Regilaul kontserdirepresentatsioonis: pärand ja kultuurikirjeldus

Abstract

Traditional music festival in Viljandi is the most eminent output of the Viljandi traditional music revival movement. The movement is characterized by significant coherence of ideology. The material of the thesis stems from festival concert talk, in which regilaul world (archaic song tradition) is introduced, and which the author analyses within the festival paradigm and as a performance in a music event. The introductions of regilaul pieces in concert are similar in equipment and structure and they also share a common narrative meta level. This thesis analyses the “ethnography” which is constructed of concert talk by musicians. The author analyses which cultural “facts” the ethnography is made of, where the “truth” lies and how the authority around the truth is developed. Although the selected cultural aspects contribute to the modern comprehension of folklore (i.e. the selection helps to “traditionalize” the material); the ethnography as a whole lies in the sphere of post-modernity. The grand narrative concerning the loss of folklore and “salvation” is replaced by the story of revival and remembering: regilaul pieces are a part of an ongoing dynamic process. The cultural aspects of regilaul world are stemming from past, but the meaning of song pieces is situated in present. The meaning of regilaul lies in an inter-textual act, where the constructed cultural and historical Other and contemporary world meet. Between these two sign systems links will be provided by human experience and language. In this way the festival concerts are acting as a broad discussion field, where the text, performer and audience will participate in building meanings.