Folk group: famous groups and their characteristics

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Why does the music of folklore groups inspire a person? The use of national traditions, soulful performance and a return to the roots allow listeners and viewers to feel the creativity of such folk groups with all their depth. We offer a brief overview of the most famous and most interesting ensembles.

Characteristics of the folk group

A folk ensemble differs from any other musical group in the introduction of the creative traditions of its indigenous people, but there are exceptions. The main characteristic features are the use of folk (or author's, stylized as such) works in the repertoire, the inclusion of rare national instruments, as well as traditional costumes and other elements.

In this article we will talk about the most famous folk groups in Russia. We will also make a brief overview of the most notable and significant folk groups in other countries.

Kuban Cossack choir

Folk group, withwhich I would like to start the story, this is the famous Kuban Cossack choir. This is a truly unique ensemble, because its continuous work has been carried out since 1811. Of course, many generations of participants have changed over the more than 200 years of the choir's existence, but the collective is still faithful to the traditions of Cossack songs and dances.

The artistic director and chief conductor of the ensemble, which includes 130 professional dancers and singers, since 1974 has been People's Artist of Russia Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko.

Kalevala

This team was formed in Moscow in 2007. The repertoire of Russia's most famous folklore rock group consists of Cossack folk songs, reworked Slavic motifs, compositions based on the translation of the national Karelian-Finnish epic Kalevala, after which the musicians named their band. The group's permanent instrumental line-up includes guitar, keyboards, drums, harp, bass guitar and button accordion, and occasional bagpipes, flute, hurdy-gurdy and cello.

Above you can see the band's video for the song "I'll sing you the best song", which was just made up of excerpts from the epic "Kalevala".

Buranovskiye grandmothers

The folklore ensemble "Buranovskiye Babushki" was founded in 2000 by ordinary talented elderly women, native Udmurts from the village of Buranovo. Their repertoire includes folk vocalworks, as well as classical rock and pop compositions of the world stage translated (most often freely) into the Udmurt language. The performance of the folklore group at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, where the representatives of Russia took second place, brought world fame to "Buranovskiye grandmothers". You can watch the famous performance below.

Gaigi Weigel

Another historical folklore group famous for its long history is the Gaigi Vaigel ensemble, which means "Sounding voice" in Mordovian Erzya. This a cappella musical women's choir was founded in 1953. To this day, it preserves the national culture of the Mordovian ethnic group called the Erzyans. An interesting fact: two singers from the very first composition take part in the composition of "Gaiga Weigel".

Golden Ring

One of the most famous modern folk groups performing in the pop genre is the ensemble of Nadezhda Kadysheva "Golden Ring", which has existed since 1988. The repertoire includes both folk compositions and author's compositions created in a pseudo-folk style. In 2001, the band received a prize in the nomination "Folk Group of the Year" at the Russian music award "Ovation".

Ivan Kupala

One of the very first neo-folk groups in Russia wasthe collective "Ivan Kupala", which combines electronic dance music and real folk texts and melodies taken from the materials of ethnographic expeditions of the 70-80s. The compositions of the group "Kostroma", "Kolyada", "Eyebrows", "Svatochki" gained mass popularity. The birthplace of the team is the city of St. Petersburg.

Dmitry Pokrovsky Ensemble

The folklore ensemble, created in 1973 by the experimental musician Dmitry Pokrovsky, remains a unique project in our time, equal to which in terms of professionalism and depth of penetration into the original Russian musical traditions simply does not exist. The Russian composer Anton Batagov described the band's creative legacy as follows:

If someone from another country, who has never been here, needs to be explained what Russia is (not about elections and sausage, democrats and communists, but in essence), you can just listen to the disc of the Pokrovsky ensemble and talk nothing else needed.

Dmitry Viktorovich Pokrovsky himself, who was the main ideological inspirer, artistic director and conductor, passed away in 1996, but his ensemble continues to exist under the direction of Maria Nefedova and Olga Yukecheva.

Krinitsa

A relatively young ensemble of Cossack music consists of 20 talented artists, each of whom is both a musician, vocalist and dancer"Krinitsa", founded in Krasnodar in 1994. The group's repertoire includes exclusively authentic Kuban and Cossack folk songs, as well as accompanying dances and game show elements. The instrumental component of "Krinitsa": two solo balalaikas, a double bass balalaika, two button accordions and various percussion and percussion instruments.

Screams of Vidoplyasov

Another folk group in the rock genre, without which this list would be incomplete, is the Soviet-Ukrainian group "Voply Vidoplyasova", which has existed since 1987. Under the direction and creativity of the permanent leader of the group Oleg Skrypka, this ensemble became the first to perform rock music in the Ukrainian language. The repertoire of "Vopley Vidoplyasov" includes both folk Ukrainian compositions and author's compositions stylized as folklore.

Russian song

Another popular folklore ensemble of the genre under consideration is the musical theater "Russian Song", the soloist, leader and head of which is the people's artist Nadezhda Babkina. The team was founded in 1974. The creative direction of "Russian Song" is a vocal, often a cappella performance of folk and stylized compositions, accompanied by simple dance sketches and theatrical elements.

Above is a video with the performance of Nadezhda Babkina and the ensemble"Russian song" of the composition "It's not the wind that bends the branch."

Azure color

Among Russian children's folk groups, this unique ensemble, created in Voronezh in 1999, stands apart.

The "Azure Color" includes five groups of performers: preparatory (do not perform, age up to 6 years old), junior (6-9 years old), middle (10-13 years old), senior (14-17 years old) and youth (18-20 years old). The creative repertoire of the group consists of both authentic songs, ditties and carols, as well as author's compositions written on the basis of folk poems.

Siberian Folk Choir

Founded in 1945 in the Novosibirsk region, the Siberian folk choir is the oldest of those founded in Russia (after the Kuban Cossack). The ensemble consists of 80 people. These are professional musicians, vocalists and dancers who perform exclusively Russian folk songs both in authentic and in the author's orchestral arrangement. The participants and leaders of the Siberian Folk Choir themselves describe their activities as follows:

Preservation of age-old harmony through the development of Russian traditional art and the transmission of its best examples in the modern community.

You can watch the brilliantly performed musical and choreographic composition "Sartlanskaya Translate" performed by the Siberian Choir on the video below.

Baba Yaga

Not just a folk group performing Russianfolk music in rock processing, and the Baba Yaga ensemble is international. It was founded by Russian, Irish and Hungarian musicians on the island of Sicily in 1989. The harmonious use of the most unusual ethnic instruments, as well as the Irish and Hungarian take on familiar Russian melodies, make the Baba Yaga ensemble a unique phenomenon in the world of international folk culture.

Volga Folk Choir

Along with the Kuban Cossack and Siberian, the Volga folk choir occupies an important position in the territorial offshoot of the general concept of Russian folklore. The team was founded in Samara in 1952. The repertoire of the Volga Choir includes full-fledged theatrical programs, including a plot combination of various folk songs, original Volga creativity and authentic dances.

Zdob și Zdub

Another folk group playing in the rock genre is Zdob si Zdub, founded in Chisinau (Moldova) in 1994. Performing author's, folk and mixed type songs in a combination of Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian and English languages, this group is an excellent example of an appropriate multicultural intricacies. This is similar to how folk art itself, passing from mouth to mouth, is modified, transferred from one language to another and becomes an element not of national, but of international folklore.

The No Smoking Orchestra

Serbian band The No Smoking Orchestra,completing this list of the most interesting folk ensembles, is interesting for the active participation in it of Emir Kusturica, the famous Yugoslav director. The group was founded in 1980. The No Smoking Orchestra's repertoire includes folk and original compositions, arranged exclusively in the style of Balkan and Yugoslav folk music. The songs are performed in Serbian and English, but with occasional inclusions of Russian.