Vepsäläiset lühüdpajot: perusrakenteet, esityskäytännöt ja tyylillinen muutos

Abstract

Jari Eerolan väitöskirja – Vepsäläiset lühüdpajot: perusrakenteet, esityskäytännöt ja tyylillinen muutos – käsittelee vepsäläisten suulliseen perinteeseen perustuvien laulujen ominaispiirteitä.

Väitöskirjassaan Eerola selvittää laulujen metrisiä rakenteita, melodioiden musiikillisia piirteitä, äänenmuodostusta sekä vepsäläisen tutkimusperinteen historiaa. Työn tutkimusaineisto jakautuu kahteen ajanjaksoon.

Ensimmäinen koostuu vuosina 1916–1918 E. N. Setälän ja A. O. Väisäsen sekä Lauri Kettusen etelä- ja keskivepsäläisten asuinalueilla tallentamista äänitteistä.

Toinen ajanjakso sisältää Eerolan itsensä vuosina 2000-2003 lähes tulkoon samoilta seuduilta tekemistä äänitteistä. Vepsäläisten kieli on kiinnostanut etenkin suomalaisia kielentutkijoita jo kauan, sillä vepsä on suomen lähisukukieli. Vepsäläistä musiikkia sitä vastoin ei ole tutkittu juuri laisinkaan. Tällä hetkellä vepsäläisiä on arvioiden mukaan noin 6000. Näistä vain 10 % osaa vepsää. Tästä syystä vepsänkielisiä lauluja voidaan pitää katoavana kansanperinteenä.

The Vepsian Lühüdpajods: Its Basic Structure, Performance Practices and Stylistic Changes.

The purpose of my thesis is to give a thorough treatment of the musical aspects of the middle and southern Vepsian’s oral tradition. My work concentrates on lühüdpajods characteristics, performance practices and stylistic changes, which can be detected by comparing recordings dating from the 20th to those made in the 21st century. My foremost aim is to explain the changes that have taken place in the Vepsian music culture: how the lühüdpajods songs have developed in time and what has been the position of the songs in their historical context, and what have been the changes in this traditional folk music in question. The different aspects of my work are also connected to more general discussion of how to describe, notate and research music that is based on an oral tradition.

My dissertation consists of a preface, conclusion and five articles. In the introduction I present the background of my work and introduce the research materials in detail. In the first article, I explore the first Finnish researcher’s work on Vepsian Music culture. In the second article I discuss the poetic metre of the lühüdpajod, and in the third the problems of notating the Vepsian music and the duration of syllables. In the fourth article I analyse the melody of lühüdpajod, and in the final fifth article I explain aspects of voice training in the context of lühüdpajod.

The work is cross-scientific: I have applied methods used in musicology, linguistics and speech science. The emphasis is in the study of the musical aspects. I divide the analysed music into two different categories based on two time periods: the first period includes the years between 1916–1918 and the second years 2000–2003. The first period consists of material, which E. N. Setälä and A. O. Väisänen and Lauri Kettunen recorded during their fieldwork in midland and southern Vepsian areas. These recordings were made for linguistics purpose, and they consist of archived recordings as well as published and non-published literary material.

The latter period consists of my own field recordings, which were recorded mostly in the same areas the previous researchers had visited; this material consists of recordings, videos, photos and my field notes.

In general, the women have been the performers of lühüdpajod. This conclusion can be drawn already from earlier researchers’ journals and research material. Based on my interviews, men have sometimes sung lühüdpajod songs but for a long time they have been singing in Russian and preferred Russian songs. Most of the informants revealed that they have learned the songs from their parents, usually from their mothers. Many have also said that they have heard other people singing those songs in the villages and in this way they have been engraved in their minds.

Earlier researchers’ interests were only language based and most of them were concerned about the language changing from Vepsian to the Russian language. In early writings music was not given much attention, as the early researchers were exclusively linguists. The purpose of the metrical analysis in my research was to explain the relationship between the poems of the songs and their performance. In my analysis I came to the conclusion that the metric system of the poems allow the variation only in the last verse of the song. The metre is ruling over other parameters in songs. Often the singers vary the end of the verses by extending the last syllables.

The lengthening of the last tone can continue to the second bar. The duration of the lühüdpajod is short as the name suggests. The length varies from 8 to 20 seconds. The musical form is mostly in ABAB structure. A typical song consists of five tones, and the musical curve is descending. It is possible to divide lühüdpajod into two different performing practices, quick and slow. The slower ones are sung usually during work. The quicker ones can be sung in almost any situation. The vocal technique of the quicker ones can be described as shouting and squeezed. The intensity is preserved from beginning to end. In comparison the intensity of the slower songs is descending until the end. The future of Vepsian songs is strictly connected to those who are proficient in the Vepsian language. The language is classified as an endangered language, and so is the lühüdpajod as a form of tradition. If the masters of the Vepsian language disappear so will the Vepsian song tradition.