Chilean Guitar Music: Modern Reconstructions of Genre Traditions

The relevance of the article is to deepen the analytical aspect of knowledge about Chilean guitar music of the second half of the 20th — early 21st centuries in the context of the reconstruction of genre traditions on the example of works by Juan Antonio Sanchez, Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt, Javier Contreras. Main objective of the study is to identify the leading genre traditions of Chilean guitar music and reveal their modern reconstructions in the works of famous authors. The methodology includes methods of historical, cultural, comparative, phenomenological, as well as structural and functional analysis (for a contextual consideration of the creative activities of composers, the study of genre and stylistic elements of the Chilean traditions of folk music, professional-academic and non-academic origin in their influence on European genre models). Results and conclusions. The cultural and historical environment of the formation and development of the Chilean academic guitar repertoire of the second half of the 20th — early 21st centuries is characterized, the links with the performing achievements of domestic virtuosos are determined. The work of composers Juan Antonio Sanchez, Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt, Javier Contreras is considered in the discourse of modern processes of reconstruction of traditions, approbation of innovative methods and techniques of writing of the European avant-garde, use of the resources of American non-academic art. The national genre roots of thematic phenomena have been identified in the process of studying music scores and audio recordings of works, which go back to the primary authentic layers and influence musical vocabulary, creating the foundation of its national identity: Creole cueca, tonada with Iberian origins and hemiole rhythmic archetypes, in particular, in the Sonata for guitar by H. Sanchez; elements of the Araucanian ritual chants of the indigenous Mapuche population in the Fourth Sonata by G. Becerra-Schmidt, as well as the rhythmic formula of the Afro-Brazilian batukada in the finale of the Third Sonata by G. Becerra-Schmidt. It was found that secondary genre and style layers are formed in line with European concert genres: sonatas, concerts, cycles, the compositional and dramatic profile of which changes under the influence of the organic nature of the musical material, its transcultural ethnic ties. Jazz and fusion music-making with elements of the Chilean musical is defined as an equally important genre-style resource. The interferential nature of the inheritance of the authentic cueca tradition through its modern versions created by the legendary Violeta Parra leads to targeted citations, allusions in modern guitar works. Analytically substantiated are the conclusions that thanks to the numerous mosaic carnival contrasts, the abundance of colorful ethno-genre mixtures of Iberian, Indian, African American folklore, to which it is possible to connect the poetics of fusion or experimental percussion techniques of sound production, the originality of the modern Chilean reconstruction of ancient traditions is formed. Such syntheses are due to the internal cultural and historical situation and artistic processes that take place on both sides of the Atlantic.

Justice Model in Latin American Folklore

The present epoch is the time of intense international communication. Effective interaction of ethnicities demands, however, to construct the dialogue of cultures on the basis of justice. Moreover, we argue that local justice models need to take priority over the international justice model. Local justice models are reflected in folklore. In this article, we analyze Colombian, Peruvian, Venezuelan, and Bolivian ethnic tales of justice. The purpose of our research is to reveal and systematize justice models in Latin American folklore including contextual, general, private, evolutionary, demographic, historical, divine, ecological, restorative, formal, selective, procedural, and other justice models.

The theory of the "four functions of folklore" in world folklore studies

Research in the field of philological science is primarily closely related to text recognition. The search and comprehensive research in this direction marked the beginning of the emergence of new views and judgments, theories and research methods. One of them, that is, the theory of the “Four Functions of Folklore", as a native point of view on the differentiation of texts of oral folk art. His birth was caused by the conclusion of a scientist named B. K. Malinowski in the early twentieth century and the opinion of anthropologists. Then, 20-30 years later, his conclusion became a theory and was proposed as a new method of studying the folklore text. The first person who raised this topic was an American folklore scholar – William Bascom in 1953-1954. Since then, this topic has been actively discussed among scientists-members of the "Society of American Folklore" the results of the study were published in the scientific publication "Journal of American Folklore". The scientist W. Bascom, generalizing the texts of oral folk art, studies its place in the life of the people. As a result, four main functions of the folklore text are distinguished: protection of traditions, customs, education and upbringing, support for going beyond the established views. It was formed as a theory and already then began to be used in scientific research and educational programs. This topic will be studied by Turkish scientists after the 2000s and included in the content of education. Such views have been mentioned in the works of Kazakh scientists since the beginning of the twentieth century, although it is not called "the four functions of folklore". However, due to the lack of close relations between American and Soviet scientists, many research works were ignored. Therefore, this article discusses the theory of the" four functions of folklore", the history of its origin and study. For this purpose, the research of B. K. Malinowski, who first expressed his opinion on the topic, and W. Bascom, who justified the theory and the work of other scientists, are taken as a basis. The issues related to this topic are reasoned by the opinion of Kazakh scientists. As a result of the study, the four functions of folklore voiced by the scientist U. Bask are comprehensively shown, its connections with Kazakh folklore are differentiated. This, in turn, will allow us to study samples of oral Kazakh folk art within the framework of new humanitarian knowledge and on the basis of world scientific relations. In addition, it can be used in the training of industry specialists.

Seventh Forum on China-US Folklore and Intangible Cultural Heritage

A project report chronicles the Seventh Forum on China US Folklore and Intangible Cultural Heritage held on May 19–22, 2019 in Being, China. Organized within a binational cooperation project of the American Folklore Society and the China Folklore Society, the theme of the forum was Collaborative Work in Museum Folklore and Heritage Studies. In the report, some contexts for the gathering are noted, participants and organizations represented are discussed, and some general themes emerging from the conference are identified.

“I Know Just How He Feels”

This essay is written in the ethnographic present. It is based on research in South Carolina carried out in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the cooperation and consent of the residents of the John’s Island Community. All lines from the games and songs were sung during the presentation October 18, 2019, 2:30 P.M. at the American Folklore Society Annual Meeting in Baltimore, MD. The description of the Vulture’s gait and the Ranky Tanky body shake were demonstrated.

Introduction to the Special Issue “The Challenge of Folklore to the Humanities”

Five and a half decades ago, when Stith Thomson was the doyen of American folklore studies, he published his essay “The Challenge of Folklore” in PMLA, a leading journal of the Humanities (Thompson 1964) [...]

MODELS OF JUSTICE IN AMERICAN FOLKLORE

The relevance of the study is that the models of justice in American folklore have never been considered. This work aims at revealing the peculiarities and content of the concept of justice in American folklore and since the American folklore has been made up of the folklore of various ethno-social groups that make up American society, this study aims at revealing the semantic differences in the models of justice of the different races, ethnicities, and cultures that comprise the USA. The research was carried out within the framework of philosophical comparativism, while the approach was analytical-deductive and comparative-historical. The methodological basis of the study was the principle of identifying differences in similarities. I used the method of critical selection of sources as well as the method of content analysis of tales, myths and legends of the largest American ethnic and racial groups, namely Native Americans, African Americans, and European immigrants. The results of the study demonstrate differences in the content of the models of justice of different American ethnic and social groups. The analysis allowed me to create a general formula for the American justice model and the functions of justice in society. This work provides a better understanding of the thinking and worldview of American social groups and American society as a whole. The scientific novelty of the study is the identification of the contents of models of justice in a multi-ethnic American society. The practical significance of the results is that they can and should be applied in the dialogue of cultures. In further research, it is necessary to continue studying the models of justice of different ethnic and social groups and to determine the optimal interethnic models of interaction based on justice.

1965

By narrowing the focus to the major events and happenings involving Bolivian musical folklorization that occurred in 1965 (e.g., Bolivian folklore delegation’s unexpected success at Argentina’s First Latin American Folklore Festival, the expansion of the local recording industry, the Bolivian state’s increased support for cultural tourism), and explaining the ways in which the Barrientos-Ovando administration’s populism resembled the approaches of the recently ousted MNR governments, this chapter sheds light on the intertwined local and translocal factors that made this year such a pivotal conjuncture for Bolivia’s folkloric music movement. It also reveals that by 1965 the conditions were strongly favorable in La Paz city and other Bolivian metropolitan centers (especially Cochabamba) for the rise to stardom of a locally based criollo-mestizo folklore band whose performance practices foregrounded signifiers of Andean indigeneity, a niche that the band Los Jairas would fill the following year.