We are pleased to announce Etnomuzykologia Polska’s (Eng: Polish Ethnomusicolog’s) sixth issue titled, “(Re)eMigration. Familiarizing the Other – a Challenge or Burden for Modern Ethnomusicology?”. It is the fruit of the tenth, jubilee National Ethnomusicological Seminar, which took place in Warsaw in 2024.
From the Editorial Team
2024 was a particularly meaningful year for Polskie Seminarium Etnomuzykologiczne (Eng: Polish Ethnomusicological Seminar) because it occasioned the tenth, jubilee iteration of our National Ethnomusicological Seminar, a unique event that brought together researchers, practitioners and lovers of traditional music from across Poland and abroad. The seminar was titled, “(Re)eMigration. Familiarizing the Other – a Challenge or Burden for Modern Ethnomusicology?” and allowed participants the opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues. Both the presentations, as well as the discussions around them, gave rise to Etnomuzykologia Polska’s (Eng: Polish Ethnomusicology’s) sixth issue by the same name as the April seminar and containing eight fascinating articles.
The first of these, by Arleta Nawrocka-Wysocka, titled “Music and Migration as a Challenge for Ethnomusicology in the 20th and 21st century,” is a summary and critical review of research concepts developed in the field of ethnomusicology pertaining to migration. Nawrocka-Wysocka briefly describes the history and evolution of research on music and migration, and analyzes the changes in approaches to terms such as “diaspora,” “cultural identity,” “multiculturalism,” “hybridization,” as well as the “us vs. other” relationship.
The second article is a typical case study – Krzysztof Hliniak discusses the results of his research on the dance practices of national and ethnic minorities from Kraków and the Małopolska Voivodeship. In his article titled, “Immigration, Emigration, Resettlement. Population Movement and the Heritage and Dance Practice of Selected National and Ethnic Groups Living in Kraków and the Małopolska Voivodeship,” Hliniak focuses on Slovaks, Jews, Lemkos, Roma, Belarusians, and Ukrainians, and mentions migrants from more distant territories, such as India. The text contains various quotes from minority representatives, which perfectly depict their diverse approaches to their dance heritage.
“Comparative Notes Regarding Polish and Ukrainian Ethnomusicology” by Piotr Dahlig offers a cross-section that serves as an excellent source for further historical research regarding the similarities and differences between Polish and Ukrainian ethnomusicological work. Based on a very wide range of literature, Dahlig’s analysis both identifies the cause of selected phenomena and their consequences. The article’s in-depth bibliography is an asset in and of itself and will certainly prove a useful aid for researchers dealing with musical traditions in Poland and Ukraine, as well as their migrations.
Fourth is Tomasz Nowak’s article “Between Trauma and Nostalgia – Music as a Medium for Lemko Social Strategy in the First Years Following the Resettlement of 1947,” in which he analyzes attitudes toward musical traditions contained in memoirs published by Lemkos who were forcibly resettled as a part of Operation Vistula. The article addresses issues such as the desire and ability to practice these musical traditions in a new environment and society. Nowak further cites various examples demonstrating markedly different approaches to native music – from the complete neglect of musicking and singing to their utilization as therapy amidst the harsh realities of resettlement.
By contrast to the first four, Dorota Majerczy’s article focuses on an individual, the Roma musician Marek Rikardo Czureja. Using an interview she conducted with Czureja, which serves as the article’s foundation, she describes the importance of music at various stages of his life and his relationships with other musicians, while also citing descriptions by those around him to cast his persona in a broader light.
Agnieszka Jeż’s article, “Identity on the Road. The Image of the Aliyah in the Songs of the Land of Israel”, concerns an entirely different group, namely Jews and their migration. The author analyzes the manner in which aliyah, meaning journey or transformation, is represented in songs arising from 1882 onward, documenting Zionist settlement in Palestine, political propaganda and, above all, the sentiments of Jews searching for Israel’s promise of a new land and a better life.
“Selected Singing Traditions of the Dalmatian Serbs – as exemplified by the Village of Žegar in Northern Dalmatia” is an article by two researchers and practitioners, Kacper Siejkowski and Zofia Zaborowska. They discuss coexisting singing styles in Žegar, an old and a new, which they got to know not only by listening to and recording local singers but also by learning different songs and participating in their performance.
This journal’s issue is closed by an article titled, “Nationwide Children’s Folkloric Creativity Festival ‘Dziecko w Folklorze’ in Baranów Sandomierski as an Example of Cultivating and Propagating Native Musical Traditions” by Kinga Strycharz-Bogacz. Therein, she describes how the festival’s formula itself has evolved, as well as the pros and cons of organizing similar events from the perspective of transmitting and preserving local musical cultures tied to children and childhood.
The articles contained in this issue address a broad spectrum of diverse topics relating to the migration of communities, individuals and musical repertoires. These processes, though typically rooted in historical conditions, can be observed today and constitute a current research problem. Getting to know these processes in greater depth allows us to better understand the contemporary condition of select communities and the decisions made by musicians and singers.
We hope that in our reader’s hands these articles will not only offer new knowledge, but also provide a source of inspiration for personal investigation and the exploration of similar topics of interest.
On behalf of the Editorial Team,
Maria Szymańska-Ilnata
Download the entire issue
SUMMARIES
Music and Migration as a Research Challenge for Ethnomusicology
in the 20th and 21st Centuries
Arleta Nawrocka-Wysocka
Summary
The aim of the article is to indicate and organize the basic problems related to research on music and migration. Contemporary research requires reformulation of basic concepts taken from social sciences, such as diaspora and cultural identity. Understanding these terms is conditioned by two intellectual concepts dominant in science, methodological nationalism and transnationalism, which also determine the perspective of perceiving the „other” and situating it within one’s own culture. The article characterizes the most important research concepts related to music and migration in ethnomusicological research: from urban ethnomusicology and minority studies to a method based on active cooperation known as Participatory Action Research (PAR) used in applied ethnomusicology. The article is a review of basic foreign-language literature, which discusses problems occurring at the interface of music and migration.
Keywords: migration, ethnomusicology, diaspora, methodological nationalism, cultural identity
Immigration, Emigration, Resettlement: Population Movements and the Dance Heritage and Practice of Selected National and Ethnic Groups Living in Kraków and the Małopolska Region
Krzysztof Hliniak
Summary
The 20th century and early 21st centuries witnessed unprecedented population shifts in Poland, specifically in Kraków and the surrounding region. Among the various nationalities and ethnic groups residing there were Jews, Lemkos, Ukrainians, Armenians, Roma, and more recently, Belarusians. Each minority group experienced distinct trajectories because of these movements, which is clear in the significant impact on their respective dance practices and cultural heritage.
This essay presents some of the findings from a research study on dance as intangible cultural heritage of selected national and ethnic groups in Krakow and the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. This study was conducted as part of a doctoral dissertation at the Department of Comparative Studies of Civilizations at Jagiellonian University, under the supervision of Tomasz Nowak (University of Warsaw) and Wojciech Klimczyk (Jagiellonian University).
In interviews conducted for this study, a considerable number of participants emphasized the negative consequences of emigration, immigration, resettlement, and population displacement on their respective dance heritages. These processes often led to partial or complete loss of their dance traditions. For instance, in the case of the Jewish community, traditional Jewish dance as it was practiced prior to World War II disappeared, only to be replaced by the adoption of Israeli dance forms. Ukrainians, lacking a local dance heritage to draw upon, turned to the dance traditions of Ukraine as a reference. On the other hand, the dispersed Lemko community in Poland has been striving to revive the dance heritage of the old Lemko region.
Interestingly, temporary emigration to Slovakia appears to contribute to efforts to preserve the dance heritage of the Slovak community in Poland. Similarly, immigrants from Armenia and Belarus, who have arrived in Poland in recent years, have made significant efforts to preserve the dance traditions of their respective countries of origin. Conversely, the emigration of the Roma population from Poland has resulted in a decline in their local dance heritage.
The impact of historical and contemporary population movements on dance heritage is undoubtedly significant, although assessing proves unequivocally challenging. Such movements have led to the borrowing, revitalization, and reconstruction of dance repertoires, showcasing the complex and dynamic nature of cultural exchange and adaptation.
Keywords: intangible cultural heritage, Kraków, national and ethnic minorities, dance, folklore groups
Comparative Remarks on Polish and Ukrainian Ethnomusicology
Piotr Dahlig
Summary
The article presents similarities of studies on ethnic music in both countries in the 20th and 21st centuries. Chronologically, the discipline has emerged in Ukraine earlier than in Poland (as shown in the table) due to the early use of the Edison phonograph in field research since the end of the 19th century. In 1928, Klyment Kvitka defined “ethno-musicology” as an analysis and typology of oral tradition to deepen the national consciousness. The Ukrainians treated vocal repertoire as a “culture in music” whereas the Anglo-Saxon concept of ethnomusicology developed since the 1950s by Jaap Kunst and other Western ethnomusicologists defined the field as “music in culture.” Polish ethnomusicologists who used the term ethnomusicology since 1934 were somewhere in between both profiles. The following notions concerning the development of ethnomusicology in Poland and Ukraine are compared: 1. Conceptualizing ethnomusicology, distribution of the term; 2. History of phonograph-aided research; 3. Transcription, analysis, and typology of folk songs; the study of regional, local, and individual musical repertories; 4. The ethnogenesis of Slavs, studies on narrow range melodies such as “ładkanka” in the Polish-Ukrainian borderland; 5. The specific regions of Hutzuls and Polessje – common Polish-Ukrainian field research since 1932; 6. Institutionally-based efforts to collect folk songs; 7. Contributions and monographs about traditional ethnic music in both countries; 8. An ethnic borderland as a cultural problem; 9. Musical instruments, such as simple aerophones, hurdy gurdy, and dulcimer typical of both countries. 10. Musical mapping of types of songs and their rhythmic, melodic, and textual features. This comparative contribution confirms that Alan Merriam was right when he wrote that cultures and traditions of neighboring countries present favorable conditions for comparative research.
Keywords: ethnomusicology, comparative musicology, Polish-Ukrainian music relations, music traditions on cultural borderlands
Between Trauma and Nostalgia. Music as a Medium of Social Strategies of the Lemkos in the Early Years after the 1947 Resettlement
Tomasz Nowak
Summary
This text examines the role of music in the social strategies of the Lemkos after their forced resettlement as part of Operation Vistula in 1947. Specifically, the author analyzes how music was part of the strategies of relinquishing external signs of identity, countering dispersion, and equalizing civilizational differences. The issue of the role of music in working through the trauma of forced displacement and the need to adapt in a hostile environment using the strategy of nostalgia is also discussed. The article draws on memoir publications, especially those published after 1989. It also emphasizes the importance of research on personal documents in the context of ethnomusicology
Keywords: Lemkos, operation „Vistula,” trauma, music, social strategies, nostalgia.
Marek Rikardo Czureja – an Outstanding Romani Violinist from Spisz
Dorota Majerczyk
Summary
The article is dedicated to the outstanding Romani violinist Marek Rikardo Czureja, born and raised in Niedzica in the Polish region of Spisz, whose life circumstances forced him to emigrate. It is uncertain whether he will ever return to Poland, especially since for his children and grandchildren, the United Kingdom has become their new homeland. For now, there remain memories of the 1980s and 1990s, when Marek Czureja’s violin playing, singing, and dancing captivated audiences not only in the Podtatrze region but also in various parts of Poland.
Keywords: Marek Czureja, Emigration, Romani people, Podhale, musical bands, Spisz
Identity on the Move: The Image of Aliyah in the Songs of the Land of Israel
Agnieszka Jeż
Summary
The article discusses the issue of the transformation of Jewish identity under the influence of Zionist ideology and in the face of emigration to Palestine, as well as the reflection of such in selected songs. The song repertoire in Hebrew, which emerges from Zionist-oriented Jews of the diaspora, was intended to support the new national identity of the Jewish community centered around the spiritual capital of Jerusalem and the Land of Israel as the place for building a national Jewish home in Palestine. Aliyah occupies a special place in this repertoire, presented within a rich context of references to tradition. The lyrics of the songs reveal a picture not only of emigration, but also of the internal transformation that future settlers in Palestine had to be ready for.
Keywords: zionism, identity, songs, Israel, aliyah
Selected Singing Traditions of the Dalmatian Serbs – A Case Study of the Village of Žegar in Northern Dalmatia
Kacper Siejkowski, Zofia Zaborowska
Summary
The study of Dalmatian Serb singing traditions in Žegar, northern Dalmatia, meticulously examines the musical heritage of this community. Research conducted in 2018 has revealed unique songs and vocal techniques integral to daily life and traditional rituals in Bukovica. Despite being a small Orthodox Serb community displaced by Balkan conflicts, they have preserved songs dating back to the 12th century when Serbs settled in northern Dalmatia. Žegar, now with only 200 residents, was once a significant hub of Serbian musical culture, fostering renowned singers and instrument makers. Field research documented around 75 compositions, including pastoral, epic, and ritual songs. Eighteen are archived in Balkan Polyphony, and nine appear on the Łada ensemble’s album. The local singing tradition in Žegar encompasses two styles: old, featuring dissonant intervals typical for duet or group performances; and new, emerging in the 1950s with perfect fifth endings and major tonality. Singers employ characteristic techniques like ojkanje, recognized on UNESCO’s intangible heritage list, known for its deep vibrato and archaic charm as described by Antun Dobronić. Building trust with residents proved pivotal in understanding their cultural context and traditions and overcoming initial skepticism due to historical ethnic exclusion. Communal singing sessions revealed ancient techniques like groktalica and other forms such as kantalica and samačko pjevanje. Local artists, including Obrad Milić, still practice singing accompanied by gusle. Despite historical challenges, the Serbian community of Žegar actively preserves its musical heritage through local singing groups and safeguarding the ancient repertoires. This research highlights how these efforts strengthen cultural identity and inspire younger generations to continue the singing tradition. Documentation of the songs and customs is accessible through the „Balkan Polyphony” virtual archive project.
Keywords: traditional music, ojkanje, Dalmatian Serbs, musical heritage, ethnomusicology
National Festival of Children’s Folk Creativity “Child in Folklore” in Baranów Sandomierski as an example of nurturing and promoting native musical tradition
Kinga Bogacz
Summary
The aim of this article is to discuss the functioning of music folklore in modern times among the young generation. Preservation of this tradition is supported by its popularization on stage during the “Child in Folklore” Festival (part of the National Festival of Children’s Folklore) in Baranów Sandomierski, which constitutes an example of intangible heritage as defined by the UNESCO Convention of 2003. This festival is the only one in Poland that focuses exclusively on children and their place in traditional culture, i.e. children’s singing, speech, dancing, playing instruments, costumes, and the child as a performer. Initiated in 1991, it enjoys an enduring popularity, bringing together children and young people up to the age of 18 from many regions of Poland. The role of the instructors preparing the young artists for performances is to ensure that the indigenousness and authenticity of folklore and folk music are preserved. It is satisfying that, despite socio-cultural changes, our regionally diverse music folklore has a chance to survive for our descendants thanks to its preservation by the youngest generation as well as its popularization for three decades on stage during the “Child in Folklore” Festival.
Keywords: festival, child in folklore, folklore preservation, folklore popularization, regionalism of music tradition, indigenousness and authenticity of folklore