About Studying the Traditional Singing Tradition of the Vepsians in the Context of Cognitive Ethnomusicology
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Abstract
The article presents an attempt of studying the singing tradition of the Vepsians from the
standpoint of cognitive ethnomusicology. This direction, represented in our days by publications
in Russian ethnomusicology amounting in the single digits, is analyzed from the standpoint of the
development of Boris Asafiev’s theory of intonation. In relation to ethnomusicology, in light of
the cognitive paradigm, an artistic text is comprehended as a complex symbol which expresses the
ethnophor’s knowledge of reality, embodied in traditional art works as an individual worldview
represented by means of sound. The Vepsian folk music tradition is remarkable and authentic. It is
represented by works of various genres: lyrical songs; wedding, funereal and recruit lamentations,
calendar chants, lullabies, spells, ditties, fairy tales, etc. Upon acquaintance with the tradition,
researchers have their interest aroused primarily by the unusual character of the sound of the
Vepsian songs. The ethnic music of the Vepsian people, which is an extremely interesting but an
under-investigated phenomenon, is based on the peculiarities of the ethnogenesis, geographical
location and historical and cultural specificity. The Vepsians are one of the most ancient peoples
of the European North. Scientists link their origin to the Vesi and Chudi tribes, which were first
mentioned in historical records as far back as the middle of the 6th century. Thereby, already in the
1st half of the 1st millennium, these tribes have inhabited the Mezhozerye [Region between the
Lakes] – the area between the three largest northern lakes – Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega and Lake
Beloye. Currently, the territory of the traditional settlement of the Vepsians occupies a narrow strip
along Lake Onega and the central part of the Mezhozerye. Application of a cognitive approach to
the Vepsian ethnic musical material has made it possible to identify the semantically important
correlation between timbre and intonation in the process of the formation of the artistic chronotope.
Keywords: cognitive ethnomusicology, studies of Finno-Ugric music, ethnic music, Vepsians,
traditional singing, intonation, acoustic analysis, pitch, timbre, articulation.
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