The Former Soviet Folk Ensemble

8/8/2019 The Former Soviet Folk Ensemble

1/17

Croatian Musicological Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to International Review of

the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music.

http://www.jstor.org

A Look at the Emergence of the Concept of National Culture in Armenia: The Former SovietFolk EnsembleAuthor(s): Andy NercessianSource: International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Jun., 2000

), pp. 79-94Published by: Croatian Musicological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3108426Accessed: 09-03-2015 01:36 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of contentin a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

This content downloaded from 190.224.92.229 on Mon, 09 Mar 2015 01:36:08 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=croathttp://www.jstor.org/stable/3108426http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/3108426http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=croathttp://www.jstor.org/


2/17

A.

NERCESSIAN,

THE

SOVIET

FOLK ENSEMBLE IN

ARMENIA,

IRASM 31

(2000)

1,

79-94

79

A

LOOK

AT

THE

EMERGENCE

OF

THE

CONCEPT

OF

NATIONAL CULTURE

N

ARMENIA:

THE

FORMER

OVIETFOLK

ENSEMBLE

ANDY NERCESSIAN

St.

Edmund's

College,

University

of

Cambridge,

CAMBRIDGE,

B3

OBN,

United

Kingdom

UDC: 785.1:78.085.7(919.81)"19"

Original

Scientific

Paper

Izvorniznanstveni lanak

Received:

March

29,

2000

Primljeno:

9.

ozujka

2000.

Accepted:

May

15,

000

Prihvaeeno:

5.

svibnja

2000.

Abstract

-

R6sum6

This

article

attempts

to trace

a

history

of

the Soviet folk orchestra in Armenia from its birth

in

the 1920's to

the

present day.

Attitudes to-

wards the

orchestra are

representative

of

atti-

tudes

towards

folk music

in

general,

and

high-

light

the

degree

of its

symbolic

and

more

gener-

ally

communicative

capacity.

The numerous

lay-

ers of

meaning

created

in

the

diverse contexts of

performance all coagulate around the orchestra

as medium of

enactment of national

identity.

Pre-

senting

the

parallel

histories of

nationalism

in

Armenia

and the

folk orchestra

bring

to

light

the

factors

that

contributed

to

the

strengthening

of

this link

between

nation

and

music.

In a much cited

article,

Martin Stokes has shown how

ethnomusicology

has

finally

emerged

from an

epoch

in

which

it

viewed its

object

of

study

as

music

regarded

through

its

larger

cultural

context.

If,

previously,

research was moti-

vated

by

an interest

in

how social forces mould and

shape

music,

its central con-

cern now revolves around

how music has become one

of these

social

forces.

>>Mu-

sic does not

simply

provide

a

marker

in

a

prestructured

social

space,

but the means

by

which

this

space

can

be

transformed


3/17

80

A.

NERCESSIAN,

THE SOVIET FOLK ENSEMBLE IN

ARMENIA,

IRASM 31 (2000) 1, 79-94

In

highly

centralised

states,

there is a

tendency

to locate the state as

the

single

most influential factor

in

determining

the nature of such

processes.

That

policy

impositions

by governments

can effect enormous

changes

in the

way

musics are

performed,

heard and

perceived

has

repeatedly

been demonstrated.

Such

changes

are

usually necessary

first

steps

in

introducing

an

ideological

dimension to musi-

cal

expression.

Nowhere is this

'ideological

dimension' more

visible

than in the

case

of

na-

tionalist movements. The rise of national

conflict

that we have

witnessed follow-

ing

the

collapse

of the Soviet Union has

attracted much

scholarly

attention

to

this

intriguing yet strangely

elusive

phenomenon

of

'nation'.

It has

perhaps

been

the

centrality

of

'culture'

in

the

emergence

of

this

phenomenon

that has ensured its

survival

in

ethnomusicologicalwritings.

The

attempt

made

by

ideologues

to

'shape'

this culture has therefore unsurprisingly been a focal point in studies concerned

with

the

complex

web

of

relationships

between

music and

nation.

There can

be

no

doubt

that in

those cases

where

nation

building

relies

on the

effective

manipulation

of certain

powerful

cultural

forces,

ideologues'

awareness

of music as

a

precious

tool

in

their

possession

is of

great

interest.

Why

invest

such

considerable resources

in

music? Is

it

obvious

that music

is an effective

means

of

facilitating

the attainment of their

aspirations?'

More

often than

not,

however,

the formation

of so-called

national cultures

is

governed by

a

multiplicity

of factors

(rather

than a

single

central

all-embracing

one,

as much

state-centric

writing

has

implied),

all of

which

combine

in

dense

concatenations,

making

the

locating

of

one or

other

determinant

factor an exhaust-

ing

and fruitless exercise. No matter how

powerful

the state's influence on musi-

cal institutions

and

activity,

it remains

in

the

majority

of

cases,

just

one

of a number

of

equally

or

unequally

effective forces.

Objections

to

state-centric

theories become

most visible

when

music acts as

a

social demarcator

without some distinct form

of

political

instigation,

or

where

the intentions

of

the state or

governing

parties

have

ideological

bases far removed

from that of

nation-constructing.

The

case

of the Soviet

Union

furnishes us

with

just

such

an

example.

The state's

goals

may

be

thought

of as

intending

to elimi-

nate,

or

at

any

rate

mitigate,

the conventional social boundaries

of

class

and

na-

tion,

the

former,

by trying

to

'equalise'

the musics

of different

classes,

by

some-

how attempting an elevation of the status of 'folk' music, and the latter, by mak-

ing

musics of

all nations accessible

to one another

and

'equal'.

The

results,

how-

ever,

indicate the

inadequacy

of the

hypothesis

that the

state was

the central

agent

governing

the nature

of

social

uses

of

music. The

government

was

responsible

for

increased communications and

awarenesses

of 'other'

nations

creating perceptions

of

unequal

access to resources and social

differences. The awareness

of

'other'

inspired

not an assimilation

of

cultures,

but rather a construction

of self.

1

An

example

is the

case

of the

Ministry

of Culture

in

Turkey

initiating

the

collection

of Turkish

folk

songs

in

1920

(STOKES,

1992:

39).


http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


4/17

A.

NERCESSIAN,

HE

SOVIET OLKENSEMBLE

N

ARMENIA,

RASM

1

(2000)

1,

79--94 81

In

this

paper,

I will

examine the case of

the

folk orchestra2

in

Armenia,

the

political

aims of

the

Soviet authorities who introduced

it,

and how

it

was a vital

but not exclusive factor in the rise of nationalism in the 1960's, after a

period

of

some

40

years

in

which Armenian

nationalism

was

suppressed

or at

any

rate

re-

mained dormant.

'Folk tunes' which were

able

to

adapt

to the new and

changing

context

of

the folk orchestra

formed

part

of the idea of a

homogeneous

national

culture.

The

folk

orchestra facilitated

the identification

of distinctive and

palpa-

ble

elements of

this so-called 'national

culture',

giving

it a

visual,

acoustical

and

aesthetic substance.

In

effect,

it

helped

define

it. The

large

number of

tours

which

were funded

by

the

Soviet

state,

backed

by

the

strictly

government

controlled

media of radio and

television

helped

make

this 'standardised'

form

of

national

culture

available to a far

larger segment

of

the

population

than had hitherto had

access to

'professional' renderings

of

folk music.

The folk

ensemble

however,

outlived

its

creators

and

purpose.

The

collapse

of

the Soviet Union and Marxist-Leninist

ideology by

no means

challenged

its

raison

d'etre,

which found

backing

in

its new

capitalist

environs

in

the West and

the

Armenians

of the

diaspora.

The Western enthusiasm

for

the exotic

sounds,

sights

and culture of

'obscure

places',

as

well

as the

new

found

attention Armenia

received

in

the

eyes

of

diasporan

Armenians

through

the

juxtaposition

of

a

number

of

incidents

(including

a

devastating earthquake

in

1988,

war

with

Azerbaijan

over a

predominantly

Armenian

enclave,

known as

Nagorno Karabagh,

and

a

newly

found

political

and

symbolic independence following

the

collapse

of the

Soviet

Union)

could all feed on the rich

fruits

presented

by

the

very

attractive

genre of folk ensemble music. It was in this context that the Europeanised form

and

character of the folk

ensemble saw

its

possible

future

path.

Armenia is situated

in

the most central of three

plateaus,

which

together

form

the Anatolian

highlands.

The

land

which now

geographically

defines

the

repub-

lic

of Armenia

occupies

only

about one tenth of the

area which is known

accord-

ing

to most scholars as

'historical

Armenia',

that

is,

the area

where

Armenians

lived,

over

the

past

two and a half

millennia,

whether

self-governed

or under

foreign

rule. The Armenians

are

described

in

surprising

detail

by Xenophon,

who

encountered them on

his

way

to Persia in

the

fourth

century

B.C.

In

404

AD a

certain

Mesrop

Mashtots

provided

the

language

with a

literary

basis

by

inventing

a

script

for

it. Armenia

grew

in

size as its

independent

kingdoms gained

in

power

in the 10th and 11th

centuries,

but has been

subjugated

by Mongol,

Arab, Otto-

man,

Russian and Persian

rules since.

In

1828,

much

of

Eastern

Armenia

(includ-

ing

what

is

at

present

the

Republic

of

Armenia)

came

under Russian

rule. This

2

Although

I

use

the terms 'folk orchestra'

and 'folk

ensemble'

interchangeably,

should

note

that the former

s

preferredby

Western

scholars

such as

Levin,

Djumaev

or

Rice,

while the

latter s

used

by

members themselves

in

Armenia

(I

am not certain

to

what

extent

the term

is

applicable

outside

Armenia).

Playersprefer

his

term,

as

it

helps

them

to differentiate

hemselves

fromWestern

classical

orchestras

uch as the Armenian

Philharmonic.

On the other

hand,

ethnomusicologists

who

are

used to

using

the

term

'ensemble'

to refer to

other,

especially

smaller

sized,

folk ensembles

will

find

'orchestra'

more useful.




5/17

82

A.

NERCESSIAN,

HESOVIET OLKENSEMBLE

N

ARMENIA,

RASM

1 (2000)

1,

79--94

period

saw

the

beginnings

of a Westernisation

process,

which was later

catalysed

by

the

onset

of

Soviet

ascendancy.

A

notable

impact

was

made

by

the

import

of

the Western idea of

nation,

which also

spread

to the Ottoman

Empire

and Turk-

ish

Armenia,

assisting

to

a

certain extent

in

the

large-scale

massacres which cul-

minated

in

a

genocide

in 1915.

Much of the

nationalist literature

of

the

19th

century

was

to

pave

its

way

to

20th

century

nationalist

movements.

The Turkish atrocities

provided

the frame-

work and fuel

for Armenian

unity

and

nationalism

in the

20th

century,

in

and

outside Armenia. Armenian terrorist activities

directed

against

Turks,

who

have

on

their

part

not

accepted responsibility

for the

genocides,

have resulted

in

some

136 attacks

against

Turks

from

1975

to 1981 claimed

by

the

Armenian

Secret

Army

demonstrating

the virile

presence

of nationalist attitudes

(SNYDER,

1990:

18).

The emergence of the folk orchestra may be understood as a product of

Marxist-Leninist

ideology,

the social climate under

which

it

found its

beginnings,

and

the

possibilities

the state

perceived

in

the effective

use

of

the latest

instru-

ment of

propagation

-

the radio.

Perhaps

not

surprisingly,

the

formation

of

the

folk orchestra and the installation of

the first radio station

in the Armenian

capital

took

place

in

the

same

year

(1926).

One

of the earliest

policies

employed by

the Soviet

state,

which was

probably

regarded

as a vital instrument

for the creation of

the

'Soviet man',

and

which

constitutes an

important

element of

Soviet

policy,

was

korenizatsiia

or

nativisation.

What

is

perhaps

unusual about this

policy

was that

it

seems

so

obviously

to

clash

with

Marxist

thinking.Marx did not ascribe much

importance

to nations and

nationalism,

consider-

ing

men to

be

fundamentally

the same across

nations,

claiming

that

the

only

truly

fundamental differences were

class

differences. There should be

no national con-

flicts,

just

class

conflicts.

Lenin, however,

placed

in a different

temporal

milieu,

was far more aware of the

potency

of

nations,

and of the

strength

of

nationalism

as

a social force.

If

Soviet

policy

had

always

aimed

at

removing

nationalism as an

active

political

element,

as most scholars believe

(and

there seem to be no

grounds

for

believing anything

different),

then the causes for the

appearance

of korenizatsiia

need

to be

examined

more

closely.

Lenin had the

considerable task

of

imposing

a socialist order on

a vast

em-

pire with more than 100 ethnic groups. He needed the backing and support of at

least the

more sizable of these

groups.

He

assumed

that

to obtain their

co-opera-

tion,

he

needed at least

temporarily

to allow them to

freely

assert their nation-

hood.

That

is,

he

assumed that nationalist

aspirations

did

exist,

and

that

if

they

were

satisfied,

these nations

might

more

easily

welcome the

imposition

of Soviet

rule.

A

second

important

factor

in

the

appearance

of korenizatsiia

was

the convic-

tion that

1)

it

was

possible

to

eliminate

any

national differences

between different

peoples,

and

2)

the

elimination of these differences would

wipe away any

nation-

alistic

sentiments.

Asserting

one's nationhood

would

be sufficient.

In this it was




6/17

A.

NERCESSIAN,

HE

SOVIET OLKENSEMBLE

N

ARMENIA,

RASM 1

(2000)

1,

79-94

83

assumed that the

relative

deprivation

of a nation

with

respect

to anotherone

with

which

it

has some

contact,

was the

underlying

cause of nationalism.

Finally,

the close associationof the old

'bourgeois'

Russian

Empire

with eth-

nic

oppression

and

inequality

was all too

present.

The new Soviet state ruled

in

a

different

and

fairer

way.

In

the newSoviet

Union,

ethnic

inequalities

would

have

to be

eliminated,

not

encouraged.3

What

is crucial

is

that in

each of

the

factors,

it

was assumed that nations

already

existed,

that

the members

of

the nations had distinct national

identities,

and that

these

members viewed

their nations as

roughly homogeneous

units,

whether

on

cultural,

racial or

other

grounds.

Korenizatsiia

as

not

an

attempt

at

nation-building

because

it

assumed

that

nations and national

differences

already

existed.

To make up for the highly visible nationaldifferencesalready present, the

'backward'

nations

would

have to

be

modernised,

hey

would all have to be raised

to the

level

of

the

most

progressive

nations

in

the Soviet Union.

Needless

to

say,

such

lofty

goals

were

never

completely

realised,

although

some of the

institutions

which

were set

up

for

this

purpose

remained

and

are still

alive

today.

Modernisa-

tion

in

the arts

was

closely

linked to the

Marxist-Leninist

dea that human

society

was

to learn from

history

and build

on

knowledge previously

attained

and that

art

was to

have a social

function,

not a

purely

aesthetic one.

For

the

genre

of

folk

music,

this meant

using

classical

techniques, employed

by

the most

'advanced'

states

of

Europe

and

raising

folk

music

to

the level of

classical

music.

In

the first two or

three

years

of Soviet

rule,

there

was

an

attempt

to removefunding foroperacompletelyand even to forbid t (onthegroundsthat

it

was

a

symbol

of

'bourgeois'

culture),

but this

policy

was soon reversed. The

funding

into

the

development

of

professional

folk

ensembles and their

mainte-

nance remained

throughout

Soviet rule.

In the

twenties,

the first folk

orchestraswere set

up.

The

history

of the folk

orchestra

can

be dated

within

the Soviet Union as far back as

the

1870's,

when

the

first

Russian

folk

instruments orchestra

appeared.

This

was the

Vladimir

Horn

Players

orchestra,

ollowed

later

by

V.V.

Andreev'sGreat

RussianOrchestra

Great

Soviet

Encyclopedia:

8,

513).

The first folk orchestra

appeared

n

Armenia

n

1926.

It

was named the

Aram

Merangulian

orchestra after its

first

conductor/composer,

and

was based

in

Yerevan.The most

popular

folk instrumentswere chosen and reconstructedus-

ing

Western nstrument

construction

echniques.

An

example

s the

duduk,

highly

popular

instrument

among shepherds

and

peasants

of

the

time,

which

was recon-

structed

by

a certainV.G.

Buni,

and soon became standardised

n

three different

registers,

the

lowest

of these

-

the

Bunifon.

The

Bunifon

was a

digression

from

the 'idea' of the

duduk

known until

then,

since as

we know

from

older

recordings,

the duduk'ssound

resembled

that of a

zurna,

a

high pitched

and loud

shawm,

3

To

this

end,

Pipes

asserts

that

'perhaps

he

most

important ingle

element

which

keeps

ethnic

feelings

alive

in

multinational

states is

competition

for resources

and

services'

(PIPES,

975:

3).




7/17

84

A.

NERCESSIAN,

HESOVIET OLKENSEMBLEN

ARMENIA,

RASM 1 (2000)

1,

79-94

and

was

played

at a

higher

register

than the duduk we

know

today.

Buni

helped

reintroduce

it

as a more

'serious'

instrument,

which

was

capable

of

deeper

emo-

tion and a

finer,

more

sophisticated

sound. The standardisation of the three dif-

ferent duduks

was sufficient

for

Robert

Atayan

to describe

it in

Grove's

Dictionary

as

existing

in

three distinct

sizes,

ranging

from 28

to

40cm

in

length.

The sound

too,

continued to

develop

as

great

masters of the

instrument

appeared,

who

created

a

distinctive school

of

playing,

demonstrating

what the duduk was

capa-

ble of.

Some of the

finest

players

of these instruments

were chosen

and the

orches-

tra was

put together

in no

previously

developed

order. These

instruments

were

never known

to have been

performed

in the same ensemble

before and

although

these ensembles

developed

according

to the models set

by

the Western

classical

orchestras in Europe, complete with their wind, stringed and percussion instru-

ment

sections,

they

were

only approximate

imitations,

since

folk instruments

clearly

differed

from their

classical

counterparts.

Moreover,

duduk

players

had

never

previously

played

with

knar

(a

sort

of

lyre)

or

davough

(a

type

of

harp)

be-

fore,

and more

importantly, they

had

never

played

under the

guidance

of

a

lead-

ing

figure,

the conductor. As

most of these

players

were also

musically

illiterate,

they

had to be

taught

notation

(this

did not occur

until some

years

later)

to facili-

tate the

learning

of new

pieces,

or old

pieces

in

new

forms.

Players

now

had to

play

parts,

their role

being

dependent

on their

seemingly fragmentary participa-

tion and increased

co-operation

with

fellow

players.

Such

contexts

were new and

required consistency,

a new form of

accuracy

and

a

suppression

of the

improvisatory

instinct.

For all this to

be

achieved,

a

whole

system

of musical

education,

again,

modeled on the Western

system

was

necessary

and therefore

set

up.

The

first

conservatory

set

up

in

1923

in

Yerevan was

so

poor

that

musical

instruments,

accessories and

printed

music had

to

be sent

from abroad

by

Arme-

nians of the

diaspora,

to

keep

it

open.

Although

the

conservatory

did not offer

specialised

courses

in

folk instrument

performance

until the

seventies,

by

the fif-

ties,

technicums

(low

status conservatories

where

notation

and

performance

on

a

number of folk instruments were

taught,

and which were intended

primarily

for

folk

players

who

were

preparing

for

entry

into

folk

orchestras)

were

established

throughout the Soviet Union. By this time, folk orchestras were also well-estab-

lished

institutions,

and most

professional

folk

musicians

could

assert some

form

of

membership

in

a folk

orchestra

or

other.

The music

performed by

folk

orchestras were

essentially

folk

tunes

which

were collected

and

'harmonised'

by

a

classically

trained

composer

who also acted

as

the conductor

of

his

pieces

and

the

orchestra.

Although

Armenian

music,

it is

believed,

was

traditionally

monophonic,

it

was

richly

harmonised,

and

this

with

probably greater

freedom

than

in

say, neighbouring Georgia,

a

country

blessed

with a rich

polyphonic

tradition.

Thus,

folk tunes became

standardised and

re-

ceived

a 'standard'

harmony

which

may

have varied over the

years

with

new




8/17

A.

NERCESSIAN,

THE SOVIET

FOLK ENSEMBLE

IN

ARMENIA,

IRASM 31

(2000)

1,

79--94

85

arrangers,4

but their standardised tunes

and

harmonies

were

essentially

adhered

to once

they

were

established.

Another

significant

contribution was

provided

for

by

the advent of radio

technology.

The

development

of

the

radio found

great

support

in

the

Soviet

ideologues

who

very early

discovered

its

potential

as an instrument

of

propa-

ganda.

As

Zeltser

claims,

Lenin

>>viewed

radio

broadcasting

as

a

method

of

social

control

of

the

masses,

a

practical

and the most effective

way

of

communicating

with

the

people<

(ZELTSER,

1995).

In

a

Soviet

Union with

its

ethnic

and

linguistic

diversity,

its

largely

illiterate

population,

the

poor

conditions

of

roads

and rail-

ways,

and

its sheer

size,

radio

broadcasting development quickly

attracted

great

sums of

money

in

the earliest

days

of Soviet

government.

Between 1917

and

1920,

radio

developed

from

an

instrument

capable

of

trans-

mitting

and

receiving

Morse

code,

to one

capable

of

communicating

live

voices,

thanks to the

great

number

of

laboratories

set

up

for research.

Indeed,

the

Soviets

were

among

the

first

to

note the

propagative

potential

of radio.

With

state

back-

ing,

broadcasting

and

receiving techniques

were enhanced

and

by

1920,

the

hu-

man

voice was first transferred via radio

waves,

in

the Soviet

Union.

In

1921,

this

new

technology

was

put

into

operation,

as

a

powerful

station was

set

up

to

broad-

cast news

and

political messages every day

for a few hours.

However,

whereas

in

America

broadcasting

took

place

to

improve

sales

of

receivers,

in

the Soviet Union the

broadcasting

and the sale of receivers

were

un-

related.

The Americans broadcast

music to attract

the

consumer.

The

Soviet

con-

sumer was

in no

financial

position

to

buy

receivers,

and

the

State

had in

any

case

no interest in broadcasting music over the radio at this stage.

But

if

the radio

was to

succeed

as a medium

of

propaganda,

the

number of

receivers

would have to be increased.

In

Lenin's

words:

Every

village

should

have radio

Every government

office,

as well as

every

club

in

our factories

should

be

aware that at a

certain

hour

they

will hear

political

news

and

major

events

of the

day.

This

way

our

country

will

lead

a life of

highest

political

awareness,

constantly knowing

actions of

the

government

and views of the

people

(as

quoted

in

ZELTSER,

995).1

4

It seems somewhat

strange

to call

composers

who

effectively

wrote all

aspects

of

the music

other than the basic 'tune' arrangers. In the 19th century, when it became the fashion to write the so-

called nationalistic

music

basing compositions

on 'authentic'

folk tunes

from one's own

nation,

the

composer's creativity

was

judged

on

his

ability

to use these

tunes. Variations

on themes

were also

a

common

aspect

of

'composition',

not

arrangement.

However

paradoxical

it

may

seem,

the

Soviet

folk

orchestras

were never

regarded

in

the same

way

as classical orchestras.

The work

of the com-

poser/arranger

was intended

merely

to do

justice

to

the

art

of

the

people.

He

simply

raised

it to the

desired

level. This music was never

regarded

as

anything

other than folk

music.

It was not the

crea-

tion of an individual.

Therefore,

the title

'arranger' may

be more

suitable,

since

it

helps

us

under-

stand the

way

this

figure

was

regarded,

although

even here

the

subject

is

open

to criticism.

Until

today,

this mere

arranger

is

regarded

as the authoritative

figure,

and leader

of the

orchestra,

and

his

knowledge

is

respected

as

superior.

It is also

likely

that he

will

have

graduated

from a

conservatory

as

opposed

to most

players

who

will

have

only

received

a

technicumeducation.

s

The translation

is Zeltser's

(1995).




9/17

86

A.

NERCESSIAN,

THE SOVIET FOLK ENSEMBLEIN

ARMENIA,

IRASM

31 (2000)

1, 79--94

Sets

of

loudspeakers

were

installed

in

places

of

public

gathering

to make the

spoken newspaper

accessible to the

people.

There could be no doubt that the

huge

financial

support

that research into

the

development

of the radio

received,

was

never

intended as

a medium for mu-

sic

by

the Soviet

ideologues.

But

by

1925,

experimenting began

as

to how

best to

program

radio

time,

and

public approval

or

disapproval

became

a

significant

fac-

tor.

Party

officials who had so far been

interested

only

in

the

content of

non-mu-

sical

programming began

turning

their attention

to music.

Thus

the

first

steps

towards

standardization

of culture

prompted

by

a

standardization

through

large

scale dissemination of a

music

were

effected.

The

policy

of korenizatsiia which was

pre-eminent

in

the

early

days

of

the

Soviet

regime,

was soon

reversed,

although

many

of its institutions remained.

By

1938, for instance, Stalin had, in the face of a need for greater unity

in

the Soviet

Union,

made

Russian

compulsory

in

all

secondary

schools

in

Armenia. The

Rus-

sian

language,

which was

more

'progressive'

could

act as a

lingua franca.

Similar

policies

and

changes

affected the entire

USSR.

Folk

music, too,

reached

its

post-revolutionary

nadir

in

the 1930's.

The

Rus-

sian for

folk

song,

narodnaia

pesnia,

could

also be translated

as

'people's

music',

and it

was now decided that

people's

music,

that

is,

the

music of the masses

did

not

have to

be

folk

music,

it could

be

progressive

music.6

The

collecting,

use,

and

promulgation

of folk

song

was

highly

discouraged

on the

grounds

that it

was a

'backward'

element

of

culture.'

The

1938

policy

was not reinforced

and made no

impact.

There was no decline

in

the

performance

and dissemination

of

folk

music.

In the 1930's, an aesthetic theory called 'Socialist Realism' was created and

its canons influenced

all

aspects

of artistic life

in

the Soviet Union.

Perhaps

the

most notable

consequences,

in

addition to a

'moving

away

from the folk

idiom',

were

the need to eliminate

negative

aspects

of

Soviet

life.

Melancholy

music

was

highly discouraged,

because

the

Soviet

people

were a

happy

people,

and

they

were

proud

of

their

music

and their art. Socialist

realism was the

placing

of art in

the

servile

position

of

being

one of

many

methods of

configuring

a

socialist

order,

or

to

paraphrase,

it

gave

the

working

man

inspiration

to

work more.

With

the

exception

of

the

four

years

of

world

war

(where

a

cultural relaxa-

tion acted as

a

means of

mobilising

public opinion

of the

regime8)

socialist

real-

6

Likewise the Armenian term

used to refer to folk music

is azkain

yerajishdoutioun

meaning

at

once,

national

music,

and

people's

music.

7

This was not

regarded

as

being contradictory

in

any

way

to the Stalinist

policy

advertised

as

'national in

form,

socialist in content'.

The 'socialist'

in

this

phrase

was

meant

to

imply

'progressive'.

The

folk

ensemble was national

in

form,

that is

it

used national

(asgain

in

Armenian,

for

instance)

instruments,

but was socialist

in

content,

that

is it

served the needs

of

socialism.

It was at once for the

masses,

and

progressive.

Earlier,

it was

attempted

to

educate

the masses in the realm of classical

music,

but it

was

soon discovered that the folk ensemble

playing

music

composed

in a

classical

style,

was far

more

successful.

In

the

name of

progress,

however,

the folk

aspects

were

increasingly

discouraged

in

favour of

the classical

aspects.

8

Armenians

were not

homogeneously loyal

to

their

Soviet

'nation'

during

the

war.

Many

of

them

sided

with

the Germans.




10/17

A.

NERCESSIAN,

HE

SOVIET

OLKENSEMBLE

N

ARMENIA,

RASM

1

(2000)

1,

79--94

87

ism remained an

unwavering

attribute of the

Stalinist

years.

With the death

of

Stalin in

1953, however,

a 'thaw'

began

in which the rise of

a

new nationalism

would

pave

its

way

to a number of

surprising

events.

The

movement

towards

a

federal structure

encouraged by

Khruschev and

the

very

much

alive

policy

of korenizatsiia

which

ensured that the

personnel

of all

institutions in

Armenia

would be

Armenian,

and which was followed

systemati-

cally)

encouraged

ethnic distinction and cultural

diversity

and furthered still the

much-awaited

acculturation,

which would

eventually

create

the

culturally

ho-

mogeneous

Soviet nation.

The rise of

nationalism which was made

possible

by

the

post-Stalinist

thaw-

ing process

was enforced

by

the

formation of

the

idea

of

a

national

culture.

The

formation of

such

notions

were

not

discouraged

for several

reasons,

the

most im-

portant of which was the peculiar nature of Armenian nationalism. If nationalism

can

be

considered to have a

direction,

i.e.

inspired

by

some

form

of

hatred,

the

case of

Armenian nationalism was not a threat to the

unity

of the Soviet

Union,

because

it

was

directed

towards the Turks.

For

this

reason

there was a

degree

of

tolerance where Armenia was

concerned which

was not

granted

to

say

the

Geor-

gians,

or the

Estonians.

If

we use

musical

processes

as

a

metonym

for

cultural

ones as

prompted

by

Armenian

views,

the folk ensemble

can

provide

us

with

some

insights

into

the

formation of national

attitudes. In the 1950's the Aram

Merangulian

ensemble

went on a number

of tours outside the Soviet

Union.

It was in this

context

that we

may

address the

emergence

of the notion of a national culture as

expressed through

the folk ensemble. Arsen

Grigorian,

a member of the ensemble with whom I

spent

much

time

explained

his devotion to this institution

thus:

The folk

ensemble

gives

us the chance

to show

the world that we have our own

culture,

our own

traditions,

our own music.

At

another moment he

pointed

out that

The Turkswill

say, they

don't

have their

own

music,

their own art

[...]

what do

they have, the Armenians?

Indeed,

these

views

probably

emerged

with

the

growing

awareness of

'being

Armenian'

that

the extensive tours

provided

members of the ensemble

with.

The

Middle East and

Europe,

and

later America were all on the ensemble's

agenda.

A

member of the

audience

at one of these

concerts

in Beirut

in

1956 recalls:

When

they

came to

perform

in

the UNESCO

building,

which

has three floors

and seats more than a

1000,

people

were

queuing

up

for ticketsas

far

as

the

eye

could

see,

and

they

had

three concertson

three consecutive

days.

But

it

wasn't

just

Armeni-

ans

who were there.

All

the Arab members of

parliament

and

important

officials

were there. We were

truly

proud

of

being

Armenian,

hen.




11/17

88

A.

NERCESSIAN,

HESOVIET

OLKENSEMBLEN

ARMENIA,

RASM 1

(2000)

1,

79-94

It comes

as no

surprise

that this

ambassadorship

of Armenian

culture,

as-

sisted not

only

members,

but also the

ensemble

in

attaining

a

distinctly

national

identity,

and

encouraged

the association between the sounds of the folk ensemble

as heard on radio and in

concerts,

its visual

representation

as seen

on television

and

the notion of a

'national culture'.

In

addition,

the association

forged

by

the

use of the word

azkain,

(which

may

be translated as either

'folk' or

'national')

was

used

equally

to refer to the 'folk music'

played by

the ensemble and the

national

culture which it

represented.

Growing

contact with the

outside world also

forged

a

new

fear for

players,

that of

losing

the

national culture. Fear of

foreign

elements,

in

other

words as-

similation,

ensured

the

survival of all forms of

representation

of the national cul-

ture. In

Suny's

words,

>the

conflict

in the

Soviet

Union between ethnic consolida-

tion,

on the

one

hand,

and

potential

acculturation

and

assimilation,

on the

other,

created fears

among

small

nationalities

that their national

distinctiveness

might

be lost

in

the near

future>solve

the Armenian issue for the

next

fifty

years


12/17

A.

NERCESSIAN,

THE

SOVIET

FOLK ENSEMBLE

IN

ARMENIA,

IRASM

31

(2000)

1,

79--94 89

as

opposed

to

violence

or

other orms

of

violence-provoking

emonstrations,

which

are

regarded

as

negative

and

extreme.

A

demonstration

which

incorporates

olk

music and danceseems to have less

implications

politically speaking(despitethe

fact

that

this

may

not be the

case)

and is therefore

tolerated. Such

events,

how-

ever,

become

responsible

for

the associations

between folk musics

and national

identities,

and therefore

help

define 'national

musics'

[azkain

erazhshdoutioun,

it.

national

music,

but refers

to

any

folk

music,

as

already

mentioned].

The

shaping

and

defining

of national cultures are the

logical

next

steps.

The

association between folk ensemble

and national identities

were not

lim-

ited to acoustical

elements.

In

1956,

Armenia

acquired

ts

own

broadcasting

chan-

nel,

which was thanks

to

the

subsequent

federalisation

of the

Soviet

Union in-

creasingly

locally

controlled. This

provided

the folk ensemble with a much

more

powerful

medium

forpresentinga visual element.

A

consequence

of

this was

the

importance

of dress.

As

already

noted,

from its

outset,

the folk

ensemble

was fashioned in such a

way

that it

would raise the

status

of folk music to that of classical music.

Natu-

rally,

to

achieve

such

an

image,

it

would

be

necessary

not

only

to use concert

halls,

conductors and a

spatial

organisation

n

the form

of

seating arrangements

for

players,

similar to that of

classical

music

but

the

dress code had to be altered.

Black

suits and

bowties

characterised

his

recodification.9

However,

when

in

the

fifties,

the folk ensemble

began

touring

internation-

ally,

the dress

code underwent a

new

change.

A

record,

now

produced

on CD of

the

Taloul

Altunian

ensemble and

folk

dance

group

performing

in

1965

at the

Balbeck festival of Lebanon,for instance,shows both musicians and dancers in

the

so-called 'traditional Armenian dress'.

In

the 1980's

and

90's,

the

growing

world music

industry

and the

increasedcontact

between Armeniansof

the

diaspora

and

those of the homeland

enforced

this visual

image.

Quite

clearly,

aspects

of

the

folk ensemble

are

increasingly being

shaped

in

accordance

with

what

members,

organisers

of concerts

and

producers

believe

is

being expected

of them.

This,

in

turn,

is

very

much influenced

by

the Western

ideological

concerns where

authenticity

and the

rich

cultural

expression

(which

is

that

of

the

age-old

national traditions of

a

country)

are

highly

valued.

Every-

thing

is

required

to

be authentic.The music

and the instruments

are

seen

as au-

thentic,

since the limited

knowledge

of

pre-Soviet

folk

music,

instruments and

dress

may easily

be

manipulated

to conformto this

requirement.

The

romantic idea of a

distant and

glorious past

is

increasingly

stressed to-

day,

as a

development

is

envisaged

which

is

free from

external and

'corrupting'

influences. CD

covers

present

Mediaeval

churches,

ancient

sculptures,

photo-

graphs

of ancient

engravings

and 'old' art.

With

the

collapse

of

the

Soviet

Union,

markets have assumed control

of

the

appearance,

design

or

presentation

of CDs

and

tapes,

and the

largest

of

these markets

s

to be found

in

the

diaspora,

where

9

Note the case

of

the

debate over

Chinese

folk music

and the seminal

importance

of

'quality'

attached

to it.

(KUN,

1981:

3)




13/17

90

A.

NERCESSIAN,

THE SOVIET FOLK ENSEMBLE

IN

ARMENIA,

IRASM

31 (2000)

1,

79-94

the

'past'

has

even

greater

sanctity

than in the

homeland.

The

diasporan

consum-

ers

feel

they

are

buying

the

older

purer

culture of their

homeland,

not some

So-

viet construct. Thus, associations between the folk ensemble and folk music in

general

and

the

perception

of

Armenia's

culturally

rich

past

are

reinforced,

in-

creasingly assigning

music

the

role of

a

proud

representative

of national culture.

Theoretical ossibilities

for Explanation

nd

Conclusion

As

evidenced

by

the results

of

a

large

scale

ethnosociology

research

conducted

in

the

Soviet

Union

in

the

mid

1980's,

>in

general,

folk

music

of

one's

own nation-

ality occupies

a

leading

place among

the musical interests of

most of

the

popula-

tion


14/17

A.

NERCESSIAN,

HE

SOVIET

OLK NSEMBLE

N

ARMENIA,

RASM

1

(2000)

,

79-94

91

creasingly

to fulfil

a function

comparatively

new

for

it

-

that of

serving

as

a

symbol

of

ethnicity.

However

paradoxical

t

may

seem,

this function

is

especially

evident

among highly urbanisedpeoples, those who have departedmost fromtheway of life

of a

traditional folk

culture,

and

second,

among peoples

who have

been

relatively

little

affected

by

urbanisation

processes,

and

among

whom

the

traditional

culture

has remained most intact.

(1988,

36)

This

apparent paradox

is

easily

resolved

when one considers the function of

the

folk ensemble as an

attempt

to

reconcile

the

urban

identity

with the

national

identity

(which

depends

so

heavily

on the idea

of

an

'authentic'

culture,

lacking

in the

corrupted

urban

way

of

life).

The

'spirit'

of the

nation,

seen as

the

'spirit'

of

the

people,

that is the real

people,

effortlessly

equates

'national'

with

'rural'.

From

this

premise,

we are

in

a

position

to view the so-called

'function'

of

the

folk

en-

semble as a medium for the reconciliation of the two extremes of Arutunian and

Bromlei's

traditional/urbanized

binary opposition.

It

is

precisely

the role of

the

folk ensemble

in

reconciling

these

two cultures

that makes

it

an effective

medium

of ethnic

consolidation,

and

helps give

the idea of national culture some substance.

In

short,

the folk ensemble serves both the

requirements

of

the newfound

urban

identity

and the

attempt

to

keep

one's traditional culture

'intact'.

Arutunian and

Bromlei's

argument recognizes

the

importance

of

the

symbolicity

of the

folk

ensemble,

but

uses this more as a

justification

for

the 'need'

for a

folk

revival. Their thesis is

inadequate

because it omits certain seminal func-

tions

of folk music and its

significations.

By emphasizing

the 'revival'

perspec-

tive,

we run

the

danger

of

mitigating

three factors central to

the

role of

the

folk

ensemble in society: its position in nation constructing, its presence for nation

defining,

and

its

capacity

to

provide

a medium

for

peaceful

and

acceptable

ex-

pression

of national sentiment and enactment of

identity.

All

three

depend

to

some

extent

on the

folk

ensemble

perceived

as

representative

of

the

nation's

en-

tire culture. Each

of

these functions is

dependent

on

culture viewed as

the

very

foundations

of nationhood.

This final

ideological position

is

most

easily adopted

when it has been deter-

mined

in

a

society,

that culture is

the

principal

building

block of

a

nation.

The

word 'culture'

in

this context

has thus

increasingly

been

identified

with

repre-

sentative

forms

or

signifiers.

But

signifiers

are not chosen

arbitrarily,

and

depend

upon

foreign

models

whence

they

are derived.

This leads us to a

way

of

thinking

about the

growth

of national identities

through

associations

with elements

of

a

perceived

idea of

'culture',

which

is

often

downplayed

and

omitted

in

ethnomusicological

writing

as

well

as

elsewhere.

Namely,

that national

identities,

as

with all

identities,

are

deeply

rooted

in

an

awareness

of

other

identities

of the

same

form.

The notion

of the

Armenian na-

tion has

grown

in

contradistinction

to

the Turkish

nation,

the

Azeri

nation,

the

Russians,

the

Iranians,

nations

of Western

Europe

and

America,

so

on

and

so forth.

The

Armenian

viewpoint,

whether

we

consider

the

folk

ensemble

players,

or

any

member of

their vast

audience,

should

be understood

through

the outlook

and

understanding

of other

nations.

The

growth

and

dissemination

of nationalism




15/17

92

A.

NERCESSIAN,

THE SOVIET FOLK ENSEMBLE

IN

ARMENIA,

IRASM

31 (2000)

1,

79--94

has

depended

on increased communications

with 'other' countries.

I am not

re-

ferring

here

to

the

relationship

between

dominant

and

peripheral

cultures,

nor of

the

importation

of the Western

concept

of 'nation' (see for instance, DAVIS, 1997).

Rather,

on the

necessity

of

constructing

one's

identity

(no

matter how

that iden-

tity

takes

shape

and

form)

on

images

formed

and derived from other

identities.

If

constructions

of

identity depend

on

signifiers

and

representative

forms,

the above

perspective provides

the framework

for an

understanding

of

the

proc-

ess

of

'copying',

which takes

place

in the

attempt

at

self-representation.

The case

of the folk ensemble demonstrates how

musical forms

are

copied

as are

compositional

techniques,

instrument constructions

and

the like.

If

Soviet

ideology

had

attempted

the

permanent

elimination of

national

boundaries

through

large-scale

assimilation,

they

only

assisted

in

deepening

the

awareness

of

'other'

which led

to the

above-described

consequences.

The

Soviets,

through

a failure

of

their

'equalisation' policy,

created

the

very

prerequisites

of

nationalism,

a

plurality

of

melting pots.

We

may

thus

agree

with

Gellner

when he

eloquently

states

that

cultural

nuances in the

agrarian

world are

legion:

they

are like

raindrops

n

a

storm,

there is

no

counting

of

them. But when

they

all fall on

the

ground,

they

do

not,

as

it

were,

coagulate

nto

one

large

all-embracing

puddle

-

nor

do

they

remain

sepa-

rate: in

fact,

they aggregate

into a number of

distinct,

large,

often

mutually

hostile

puddles.

The

aggregation,

the

elimination

of

plurality

and

nuance

anticipated

by

the

internationalists,

does

indeed take

place,

but

it

leaves

behind

not one

large

universal

culture-puddle,

but a whole set of

them

(GELLNER,

997:

33).

Gellner's

explanation

depends

on the

assumption

that nationalism

is basi-

cally

instigated through

industrialisation

and

modernisation.

If we take this

stance,

we must also

agree

with

him

that

>the

tidal wave

of

industrialisation

and mod-

ernisation does not

hit

all

parts

of

the world at

the

same

time


16/17

A.

NERCESSIAN,

HE

SOVIET

OLK

ENSEMBLE

N

ARMENIA,

RASM

1

(2000)

1,

79--94

93

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ARUTUNIAN, Y., and V. BROMLEI

1988 Sociocultural Profile of Soviet Nationalities

-

Ethnosociology

Research

Results,

in

Soviet

Anthropology

nd

Archaeology

7:

(1),

7-70

DAVIS,

Ruth

1997

Cultural

Policy

and

the

Tunisian Ma'luf:

Arabic

Songs:

Redefining

a

tradition,

Ethnomusicology

1:

(1),

1-21

GELLNER,

Ernest

1997

Nationalism,

London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson

Great

Soviet

Encyclopedia:

Translation

of

theThirdEdition

1978 New York: Macmillan

KUN,

Fang

1981

A

Discussion on Chinese

National

Musical

Tradition,

Asian Music

12:

(2),

3-11

PIPES,

Richard

1975

Introduction,

in Handbook

of Major

Soviet

Nationalities,

Zev

Katz

(ed.),

New

York:

Free

Press

SNYDER,

Louis

1990

Encyclopediaof

Nationalism,

New York:

Paragon

House

STOKES,

Martin

1992

The

ArabeskDebate:Musicand

Musicians

n Modern

Turkey,

Oxford:Clarendon

1994 Introduction:

Ethnicity, Identity

and

Music,

in

Ethnicity, Identity

and

Music:

The

Musical

Construction

of

Place,

Martin

Stokes, (ed.),

1-28

SUNY,

Ronald

Grigory

1997 Soviet

Armenia,

n TheArmenian

eople

romAncient

o ModernTimes

Vol.

I.,

Richard

G. Hovannisian

(ed.), 347-388,

London:

Macmillan

ZELTSER,

Lenny

1995

Early Stages

of Soviet

and American Radio

Broadcasting,

on the

internet at:

http://

www.zeltser.com/radio/




17/17

94

A.

NERCESSIAN,

HE

SOVIET OLKENSEMBLE

N

ARMENIA,

RASM

1

(2000)

1,

79-94

Sa;etak

POGLED NA POJAVU IDEJEO NACIONALNOJ KULTURI U ARMENIJI:

BIVMI

OVJETSKI

FOLKLORNI

ANSAMBL

U

danku

se

pokuSava

ustanoviti

povijest sovjetskog

folklornog

orkestra

u

Armeniji

od

njegova

nastanka 1920-ih

do

danas. Stavovi

spram

orkestra

reprezentativni

su za stavove

spram

folklorne

glazbe opdenito

i

predstavljaju

najviSi stupanj njegovih

simbolikkih i

opdenitije komunikacijskih

sposobnosti.

Brojni

slojevi znadenja

stvoreni

u

razlikitim

kontekstima izvedbi

zgugnjavaju

se

oko

orkestra

kao

medija odredivanja nacionalnog

identiteta.

Pokazivanje

usporednih povijesti

nacionalizma

u

Armeniji

i

folklornog

orkestra

osvjetljava

6imbenike

koji

su

pridonijeli jaeanju

ove veze izmedu naroda

i

glazbe.

Sredignja

teza

rasprave je

da

je

nametanje sovjetske politike

u

umjetnosti

bilo

rado

prihvadeno

na

podrudju

folklorne

glazbe

kako

bi

se

postigli

ciljevi razliditi

od

onih

koji

su

le2ali u

namjeri

te

politike.

Vrlo

pojednostavljeno

receno, za

politiku

se mo2e smatrati da

je

bila sredstvo

uklanjanja

nacionalnih

razlika

putem paralelnog

cilja

>>napredovanja<

zaostalih naroda.

Medutim,

rezultat

je

bio

njegovanje

nacionalnih

identiteta

do

tocke

osna2ivanja

pojma

>>nacionalne

kultureodozdo< i na

na6in

na

koji

ga

se

bilo

oblikovalo

drugim

6imbenicima

osim

ideologije

>odozgo

The Former Soviet Folk Ensemble

Documents

Transcript of The Former Soviet Folk Ensemble