Res Humanitariae

The article examines the letters of Kleofas Jurgelionis (1886–1963; Kleopas Jurgelionis, USA – Ray Jurgen), who was a moderniser of Lithuanian poetry, a literary critic, a translator, an editor of periodicals, publicist and lawyer, to Valerija Tysliavienė (1914–1984), who from 1938 to 1940 was a secretary of his newspaper “Tėvynė”, preserved at the Klaipėda University Library (KUB RSS). These letters (1949–1961) are very rich in content, in them the subject themes are abundantly weaved with courtship. This article discusses the topics of Jurgelionis’s letters to Tysliavienė. Taking into account the reasearch into Jurgelionis’s life and creative works and the KUB RSS archive and publications, this article sets out a twofold purpose: to discuss the content of Jurgelionis’s letters to Tysliaviene and to discuss poetry manuscripts and their publications with a textological lens.

In analyzing the pre-Christian culture of the Balts, the nucleus of which consists of pagan religious logic and mythology, there is a problem of the value and reliability of the recorded writings about it. The article reviews and verifies the mythological information having a direct relation to the sowing celebration that Matthaeus Praetorius (Matthäus Prätorius) recorded in the source “Deliciae Prussicae oder Preussische Schaubühne” (Deliciae Prussicae or Prussian Theater, late 17th century). In succession, the paper discusses the interpretations made by the 20th to 21st century researchers who analyzed the mythological material recorded by Praetorius about the sowing festival. The context of the research made in 20th to 21st century has revealed that the scholars of earlier periods gave different assessments to the reliability of the aforementioned mythological material provided by Praetorius: they did not question authenticity, but considered the information to be quite reliable, and used it in their works; the scholars sensed the problem of authenticity of the mythological material, but hesitated to solve it; the scholars noticed the authenticity problem and more or less tried to solve it. The analysis suggests to determine that the mythological material related directly to the sowing festival recorded by Praetorius is to be considered authentic and reliable.

Anthropologists are increasingly doing research related to the city. There is a need to come up with new urban theories. Because of this, it is important to know about the research of Lithuanian ethnology and anthropology which emphasize the importance of the city. The aim of this article is to find out how city is analyzed and conceptualized by Lithuanian ethnologists and anthropologists. Two tasks have been formulated: to introduce with theories of urban anthropology and to analyze and classify works of Lithuanian ethnologists and anthropologists. In the article there are distinguished four groups of concepts of city.

The popular musical genre of rap in Lithuania, ascribed to the subculture of hip-hop, is appearing in the area of social and commercial advertisements more frequently. Rap is also gradually becoming a willingly used platform for telling various stories. This musical genre is used during different lessons and trainings as a means that encourages creativity and motivation of learning. Being based in the USA and quite strongly rooted in Lithuania, rap itself makes one think about how this phenomenon transformed in Lithuanian cultural sphere or how it is perceived nowadays by Lithuanian artists. Using documentaries, this article seeks to analyze the thoughts about rap and its significance in Lithuanian and American documentaries proposed by the hip-hop artists, in addition to discuss and explain their similarities and differences from the artist’s perspective.

The article deals with folk traditional aerophonic instrumentation of Volyn and Polissya, its varieties, characteristic features, the way of making and living. The structure of melo music of the connoisseur music in the context of the pasty life of the studied region is analyzed.

In the middle of the twentieth century, when European ethnomusicology started developing on the initiative of Bela Bartok, Filaret Kolessa and Stanislaw Lyudkevich, began to develop a methodology for the study of music dialects, the young Ukrainian scientist Volodymyr Hoshovsky joined the process. He went his own way. His innovative approach was to combine the work of related sciences: lingual geography and ethnomusicology. Ukrainian ethnomusicologist Vira Madyar-Novak examines the first publications of V. Hoshovsky in the context of music dialectology, expands and clarifies information about the early stage of his work.

The article studies history of formation and defines the main priorities in the activity of “the Union of the Ukrainian Professional Musicians in Lviv” during 1934–1939, in particular – in the activity of its performing section. New organizing methods in the preparation and conducting of the artistic events and formation of professional priorities and criteria have been characterized. Among more important aspects of “The Union of the Ukrainian Professional Musicians in Lviv” – organization of the thematic and jubilee concerts aimed at the active introduction of concert life in Lviv with the participation of the most brilliant Lviv composers and performers, organization and conducting of the performing contests, creation of music programs of the Ukrainian music on Lviv radio with the participation of the leading soloists-instrumentalists and chamber ensembles.

Studying Macedonian culture, we can not help noticing the particular role of folklore ensembles in fostering traditional music and dances, with a view to cherishing the national characteristics. This process is directed by the highest political bodies, which have disseminated the idea in a few spheres. Firstly, by means of actualization of certain matrices in the national folk ensemble Tanec, which was the benchmark followed by amateur ensembles. On the other hand, state television and radio MRTV, started broadcasting performances of folk music ensembles and programs with specific contents, i.e. where folklore prevailed. Analyzing the situation with the folk dance ensemble Tanec, we can notice that its Statute, as well as its first director Mr Manuel Chuchkov (senior political official) emphasized application, promotion and actualization of folklore in the context of socio-ideological engagement. Several papers written by Chuchkov, consider the usage of folk dances by placing them in historical and ideological contents. Such are the examples of folk dances from this period, into which drama elements are imputed, giving the dances specific historical features and being supposed to encourage patriotic feelings. Folklore used to be used as a tool in the socialist period, but it is still being actualized, in Macedonia nowadays.