Paper Short Abstract:

The past decade has seen notable changes in how Polish composers perceive, define, and approach folk music. Selected compositions including personal village music backgrounds, archival recordings, open forms, village music practitioners as performers will be examined to consider composers motivations, inspirations and goals.

Paper Abstract:

In response to the growing interest in peasant themes within public discourse, academic research, and artistic creation in Poland over the past decade, the term "folk turn" has been introduced. This concept does not merely highlight the subject of interest but emphasizes the perspective through which peasant heritage is examined. It entails addressing a significant gap in historical narratives, reframing entrenched images of rural culture, amplifying voices previously marginalized, incorporating personal experiences, and shifting towards oral history and microhistory while moving away from a global perspective to a local one. An expression of this "folk turn" is evident in a specific strand of musical creativity - a collection of compositions positioned at the borderlands of traditional village and contemporary composed (classical) music.

Since the 19th century, Polish composed music has consistently drawn on folk traditions in diverse ways and for various purposes, such as expressing patriotic ideals, fostering national unity, exemplifying the "voice of the people" under communist directives, or seeking universal elements within folk traditions. However, the past decade has seen notable changes in how composers perceive, define, and approach folk music. Contemporary creators focus on its previously overlooked parameters, utilize archival recordings, draw on personal experiences, adopt open forms, delegate performance to village music practitioners and center their attention on the music of specific microregions.

I will examine selected compositions exemplifying these trends, analyzing how their creators interpret the concept of "folk music", why they engage with folk traditions, and what they aim to achieve through these endeavors.