Studia Ethnologica Pragensia (Jun 2023)
Ballads as Collective Memory: Historical Circumstances and National Features
Abstract
The role of folk songs in evoking memories is evident, on both a collective and individual level. Many songs, created for certain circumstances, even historical ones, remain layered in collective memory within folklore. Later, through the analysis of folk songs that shape our collective memory, in addition to shedding light on the circumstances that caused their creation, we manage to discover parts of our cultural identity, our national character and our unwritten history. Ballads and folk songs preserve our national features which were formed during certain circumstances, and which memories have brought to us today. Based on this concept I will take into consideration an Albanian folk song that can be categorized as a historical ballad, which contains historical facts from an event that occurred during the Ottoman period in the Balkans. This folk song, named ‘Fryni era, u çel taraba’ [The wind blew, the fence opened], is very popular among Albanian-speaking areas in the Balkans. The Antigone motif, a sister that sacrifices herself for her brother, is what characterizes this ballad, and reveals other features of the community’s national character such as honor, hospitality, revenge, etc. Its presence in Albanian-speaking oral tradition is very old and long, while also becoming very successful in theatre as dramas and ballets. Based on qualitative inquiry, where data collection and data analysis techniques are combined to provide a deep and comprehensive understanding of why and how things happen, I will try to raise these issues: What is the role of folklore in preserving the memories of a community? What events should become folk songs or ballads to remain in collective memory? What ‘feeds’ it to stay alive? The theoretical framework will be built on the works of authors Jan Vansina, Paul Thompson, Maurice Halbwachs, David C. Rubin, Joseph Von Hammer, Ahmet Qeriqi, Ndoc Selimi, Rrustem Berisha, Harry Hodgkinson.
