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Ukrainian Minstrels: And the Blind Shall Sing
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Comments/Reviews
Description: Among the many intriguing characteristics of the Ukrainian folk tradition is the fact that Ukrainian epics were sung by a special type of minstrel--the blind mendicant. These minstrels were organized into professional guilds that set standards for training and performance and provided the singers with protection and support throughout their careers.
When the separateness of Ukrainian culture became politically salient in the Stalin era, epic singers became a target of repression. For this reason--and due also to the secrecy that always surrounded the guilds' rites of membership--Ukrainian minstrelsy has been little studied.
Natalie Kononenko's work is thus a revelation of a distinctive folk tradition and a little-known social order. It describes the private and professional lives of folk performers, both male and female, and shows how a traditional culture simultaneously employed handicapped people and fulfilled the spiritual and cultural needs of the larger community. Complementing the text are the author's own translations of secret initiation rites, magical songs, begging songs, religious songs, historical songs, and epics, and rare photos of minstrels from this and the last century.
This fascinating book will be a treasure trove for anyone with an interest in folklore, Ukrainian culture, disabilities, or rural social history.
Selected Contents:
Foreword, Linda J. Ivanits
I. Ukrainian Minstrelsy;
1. The Singers
2. The Traditional Repertory: An Overview
3. Common Stereotypes of Minstrels
4. Blindness
5. Minstrel Institutions: The Brotherhoods or Guilds
6. Apprenticeship, Training, and Initiation
7. Learning Minstrel Songs
8. Minstrel Guilds and the Orthodox Church
9. Minstrelsy and Martyrdom: The Influence of Religious Song on Epic
10. Epic and Lament: The Influence of Kobzari on Lirnyky
Conclusion
II. Minstrel Rites and Songs;
Texts: Description of a Religious Festival; The Minstrel Initiation Rite
Songs: The Begging Song and the Song of Gratitude; Religious Songs; Epic Dumy; Historical Songs; Satirical Songs; Secret Song
Review(s): Highly specialized and enormously interesting, in Ukrainian Minstrels, Natalie Kononenko, a folklorist ... explores the Ukrainian folk tradition of the blind mendicant minstrel, a minstrelsy repressed under Stalinism for its secret initiation rites and preservation of historical songs. Publishers Weekly
This study yields important perspectives on the nature of artistic expression while it rehabilitates several crucial issues in Ukrainian folkloristics that surfaced shortly before the onslaught of Soviet requirements made them taboo. ... Kononenko's focus on all the standard aspects of folklore study (the mechanics of production, diffusion, function, and so forth) make this a superb textbook for students of verbal lore. Ukrainianists in all fields fo investigation will also benefit from a close reading of this work. Slavicists interested in folklore, literature, expressive behavior, and cultural antiquities will need to add this authoritative volume to their libraries as well. Finally, medical scientists and those interested in cultural therapeutics will want to scrutinize Kononenko's findings on the connectives between artistic creativity and disability. Slavic Review
In a refreshing piece of painstaking scholarship, Kononenko has sifted through archival materials, surveyed published accounts and collections of songs, cited bits of historical information dating as far back as the fifteenth century, interviewed present-day performers who have attempted to revive the tradition in recent years, and included reproductions of rare photographs. ... Kononenko has not only provided a fundamental study and interpretation of the Ukrainian minstrel tradition, but she has also contributed to our knowledge about one more oral literature and its creators. Slavic and East European Journal
In Ukranian Minstrels, Natalie Kononenko gives us a thorough description of the lives and art of real minstrels, and tells a fascinating tale that separates the myths from reality...Kononenko has done a masterful job of critically examining all the previous scholarship to glean bits and pieces of information about the minstrels themselves. As an added feature, she includes English translations of texts from each category of repertory, as well as 24 photographs, which greatly compliment the excellent discussion of the minstrels themselves. The result is an extremely interesting and important book for anyone interested in minstrelsy. Ethnomusicology
Kononenko has helped to elucidate several important aspects of the lives and repertory of the blind minstrels in the nineteenth century. Their repertory is presented in this book in the clearest and most comprehensive manner of any publication in any language from any time period. Journal of Ukrainian Studies
    
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