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Paper short abstract

The study examines how contemporary Ukrainian military songs reinterpret folk heritage, linking them to ancient traditions of resistance in Cossack, rifleman, and insurgent folklore. It emphasizes the continuity of historical songs of resistance and reveals new meanings in their landscape and nature

Paper long abstract

The tradition of folk songs in Ukraine has undergone dynamic changes in recent decades. “Resistance folklore,” which previously mainly included works from the revolutions of modern history, now encompasses a vast layer of “war folklore.”

Given the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, which began with the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and escalated into a full-scale confrontation since 2022, I focus my research on contemporary Ukrainian war songs created during this period. In addition to various new compositions that are gradually becoming folklorized, we are tracing a burst of folklorism in contemporary popular songwriting. Their original versions are folk songs from various periods of national struggle in the past — in particular, Cossack, rifleman, and rebel songs. Lyrical folk songs are being reinterpreted separately, acquiring new meanings adapted to the war-time reality.

It is essential to demonstrate that the historical continuity of motifs associated with the concept WAR is particularly evident in the reinterpretations of folk songs. However, a detailed analysis of contemporary interpretations, whose primary sources belong to different thematic and genre groups, reveals changes in the meaning of natural symbols: additional connotative meanings of animalistic images, the use of unique toponyms, and the traditional natural landscapes actualized in a new way in contemporary versions of songs. For example, the traditional bird symbols (crane, dove, falcon) frequently acquire new functions in modern songs, sometimes representing the enemy. Similarly, the opposition between “our” and “their” lands is articulated through contrasting landscapes — the Crimean Peninsula versus the Don River.