Polish Folk Music: Slavonic Heritage: Polish Tradition: Contemporary Trends by AnnaCzekanowskaReview by: Krzysztof CwizewiczFolk Music Journal, Vol. 6, No. 2 (1991), pp. 250-252Published by: English Folk Dance + Song SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4522391 .

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I can only say that this is equally true of most traditional folk song from most countries. Religious songs have always constituted a separate stream, whose waters mingle only marginally with folk song, while developed expressions of emotion - and, in particular, self-scrutiny, optimism and sentimentality - have been much more characteristic of court song than of folk song. Only in this century, with the rise of mass-media communication and an increase in leisure time for persons in lower social strata, have the two latter streams become intermingled. Instead, the blues are exceptional among folk song because they are much more self-focused, with much more 'navel gazing' than is to be found in other traditions. Though capable of being understood - and even identified with - by their audience, they are less universal, more personal, than the generality of folk songs.

The great interest of the blues is not that they are a unique form of folk song in the regards that Oliver claims them to be, nor that they are the songs of an oppressed minority as he implies also. (Most other folksong traditions were created and borne along from generation to generation by a society's less privileged mem- bers.) Nor is it merely that they portray a society that is rapidly vanishing, even though, as Oliver recognizes, 'The problems and squalor of the black ghettoes of New York, Washington, and Chicago [are] ... as intractable after three decades as ever they were' (p.xx). Rather, it is that the blues document - and indeed, very amply document when, as Oliver notes 'its representation on phonograph records ... exceeds that of any other type of folk music' (p.9) - a society in dynamic change, from wholly rural to dominantly urban, in a span of time less than a half- century. Surely no other folk music has evolved so fast and mirrored such changes so accurately. Certainly none portrays more fully the whole spectrum of a society, from the criminal and the terminally ill to the triumphantly successful, in sexual potency, or wealth and power gained, or both. Moreover, it is to be remembered that almost all contemporary music - rock music, in particular - has drawn upon blues traditions. For better or worse, the effect of the blues upon modern culture has been profound.

For all persons seriously interested in folk music, therefore, the blues deserve attention; and, to inaugurate a study of the blues, there is no better method than to read this new edition of Paul Oliver's classic study.

WILLIAM A. S. SARJEANT

POLISH FOLK MUSIC: SLAVONIC HERITAGE - POLISH TRADITION - CONTEMPORARY TRENDS. By Anna Czekanowska. Cambridge Studies in Ethnomusicology. General Editor, John Blacking. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. I990. xii + zz6 pp. Music. Illus. Discog. Bibliog. Index. £37.50 ($54.50).

To my knowledge, this is the first book in English on this topic, and it comes at a good moment - there is a demand for books on world music, there is also a growing interest in Eastern Europe.

There is no doubt that to cover such a vast and general topic as Polish folk music is an enormous task, but one which has been achieved. The book covers most of what is typical in Polish folk music (that is, from rural Poland). It begins

I can only say that this is equally true of most traditional folk song from most countries. Religious songs have always constituted a separate stream, whose waters mingle only marginally with folk song, while developed expressions of emotion - and, in particular, self-scrutiny, optimism and sentimentality - have been much more characteristic of court song than of folk song. Only in this century, with the rise of mass-media communication and an increase in leisure time for persons in lower social strata, have the two latter streams become intermingled. Instead, the blues are exceptional among folk song because they are much more self-focused, with much more 'navel gazing' than is to be found in other traditions. Though capable of being understood - and even identified with - by their audience, they are less universal, more personal, than the generality of folk songs.

The great interest of the blues is not that they are a unique form of folk song in the regards that Oliver claims them to be, nor that they are the songs of an oppressed minority as he implies also. (Most other folksong traditions were created and borne along from generation to generation by a society's less privileged mem- bers.) Nor is it merely that they portray a society that is rapidly vanishing, even though, as Oliver recognizes, 'The problems and squalor of the black ghettoes of New York, Washington, and Chicago [are] ... as intractable after three decades as ever they were' (p.xx). Rather, it is that the blues document - and indeed, very amply document when, as Oliver notes 'its representation on phonograph records ... exceeds that of any other type of folk music' (p.9) - a society in dynamic change, from wholly rural to dominantly urban, in a span of time less than a half- century. Surely no other folk music has evolved so fast and mirrored such changes so accurately. Certainly none portrays more fully the whole spectrum of a society, from the criminal and the terminally ill to the triumphantly successful, in sexual potency, or wealth and power gained, or both. Moreover, it is to be remembered that almost all contemporary music - rock music, in particular - has drawn upon blues traditions. For better or worse, the effect of the blues upon modern culture has been profound.

For all persons seriously interested in folk music, therefore, the blues deserve attention; and, to inaugurate a study of the blues, there is no better method than to read this new edition of Paul Oliver's classic study.

WILLIAM A. S. SARJEANT

POLISH FOLK MUSIC: SLAVONIC HERITAGE - POLISH TRADITION - CONTEMPORARY TRENDS. By Anna Czekanowska. Cambridge Studies in Ethnomusicology. General Editor, John Blacking. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. I990. xii + zz6 pp. Music. Illus. Discog. Bibliog. Index. £37.50 ($54.50).

To my knowledge, this is the first book in English on this topic, and it comes at a good moment - there is a demand for books on world music, there is also a growing interest in Eastern Europe.

There is no doubt that to cover such a vast and general topic as Polish folk music is an enormous task, but one which has been achieved. The book covers most of what is typical in Polish folk music (that is, from rural Poland). It begins

Reviews - Books Reviews - Books z5o z5o

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Reviews - Books 2.51

with short definitions of terms. Next the author sketches Poland's diverse historical, geographical, and socio-political background. The following chapters deal directly with Polish folk music which is related to the rest of Slavonic music, then to social events in which music occurs - rituals, such as solstice, harvest, weddings, and so on. The author also presents methods traditionally used in Polish ethnomusicology and tries to build a synthetic concept of Polish folk music.

The central and longest chapter concerns the historical roots of Polish culture, which are the Slavonic pagan cults and Christianity. The author cautiously, and rightly - in my opinion - entitles the opening sub-chapter 'Conjecture or Fact'; as some of her hypothetical statements are indeed difficult to prove. Nevertheless, many very interesting points are made, for example, the unification of Polish culture during the Polish Renaissance. Initially, I assessed the book as addressed to the wider audience. However, after reading it I have had to change my view. I suspect that some parts of the book may confuse a general reader; because of its very difficult and sometimes ambiguous terminology, it will not be fully understood by non-specialists.

The book has a historical bias - such an approach focuses on written sources; the extensive use of morphological analysis of the musical product alone likewise demonstrates little interest in what musicians say about their own actions. John Blacking points out that 'this "quasi-scientific" quest for an all embracing theory led to histories of music that were full of speculations about music that the authors had never heard, or could not possibly have heard' ('A Commonsense View of All Music' (I987), p.8). Unfortunately, some scholars forget that in the case of any man-made object we have another source of knowledge - the evaluation of that object by the people who created it. (Or, perhaps, the evaluation itself is the real issue?)

Personally I believe that if I do not ask a musician for his opinion, I cannot know whether my 'elegant' model derived from even more elegant statistical study is present in the data, or whether I have inserted it myself. I wonder sometimes why people who love music prefer to read old 'sources' instead of just learning from living musicians.

My criticism should certainly not overshadow the immensity of the author's work: there is a great wealth of valid material in her book. The most interesting aspects I found to be her elaboration of the transformation of contemporary Polish folk culture and the change of social consciousness, the role of geography rather than history in creating regional diversity and that of the Polish gentry in the creation of the Polish mentality. The chapter 'Analysis and Description' introduces a very ingenious modal-approach technique derived from the study of Indian music (p. I88).

Above all, the author's knowledge and broad interest in many cultures outside Poland gives her great insight into the origins of Slavs, dividing Slavonic music into Eastern and Western groups and linking this with the two, different levels of creative awareness. Certainly, the book is a very valuable contribution, including the well- selected bibliography; its historical bias can be treated as a challenge to future ethnomusicologists. They may then proceed to study the 'present mind' embedded in the present, every-day life; and they may discover the actual meaning of music.

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There are one or two mistakes: there is a small misprint - the musical transcription is positioned upside-down (p.ioi); the double-bass is not used in the music of Podhale (p.85); some musical transcripts are old-dated.

KRZYSZTOF CWIZEWICZ

JOURNEYMAN: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY EWAN MACCOLL. Introduced by Peggy Seeger. London: Sidgwick and Jackson. 1990. 400 pp. Illus. Index. £16.95.

I find Ewan MacColl an impressive figure. Some friends find it difficult to understand how I can hold such a view. There were times when I might have felt similarly. MacColl was a man who generated and generates extreme feelings, the common positions are either intensely for or against, a more balanced assessment seems hard to attain. The publication of his autobiography may contribute to greater under- standing of MacColl's life and work. Through it the reader might find that it is possible to be critical of much that MacColl did, yet nevertheless to find there is a lot to be valued, celebrated and learnt from his life's work.

I remember once, at a History Workshop, a participant described MacColl as 'the architect of the folk revival'. If he was an architect, I replied, he was one who did without plans and detailed discussions of his building. MacColl's theoretical writings published during his lifetime are meagre in scale. Yet we know that MacColl had a burning need to communicate his ideas, although this was mostly done almost in the fashion of an ancient Greek sage who gathered his disciples (one cannot avoid the word) around him and expounded the truth as he saw it. Such a method has its price. Feedback tends to come only from those of a similar outlook but at a less advanced stage of development. In avoiding the cut and thrust of public or academic debate, however puerile some of it may be, one limits one's own potential for growth. Even if one does not avoid the necessity of self-questioning and reflection (clearly the book demonstrates MacColl was amply capable of both), one limits its scope to ideas generated within the group. In working in a sort of artistic bubble one avoids the dialectical progress of ideas through the wider influence of others, the challenges which can make one fundamentally rethink and reformulate. The end result is a sectarian mentality, one is left defending the last bastion of the truth from the corruption of the world.

In any case no-one can design a social movement; one can influence it, one can be a prime mover in it, but one cannot design it. Your children are not your children, they have the annoying or perhaps healthy habit of going off and doing their own thing their own way, as MacColl's children, actual and metaphorical, have amply shown.

Did the exchange at the History Workshop really happen in the way I have related or has my memory embroidered it? Memory is a strange thing and autobi- ography is even stranger. Writing one's life story is always a strongly motivated act. It hovers between fact and the representation one wishes to leave of onself. 'Is it true?' is a much less important question than 'Does it add something to our knowledge and understanding?', for truth can never be separated from the particular historical, social, and cultural space each individual occupies. Clearly MacColl's Journeyman adds to our understanding. It is and will remain an important cultural

There are one or two mistakes: there is a small misprint - the musical transcription is positioned upside-down (p.ioi); the double-bass is not used in the music of Podhale (p.85); some musical transcripts are old-dated.

KRZYSZTOF CWIZEWICZ

JOURNEYMAN: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY EWAN MACCOLL. Introduced by Peggy Seeger. London: Sidgwick and Jackson. 1990. 400 pp. Illus. Index. £16.95.

I find Ewan MacColl an impressive figure. Some friends find it difficult to understand how I can hold such a view. There were times when I might have felt similarly. MacColl was a man who generated and generates extreme feelings, the common positions are either intensely for or against, a more balanced assessment seems hard to attain. The publication of his autobiography may contribute to greater under- standing of MacColl's life and work. Through it the reader might find that it is possible to be critical of much that MacColl did, yet nevertheless to find there is a lot to be valued, celebrated and learnt from his life's work.

I remember once, at a History Workshop, a participant described MacColl as 'the architect of the folk revival'. If he was an architect, I replied, he was one who did without plans and detailed discussions of his building. MacColl's theoretical writings published during his lifetime are meagre in scale. Yet we know that MacColl had a burning need to communicate his ideas, although this was mostly done almost in the fashion of an ancient Greek sage who gathered his disciples (one cannot avoid the word) around him and expounded the truth as he saw it. Such a method has its price. Feedback tends to come only from those of a similar outlook but at a less advanced stage of development. In avoiding the cut and thrust of public or academic debate, however puerile some of it may be, one limits one's own potential for growth. Even if one does not avoid the necessity of self-questioning and reflection (clearly the book demonstrates MacColl was amply capable of both), one limits its scope to ideas generated within the group. In working in a sort of artistic bubble one avoids the dialectical progress of ideas through the wider influence of others, the challenges which can make one fundamentally rethink and reformulate. The end result is a sectarian mentality, one is left defending the last bastion of the truth from the corruption of the world.

In any case no-one can design a social movement; one can influence it, one can be a prime mover in it, but one cannot design it. Your children are not your children, they have the annoying or perhaps healthy habit of going off and doing their own thing their own way, as MacColl's children, actual and metaphorical, have amply shown.

Did the exchange at the History Workshop really happen in the way I have related or has my memory embroidered it? Memory is a strange thing and autobi- ography is even stranger. Writing one's life story is always a strongly motivated act. It hovers between fact and the representation one wishes to leave of onself. 'Is it true?' is a much less important question than 'Does it add something to our knowledge and understanding?', for truth can never be separated from the particular historical, social, and cultural space each individual occupies. Clearly MacColl's Journeyman adds to our understanding. It is and will remain an important cultural

Reviews - Books Reviews - Books 252 252

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