Karelian epic runes: performing practices

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study devoted to a comprehensive study of the practices of performing Karelian epic runes in the 19th– 20th centuries. The objectives of the work are to summarize the work of previous researchers, identify, systematize and describe the methods of performing epic runes, and introduce into scientific circulation little-known information about runosinging to the Russian audience. The material for the study was rare and inaccessible (or only partially accessible) to the Russian-speaking audience sources with metadata of collectors of Karelian folklore: archival collections on both sides of the Russian-Finnish border, published collections of Karelian runes, travel essays of collectors-travelers. A frontal analysis of the entire set of methods of epic runosinging and its systematization were carried out for the first time. It has been established that in the Karelian tradition there were two main ways of performing epic runes: solo singing, which could be either male or female, and two men singing, which is divided into two variants: ceremonial performance of the rune, which implies alternate and joint singing of verses of the same rune, and a “singing competition”, i. e. alternate performance of different runes in order to identify the best runosinger. Solo singing and ceremonial singing of the rune by two men could be accompanied by playing the kantele, which is an exception to the tradition. In the later period of its existence, singing accompanied by kantele was brought to life by the rune stage performance.