Social descent and the songs' repertoire on the Polish-Lithuanian borderlands

Juzala-Deprati, Gustaw

doi:0137-4079

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Title: Social descent and the songs' repertoire on the Polish-Lithuanian borderlands

Abstract:

Polish-Lithuanian borderlands are characterized by their great ethnic and linguistic differences and also a well-preserved historical consciousness of their inhabitants. In the territories of the Polish-Lithuanian borderlands in the Kaunas region and Polish-Lithuanian-Byelorussian borderlands in the Vilnius region, it is possible to observe recollections of the old social stratification that included peasantry and yeomanry. Old inhabitants of the villages remember very well, until today, which villages were inhabited by yeomanry or by peasantry in the past. As known from historical research and relations of the interviewees, the yeomen seldom distinguished themselves from the peasants by their economic status and wealth, but they did set themselves apart by pride, sometimes with a bit of pretentiousness, and an extreme awareness of the language they spoke. They were carefully preserving a form of Polish language, very close to literary Polish. Traces of social stratification for the peasantry and yeomanry are especially visible in the musical culture of those regions, in the choice of the language and song repertoire that they consider to belong to their group. The yeomen performers consider as their own historical, patriotic and national songs, which are always sung in Polish. Among the peasant singers we found a repertoire of songs about family ceremonies, annual rituals, and every day work that are sung in Polish, Lithuanian and Byelorussian

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