sto leti; nekatere od teh iščejo vzporednice z današnjim časom, pri drugih je ta primerjava v ozadju. Druga skupina povezuje prispevke, ki po eni strani razgrinjajo vlogo tehničnih možnosti pri ujetju zvoka in pesmi v trajni spomin, po drugi strani pa s pomočjo najnovejših tehničnih rešitev pri izdelavi podatkovnih baz iščejo najustreznejše poti za vrnitev pesmi in viž med ljudi. Tretja skupina združuje najbolj raznorodna besedila, ki z različnih stališč problematizirajo vlogo in podobo ljudske pesmi, glasbe in plesa v današnjem času. Sežejo od funkcije in estetike ljudske zvočnosti do vprašanj in dilem sodobne poustvarjalne glasbe, hkrati pa tudi sodobnega raziskovanja. V razponu med lokalnim in globalnim namreč ljudska pesem in njeno raziskovanje dobivata nov pomen.
Preplet besedil, povezanih v razmislek z naslovom Ljudska pesem kot družbeni izziv in strnjen v tej številki Traditiones, je torej prispevek k razmišljanju o dediščini, ki smo jo prejeli in jo hkrati ustvarjamo. Je razmišljanje o družbi, ki je pred sto leti z ljudsko pesmijo začela graditi mostove. Mostovi, zgrajeni drugače, kot so jih začeli graditi, danes pomenijo nov izziv. Simpozij je — hkrati s temi zapisi — opozoril nanje. Kot spomin na pesem in kot pesem oddaljenega in današnjega spomina.
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Prispevke zaključuje kratka predstavitev življenja in dela prizadevnega sodelavca Glasbe-nonarodopisnega inštituta, etnokoreologa Mirka Ramovša. Z njo smo želeli opozoriti ne le na njegovo sedemdesetletnico, temveč tudi na odmevnost njegovega dela doma in na tujem. Hkrati se v obzorje, ki ga zarisujejo drugi prispevki tega zbornika, vključuje tudi z usmerjenostjo svojih raziskovalnih poti. S svojim delom je namreč blizu tistim zamislim, ki so se pred sto leti porajale v veliki zbirateljski akciji Das Volkslied in Österreich: kot etnokoreolog je raziskoval in še raziskuje zgodovino in razvoj plesnega izročila na Slovenskem, njegovo mesto v izročilu evropskih narodov in njegove sodobne transformacije, kot koreograf pa se ves čas ukvarja z revitalizacijo plesnega izročila in z rekonstrukcijami njegove nekdanje podobe. Hvaležni smo mu, da je tudi v tej obliki v vsem razumljivem jeziku telesa del slovenske ljudske kulture pomagal predstaviti na tujem.
a symposium on the social role of folk song
MARIJA KLOBČAR
This April, folk song was the stimulus for special reflection on this phenomenon itself as well as on the society in which it arises, lives, and changes in the memory of song. Scholars from Slovenia and abroad turned their attention to the role and changing image of folk song from 13 to 15 April 2005 as part of the symposium The Folk Song As a Social Challenge, at which researchers from Austria, Italy, Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Ukraine joined their colleagues from Slovenia in the great hall of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Their reflections, together with the welcoming address by academy member Dr. Kajetan Gantar, are brought together in this issue of Traditiones.
The articles in this issue represent a symposium that was not only an encounter between nations and different lines of research, but also an encounter with history in particular. The occasion for this academic gathering was the centenary of a great collection project that culturally and politically sought to unite all of the crownlands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire one hundred years ago through an interest in folk song. This project, The Folk Song in Austria, as well as the projects The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in Word and Image (1887—1902) and The Nations of Austria-Hungary from the 1880s, arose from the need of a society that sensed its internal divisions and wished to overcome them in a more mature manner. Within these divisions, The Folk Song in Austria sought the folk song as the expression of nations' individuality, the recognition of which would foster respect for others. The project did not attain its political goal because the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed while the project was underway. However, it did achieve a deeper, internal mission: an important encounter with Austria-Hungary's own heritage. Through numerous transcriptions of folk songs that focused on both lyrics and melodies, and with the first audio recordings, individual nations kept this heritage from being forgotten.
The second goal of this great project could only be realized a century later, in a time of new political unions and movements toward globalization. At a time when the nations of Europe face new obstacles while coming together, heritage — including folk song, instrumental music, and dance — once again has a distinguishing and connecting role. These issues were addressed at the symposium Protectingg, Transmitting, and Discovering Cultural Heritage in Vienna in November 2004 marking the centennial of the founding of the central committee for the project The Folk Song in Austria. As at the Vienna symposium, the conference in Ljubljana drew attention to the fact that only with maturity can a nation take a responsible position toward its own cultural heritage and respect the heritage of others.
The symposium The Folk Song As a Social Challenge did more than articulate the differences recorded between nations. The individual contributions sketched out the various perspectives and insights between evaluating the past and visualizing the future. At the same time, they expressed the power that folk song has to reveal the truth: one of the contributions, discussing folk song research in a bilingual area, presented the folk song itself as an unconscious path to revealing submerged ethnic identity.
In their content, the papers at the symposium fell into three groups, and this grouping is also observed in this publication. Most of the papers are published here in English; at the symposium, the Slovenian contributions were presented in Slovenian, and guests from abroad were able to follow them with the help of English summaries and computer presentations. The first group of articles addresses the social role of the folk song one hundred years ago; some of these seek parallels with the present, and others draw comparisons with the past. The second group comprises contributions that, on the one hand, examine the role of technological possibilities for capturing and preserving sound and song and, on the other hand, utilize the most modern technological solutions for creating databases to seek the most effective way to return song and melody to the people. The third group comprises the most diverse articles, which address the role and image of folk song, music, and dance today from various perspectives. They range from the function and esthetics of folk tonality to issues and dilemmas of modern music performance, and of modern research at the same time. In the interval between the local and the global, folk song and its research receive new meaning.
The set of articles connected under the rubric The Folk Song As a Social Challenge and brought together in this issue of Traditiones is therefore a contribution to reflections on a heritage that we have received and are creating at the same time. It is a reflection on a society that began to build bridges through folk song a century ago. Today these bridges, constructed differently from how they were initially started, represent a new challenge. This symposium has helped drawn attention to these bridges as a memory of song, and as song about memory of the past and present.
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The contributions conclude with a brief presentation of the life and work of a very productive member of the Institute of Ethnomusicology, the ethnochoreologist Mirko Ramovš. We wished to celebrate not only his seventieth birthday, but also the impact that his work has had in Slovenia and abroad. At the same time, the scope represented by the other contributions to this volume is also included within his areas of research. His work brings him close to the ideas engendered one hundred years ago in the large-scale collection project The Folk Song in Austria: as an ethnochoreologist he has and continues to research the history and development of dance heritage in Slovenia, its place in the heritage of the European nations, and its modern transformation. As a choreographer, he has constantly
been engaged with the revitalization of dance heritage and with reconstructions of its former likeness. We are grateful to him that he has also used this opportunity to help present a part of Slovenian folk culture to other nations through the universal language of the body.