The muzykant as a product of nature and of culture

• Authors: Zbigniew Jerzy Przerembski
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

PL

The article considers of the relations between nature and culture in reference to the traditional (folk) musician (‘muzykant’). His functions went beyond the strictly musical. Historical and ethnographical sources mention his supernatural abilities, his sacred and magical activities. He has been ascribed magical power, allowing him to influence the forces of nature and people’s health. The powers of him were believed to derive from his metaphysical practices and connection to nature. Some times he was accused of having links with demonic creatures. His ritual function, possibly taken over from the priests or shamans of pagan cults, endured in folk rites. In the rites of passage (during some family and annual ceremonies), in times of transition, places of crossing, traditional (folk) musician can take part in making a ritual din, believed as an effective manner against to demonic powers. It was a music awry, parody of music, eyen its inversion - a sort of ‘anti-music’, performed on ‘antiinstruments’, or on simple instruments.

Keywords

PL

music; folklore; folk music; traditional musician; folk musician; traditional rites; folk rites; nature; culture; magic

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology
• Year: 2009
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 119-136

Dates

published

2018-10-17

Contributors

author

Zbigniew Jerzy Przerembski

• Ph.D., ethnomusicologist, he works in the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and in the Department of Musicology at the University of Wroclaw. His research interests lie at the styles and genres of Polish and European folk music, computerized analysis, musical instruments and performance practice. He has contributed more than 150 articles on these topics. His books include Style i formy melodyczne polskich pieśni ludowych [Styles and melodie forms of Polish folk songs] (Warsaw, 1994), Dudy. Dzieje instrumentu w kulturze staropolskiej [The bagpipes. The history of the instrument in the old-polish culture] (Warsaw, 2006) and Dudy. Instrument mało znany polskim ludoznawcom [The bagpipes. An instrument almost unknown to the Polish folklorists] (Warsaw, 2007). He has also done some editorial work on the series Polska pieśń i muzyka ludowa. Źródła i materiały [Polish folk song and music. Sources and materials].