In the material devoted to the work of the Polish painter Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski, 1875-1944), I already wrote that the artist in 1928 completed a series of fourteen decorative paintings dedicated to the history of dance for the sanatorium "Lvigrad" (Lwigród) in the resort town of Krynica-Zdrój. That's why this series got into my heading "Dance in painting". Moreover, the series of the artist turned out to be very eclectic. It presents both Polish folk dances and historical and everyday dances of the 19th century, and modern dances of the 20th century, and such types of choreographic art as mimodrama, ballet and even, as I understand it, striptease under the beautiful name "Temptation". And this is in 1928! From Internet sources, I realized that Vygzhivalsky's murals in the sanatorium (now he is a rest house) "Lvigrad" have not been preserved. However, the sketches for the work are in a very deplorable state, some of them are roughly sealed with paper tape (it's only unclear why on the front side ??). However, there is an opportunity to see this series of works by Felix Michal Wygzivalski, which I invite you to do.
Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (Polish, 1875-1944) Polonez. 1928
Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (Polish, 1875-1944) Menuet. 1928
Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (Polish, 1875-1944) Krakowiak. 1928
Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (Polish, 1875-1944) Taniec góralski (Mountain dance). 1928
Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (Polish, 1875-1944) Mazur (Mazurka). 1928
Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (Polish, 1875-1944) Walc (Waltz). 1928
Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (Polish, 1875-1944) Polka. 1928
Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (Polish, 1875-1944) Blues. 1928
Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (Polish, 1875-1944) Charleston. 1928
Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (Polish, 1875-1944) Tango. 1928
Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (Polish, 1875-1944) Taniec bez muzyki. 1928
Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (Polish, 1875-1944) Kuszenie (Temptation). 1928
Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (Polish, 1875-1944) Taniec klasyczny. 1928
Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (Polish, 1875-1944) Ojra, ojra (Oira, oyra). 1928
True, Sokolova in her work puts forward and substantiates the version that the emotional exclamation “oira” originates from the folklore of the Adyghes, that is, it has Caucasian roots. But that's a completely different story...
I don't know if there is a shorter song lyrics anywhere. Shorter and more, at first glance, meaningless ... However, judge for yourself. This recording was made in Moscow in the summer of 1910:
Where did this song come from, who is its author and what does this strange word "oira" mean - no one knows even now. But the fact remains: by about 1910, in the vast expanses Russian Empire the melody of "Oira" was, as they say, on everyone's lips - first of all, in Poland, in Belarus, in the Baltic states and in Ukraine.
Always sensitive to the needs of the public, the record companies one after another released records with various recordings of Oira, and they were apparently oriented towards a very wide and not too demanding urban audience, lovers of quadrille and cinematography. It is unlikely that the melody of "Oira" sounded in aristocratic salons, but in the middle class environment it seemed to be extremely popular and easily recognizable.
Often, even notes were not required - the melody of "Oira" is remembered almost as easily as its unpretentious and incomprehensible "text". For example, Vasily Malyavkin, the leader of the duet of accordionists in Moscow, who recorded “Oira” for the Zonophon in the summer of 1910, did not need notes. The widow of a Greek citizen, Madame Valiadis, who kept an “illusion cinematograph” in Odessa in the summer and autumn of the same year, did not need any notes either:
The Bioscope Realite illusion was kept by the widow of a Greek subject, Madame Valiadis, an enterprising and imaginative woman. She decided to immediately kill all her competitors. To do this, she, firstly, hired the famous coupletist Singertal, so that he would speak before each session, and secondly, she decided to make a bold revolution in technology, turning the silent cinematograph into a sound one. The audience poured into the "Bioscope Realite".
In the former dining room, pasted over with old wallpaper with bouquets, narrow and long, like a pencil case, before each session near small screen the public's favorite Singertal began to appear. He was a tall, skinny Jew in a frock coat to the toes, in a yellowed pique waistcoat, pieced striped trousers, white leggings and a mourning top hat pulled down over big ears ... Then Madame Valiadis in a hat with ostrich feathers, in long gloves with cut off fingers so that people could to see her rings, sat down at the tattered piano, and to the sounds of the matchish and “Oh-ra, oh-ra!” the session started.
Explosions of laughter shook the dark room of the illusion. Meanwhile, behind the screen, not visible to anyone, Gavrik worked hard, earning fifty kopecks a day for his living. It was he who beat the cymbals at the right moment, blew the whistle, barked, meowed, rang the bell, shouted in a farcical voice: “Hold, catch, grab!” - stamped his feet, imitating a crowd, and with all his might threw a box with broken glass on the floor, drowning out the barking sounds of “Oh-ra, oh-ra!” , which, not sparing the key, was played by Madame Valiadis on this side of the screen.
These are lines from Valentin Kataev's novel "A Farm in the Steppe". Kataev, as you know, recorded with photographic accuracy the slightest nuances of the Odessa life of that time, and if he put Oira on a par with the then super-popular match, then it was so ...
It is difficult to say whether Madame Valiadis' "Oira" was also accompanied by Gavrik's cries of "oh-ra, oh-ra!" - in the end, the Odessa audience did not come to the "Bioscope Realite" at all for a concert. In addition, “Oira” was perceived by the public more as a dance (and really, what is there to sing there?), And if people wanted to dance, then somewhere in the city garden, not a “torn piano” was waiting for them, but where better performance. Here, for example, how it is (download):
The Extrafon Society was founded in Kyiv and released its first record at the end of 1911. It specialized in the release of gramophone records with recordings of folk and dance music (not only Russian, but also Little Russian, Jewish, Georgian, Armenian, peoples of the Caucasus, etc.), as well as works, as they would now say, of the pop genre - countless romances, comic scenes, melody recitations, verses, ditties, chansonettes, etc.
And in this glorious row, our Oira also found its place of honor. Moreover, Extraphone even recorded it in three versions, from No. 1 to No. 3. Melody number one is what we have already heard and know. The melodies of the other two numbers do not even remotely resemble her. Combining all three numbers under one name, "Extraphone", apparently, believed that "Oira" is something more than just some single song (or, say, a dance), is it a state of mind, or what ?. .
Moscow, Odessa, Kyiv… And the next city in the Oira geography will be Warsaw. It was there that the Volynsky Life Guards Regiment was located, whose orchestra in November 1909 also recorded a song that was gaining popularity, so similar to a dance, with the same and mysterious cries of “Oh-ra! ..”. They write here that this is de “polka with singing”. We listen to the inspired singing of the Life Guards (download):
The commander of the Life Guards of the Volynsky Regiment in November 1909 was, by the way, a recent colonel (and now a general) by the name of Turbin, later one of the leaders of the White Guard, commandant of the Sevastopol fortress near Wrangel. The irony of fate, of course, but this very combination - "Colonel Turbin" - involuntarily brings us back from Warsaw to Kyiv. And from there it’s not far to Odessa: I wonder how things are going there for the enterprising widow of a Greek subject, who performed “Oira” with such brilliance in the dim hall of the cinema? ..
Alas, things somehow did not work out for Madame Valiadis, although at first, attracted, among other things, by the sounds of "Oira" (and why not, really?), The audience poured into the "Bioscope Realite".
… But this was not enough for the greedy widow. Knowing that the public loves politics, she ordered the Singertal to update its repertoire with something political and raised ticket prices. Singertal made a Mephistopheles smile, shrugged one shoulder, said “OK,” and the next day, instead of the outdated verses “Soldiers, soldiers are walking through the streets,” he performed completely new ones, called “Ties, Ties.”
Pressing a tiny, toy violin to his shoulder with his blue horse-like chin, he waved his bow, winked at the audience with a kidney-shaped eye, and, alluding to Stolypin, insinuatingly sang:
Our prime minister has a terrible way of putting ties around people's necks,
after which Singertal himself flew out of the city in twenty-four hours, Madame Valiadis was completely ruined by bribes to the police and was forced to liquidate her illusion, and Gavrik received only a fourth of what he earned.
So, in constant creative torment and constant bribes to the police, the national stage was born. “Our prime minister has a terrible manner”… We will not repeat fatal mistakes Madame Valiadis and we will try to do without politics at all, although in a conversation about the famous and mysterious Oira, it will still not work without pop music, without its initiators and pioneers.
Moscow - Odessa - Kyiv - Warsaw - Kyiv - Odessa ... And again Moscow.
“Everything that we call variety art…”
The enterprising and greedy widow of a Greek subject was by no means the first among us who tried to make a bold revolution in technology and turn a silent cinematograph into a sound one. The first was an Algerian Frenchman named Omon (or, according to some sources, Salomon). It was he who, as early as 1902, demonstrated in Moscow the technical possibilities of combining cinema and sound. In fact, he became the founder of not only sound cinema in Russia, but also film distribution as a business project. But Aumont was famous in Moscow not for his film achievements, but for the organization of large (one might say, “pop”) venues, where the enchanted Moscow audience enthusiastically accepted the performances of those who were already firmly entrenched in the name “chansonettes” at that time.
The enterprising Monsieur Aumont conducted business in Moscow on a much larger scale than Madame Valiadis in Odessa. Connoisseurs of high theatrical art were seething with indignation, but could not do anything with the popular in Moscow "Aumon's theater", which boldly transferred European values and traditions to the fertile Russian soil. For a long time, one of the venues for dubious performances was the building in Kamergersky Lane, where in the same 1902, having replaced the Omon Theater, the Moscow Art Theater moved. On this occasion, Stanislavsky expressed his gratitude to Savva Morozov, the benefactor of the Moscow Art Theater, in these words:
Having practically studied a case that was once alien to you, you, together with your employees, turned the den of debauchery into an elegant temple of art within a few months.
Five years later, entangled in debts and bribes to the police, Monsieur Aumont fled abroad, leaving in Moscow both a promoted business and another, more famous, name for his theater - the Buff Theater. The banner that fell from his hands was picked up by others, and by the time we are interested in (1910s), the Buff Theater moved to a building specially built for it at the corner of Sadovoye and Tverskaya - now there is Concert hall named after P.I. Tchaikovsky.
Representatives of various light genres performed at the Buff Theater, from performers of gypsy romances to coupletists like the Odessa Singertal, but the main lure for visitors was, of course, chansonnets. Now only a few photographs and names are left of them - as a rule, fictitious ones: Anichka Irtlach, Dora-Decadence, Rita Gray, Verochka Hummingbird, E. A. Sea-Volna, Tamara Gruzinskaya, Vera P. Verina, Lucy Arkas, A. I Lebedeva, S. Nolte, A. D. Dolina, Minna Merci... The lyrics of their songs, like all their stage behavior, were very, very ambiguous, sometimes, as they say, "on the verge", but... the public is exactly this and that liked it.
Here, for example, is a fragment from the performance of Minna Mercy, a chansonette from Moscow, - couplets with the name "The Dressmaker". Recording of 1911 (download):
Minna Mercy performs the final part in Yiddish: it was no secret to anyone from the public that Jewish names were often hidden behind the sonorous “foreign” pseudonyms of many stars of the national proto-stage. Yes, even the same V. P. Verina, Anichka Irtlach, Rita Gray, E. A. Sea-Volna, Verochka Hummingbird ... Yes, even the same Minna Mercy.
In pre-war and, in fact, pre-revolutionary Russia, various kinds of coupletists and chansonettes in a more or less educated and prosperous urban environment enjoyed immense popularity. Recording companies, responding to the demand of the public, vied with each other to release more and more phonograph records with recordings of their performances. Here is just one example, an advertisement from 1914:
And here we are in for a surprise. Although ... what such a surprise? It would be strange to think that the famous "Oira", the melody of which even the visitors of Madame Valiadis' establishment received, as they say, with a bang, will bypass our energetic show business of those years with their close attention.
The advertised record number 201 was recorded at the end of 1912. On it, Minna Mercy, to the recognizable melody of "Oira", performs couplets typical of her repertoire with easily read erotic overtones. And this, in fact, is the only thing, apart from the melody, that somehow connects these verses together.
That disc with the recording of “Oira Inside Out” has survived to this day, and now you can listen to what Minna Mercy sang there to the melody we know. We listen with interest to the first verse (download):
And what, after all, the text turns out to be quite good: "Repetitions - stories, shame - sadly, sang - hurt"… And instead of the usual exclamation “oira, oira!” - very appropriate here "bald, bald!" . After all, everyone understands perfectly well that bald is most often rich. If you are already bald, but not yet rich, then this is very, very strange. It sounds quite decent and logical even a hundred years later, doesn't it? ..
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The aviation theme was one of the most beloved themes in show business in the 1910s. First, technological progress. Secondly, a wide field for all understandable erotic allusions. “Higher, higher and higher ... throwing up your obedient apparatus or creating an unprecedented flight”- this, of course, is not a chansonette, but, you see, Minna Mercy would die of envy. "Höher und höher stieg ihre Idea, trotz Haß und Verbot!"- and this is not a song at all, but what a tenacious theme, right? ..
Well, and the final verse, with the replacement "oira, oira!" to Erlich! Erlich! (download):
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Our modern show business has probably not yet reached such frankness, and this, of course, inspires some moderate optimism ...
Albert Einstein received the Nobel Prize not for the theory of relativity, although it was it that brought him worldwide fame. The German Paul Ehrlich Nobel laureate not at all for the “drug 606”, salvarsan, although it was this drug of his that defeated syphilis, the previously invincible “Polish disease”, made his name known throughout the world and, of course, in Russia.
“And the gramophone cheerfully praised Erlich and presented Klubnichkin with the most brilliant Christmas present”- these are the words that ends his story, which was released in November 1910, a certain domestic comedian named S. Kosoy. Immediately, literally somewhere nearby, an obituary on the death of Leo Tolstoy was also published. It is from this event that the novel "A Farm in the Steppe" begins. Just at that time, somewhere in distant Odessa, the irrepressible Gavrik was earning his fifty kopecks a day by the sweat of his brow, almost drowning out the barking sounds of “Oh-ra, oh-ra!” , which, not sparing the keys, was played by Madame Valiadis on an old, tattered piano ...
Anichka Irtlach, Dora-Decadence, Vera P. Verina, Vera Hummingbird, E. A. Morskaya-Volna, Lucy Arkas, Tamara Gruzinskaya, Rita Grey, A. I. Lebedeva, S. Nolte, A. D. Dolina, Minna Mercy ... Yes, and S. Oblique. Their further fate is absolutely unknown. They were the first - and that says it all ...
... You do not judge him from above, Do not say that the jokes are cumbersome, Everything that we call variety art, It all started on these stages! ..
But here we are all "Oira" and "Oira". Oira-oira, oira-oira… And what does the very word “oira” mean? What does science tell us about this?
Science has a lot to say about this, and that's usually very suspicious. And there are suspiciously few scientific works on this topic. In fact, we are talking about the only scientific work of 2012, which, of course, is devoted not so much to “Oira” itself, but to cultural diffusions in connection with “Oira” and which is called: “On cultural diffusions in post-folklore (using the example of the dance „ Oira-Oira")" (when looking at this name, one involuntarily recalls a phrase from Branislav Nusic's satirical story "Autobiography": "Children, for the next lesson, prepare an essay on the topic" Bifurcation of the Patagonians on the material of data on the settled way of life of the Eskimos "").
Here is just a small excerpt from a work on cultural diffusion:
What does the mysterious expression "Oira-Oira" mean and where did this dance come from? In science, this question is raised for the first time, although on Internet forums, in chat rooms, on the pages of music portals in last years it is of some interest. The discussion of the issue usually includes ordinary people, lovers of music and dance. Let's try to outline some interpretations of the concept of "oira-oira" that are characteristic of everyday consciousness. Oira is:
Lithuanian song-dance (polka) with a characteristic chorus "oira-oira";
Polka dance of Belarusian origin;
Kuban dance;
Kyiv polka;
Expression of joy in an abbreviated version (derived from the cry "Oh, I'm glad!");
Old Russian battle cry;
A distorted Hebrew designation for choral singing (hora);
An ancient Aramaic term for light;
Gypsy chorus, something like the Russian "tra-la-la".
It is possible that the proposed 9 versions do not exhaust the whole variety of human fantasies, trying to somehow decipher the mysterious expression ...
It should be said that the aforementioned scientific work on cultural diffusion is extremely popular on the Russian-language Internet. It must also be admitted that, at least in the assessment of ordinary people, science is absolutely right here: their everyday consciousness by no means exhausts the whole variety.
Your browser cannot play this song. Pronounced by the Germans with deep satisfaction
Ordinary people, having been in Germany, immediately supplement the above list of interpretations with one more item: it turns out that an exclamation very similar to “oira-oira” sounds among the Germans literally at every turn.
A German came up with a fantasy, say, to drink a glass of beer - “oira”, and if it was also with a Bavarian sausage - then “oira-oira” in general. An expression of joy, in short: “Oh, I rejoice!” …
The “ordinary consciousness”, not too versed in Patagonian bifurcations and cultural diffusions, can easily make a list of arbitrary length. Quite clearly, for example, the appearance in the list of interpretations "Gypsy chorus, something like the Russian "tra-la-la"". When in 2004 the writer Boris Strugatsky was asked about the origin of the surname of one of the popular characters in the novel “Monday Begins on Saturday”, Roman Petrovich Oyra-Oyra, he answered simply:
I don’t remember exactly, but we read in some book or heard from friends that “oira-oira” is such a dance chorus among gypsies. Something like the Russian “tra-la-la” or “oh-lyuli”. With such a surname, we wanted to emphasize the gypsy origin of hook-nosed Roman.
If someone has been not in Germany, but, let's say, in Lithuania and found out that they willingly dance there to the tune of "Oyry-Oyry", it's clear that this is a Lithuanian song-dance. But how else?.. I went to Belarus - well, no doubt, this is a polka dance of Belarusian origin. To the Kuban - of course, this is the Kuban dance. And you could have been somewhere else. After all, “Oira” is danced in Poland, and in Estonia, and not only in Kyiv, and in Ottawa, Canada, and on Mount Feria in Batumi. Both locals and visitors dance - what do you want? Cultural diffusion…
The author of the scientific work mentioned above, a professor at the Adyghe State University, gives certain arguments in favor of the fact that both the song-dance itself and the mysterious word "oira" originally arose in the Caucasus and only in the second half of the 19th century culturally diffused into Eastern Europe. .
"Your version? “Something good…something good…”. Exactly. With all the variety of versions - stupid and not very, ordinary and scientific - literally everyone agrees on one thing: “oira” is an expression of some kind of good feelings, some kind of satisfaction, exultation, triumph ...
It is interesting that such unanimity is typical only for Eastern Europe, and in the purely West, where there are also exclamations of their own to express such feelings, the meaning of our mysterious word “oira” already needs explanation. When, for example, an ensemble with the Polish name “Wesole chłopaki” recorded an instrumental version of “Oira-Oira” for an American audience, then it became necessary to somehow explain this strange name to the Americans even on the record label: “Oira-Oira” is - de, good gentlemen, familiar to you "Yippee-Yippee" (download):
But now, apparently, our domestic reader already needs explanations of what the exclamation “yippee!” Means for an American. . Let's turn to the English-Russian dictionary:
Yippee Int. Hooray (expresses joy, excitement, excitement)
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Simply put, this is a spontaneous and extremely emotional, typically cowboy exclamation: "Yes!.. Yeh!.. Finally!.. Hooray, I did it!.." etc. Satisfaction, jubilation and triumph: hurrah! what a good guy I am!
Interestingly, in the 1960s - clearly under the influence of this cowboy exclamation - a radical left arose in the United States youth movement who called themselves "Yippies". As a matter of fact, the slogan of this movement of absurdist rebels was the most common - as always in such cases, "let us renounce the old world, shake its dust off our feet."
Unlike their more apolitical counterparts, who are known to everyone as "hippies", "yippies" did not close in on their loved ones, but constantly carried out noisy and sometimes very creative political actions, the most famous of which was an attempt to nominate their candidate for presidential elections 1968. And everything would be fine, but only as a candidate for the presidency of the United States, the “yippies” were offered ... a cute pig named Pigasus. This name ingeniously combines both “pig” (pig in English) and “Pegasus” (where would creative nature be without Pegasus) - in short, the name of the candidate is successfully conveyed in Russian by the word Svintus.
Unceremonious arrest of candidate Svintus by the police
In the pre-election program of this Svintus there were sometimes very sensible thoughts. Thus, it was proposed that the President of the United States should be elected not only by the Americans, but also by the people of the whole Earth, since the United States actually controls the destinies of the whole world. In addition, Svintus refused in advance to support any other pig in the elections - whether it be a candidate from the Republicans or, say, from the Democrats.
The campaign for the election of Svintus ended before it really began: at a campaign rally, without having time to grunt a word, Svintus - along with his associates - "Yippies" - was roughly captured and arrested (according to rumors, then the failed presidential candidate literally ate one of the police officers).
This is about the rebels, "Yippies". On the contrary, their quieter counterparts "hippies" sought to "get rid of the problems of the world, enjoy the sun, nature and friendliness". The hippie movement, having changed several generations and gone through all the ups and downs, has safely reached our days. By the way, a large commune of "hippies" now exists in Copenhagen, the capital of the notorious "Danish" proportions ""(to use the expression of our envious "anti-patriots") ...
The name itself, "hippie", is usually derived by scientists (mostly British) from the word "hip", the origin of which, in turn, is covered in thick fog. But be that as it may, there is hardly any doubt that all these "hippie-yippie" well could not have appeared without the strongest influence from the good old "Yippee!" (that is, in our opinion, “Hurrah!” - from joy, excitement and excitement).
Yippee… hippie… hip… hooray… Excuse me, but what does it all remind you of? - an exclamation popular all over the world, expressing joy, excitement, excitement, universal jubilation and a feeling of deep satisfaction.
As a matter of fact, it is precisely from these words - “Hip-hip hurrah!” - and the name of the picture used as a screensaver begins ...
At the end of the same 1888, when Peder Kroyer finished it, he began a stormy romance with Maria Tripke, also an artist and also Danish, and they soon got married.
Although "get rid of the world's problems" Kroyer succeeded perfectly, but here is a cozy family life, even in the "Danish" sense, he somehow did not succeed. Suddenly, he had problems with both the psyche and syphilis from nowhere, which forced his wife to succumb to the onslaught of the Swedish composer Hugo Alfven, who had no such shortcomings and who, moreover, was almost twenty years younger than Krøyer. New love The artist’s wife, like the previous one, turned out to be as stormy as it was mutual, but for several years our Danish happy Kroyer resolutely did not want to give his wife a divorce, until it became clear that she was expecting a child from Alfven ...
The last years of Krøyer's life were spent in solitude. He was almost completely blind and was forced to paint almost by touch. Peder Krøyer died in 1909 of syphilis, the same year Paul Ehrlich created his magical "drug 606", which Minna Mercy so admired three years later:
Now we can flirt, Husbands and wives cheat.
“It is impossible to imitate this coziness - it needs a fertile atmosphere and the ability to look at life, based on Danish “proportions”.” Indeed so.
Exclamations of "Yippee!" and "Hip hip hooray!" are essentially identical. A slight difference in their usage is that "Yippee!" - this is an individual exclamation, as if “for myself” (say, oh yes I, Son of a bitch!..), while "Hip hip hooray!" they shout in the team - in response to the exclamation of the toastmaster (or some other “conductor”) “Hip hip! ..” the rest of the people respond in unison: “Hooray!” .
In Russian, the exclamation “Hip-hip hurray!” now it is practically not used, and in both of these cases the exclamation "Hurrah!" . For example, in the Charter of the Internal Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, on the issue of interest to us, the following is written:
If the commander (chief) congratulates the servicemen of the military unit (unit) who are in the ranks, they answer with a drawn out triple “Hurrah” ...
Agree, it would be strange if the commander (chief), referring to the formation of military personnel, ended his congratulations with the invocative exclamation "Hip-hip! .." - in anticipation of a triple "Hurrah" ...
So, the cryptic word "Oira" means the same as "Yippee", and "Yippee" is the same as "Hooray". The words "Oira" and "Hooray" have the same meaning and are very close in pronunciation. In other words, this is actually the same word, only slightly different sounding in the East and in the West. In the word "Oira", unlike "Hooray", there is no initial letter "H"? .. Yes, everything is there! Please:
The mysterious word "Oh-ra" and the familiar, but no less mysterious "U-ra" probably have common origin- whatever it is. Perhaps this is indeed the Caucasus. Perhaps this Ancient Greece- remember, for example, Urania ([Ou]rania, [Οὐ]ρανία), a symbol of aspiration to the sky. Perhaps indeed "Ancient Aramaic term for light". Perhaps this is even Ancient Egypt - the syllable “ra” looks very untouchable here and there: “oh-Ra”, “u-Ra” ...
In general, as science says, "the etymology of this word is extremely ambiguous and has many versions of its origin." Science says this about the word "ura" and repeats the same about the word "oira". Which, in general, is not surprising - because it is one and the same ...
Coming New Year, 2018 And again, like more than a hundred years ago, old chimes will beat, champagne will flow like a river, and a loud and joyful “Hurrah!” will be heard in every house ...
From those distant, long-gone years, the "variety artist" Dmitry Bohemsky congratulates us all:
And again, like over a hundred years ago: “The coming year will be happy and successful for you. If any of you has a winning ticket, then he will certainly win two hundred thousand ... "
So Happy New Year, ladies and gentlemen! Oira-oira!.. Hip-hip hooray!..
Valentin Antonov, December 2017
Sokolova Alla Nikolaevna 2012Sokolova A.N.
Doctor of Art History, Professor of the Department of Theory, History of Music and Methods musical education Adyghe State University, e-mail: [email protected] t.ru
On Cultural Diffusions in Post-Folklore (on the Example of the Oira-Oira Dance)
(Reviewed)
Annotation:
The topic related to the dance "Oira-Oira", which exists in the European post-folklore environment, is considered. Based on a large body of data obtained in archives, expedition trips, content analysis of the Internet space, scientific and fiction literature, the author puts forward the idea of a "Caucasian trace" in the history of the appearance of dance, analyzes polyethnic and globalization inclusions in its structure and content, polysemantic semantic codes deciphered in different ways in a particular environment.
Keywords:
Polka oira, folklore, post-folklore, cultural diffusions, origins of dance.
Doctor of Art Criticism, Professor of Department of Music Theory and History and Technique of Musical Education, Institute of Arts, Adyghe State University, e-mail: [email protected]
On cultural diffusion in the post-folklore environment (using a dance "Oyra-oyra" as an example)
The paper deals with the subject related to the dance "Oyra-oyra", occuring in the European post-folklore environment. On the basis of the great case of data obtained in archives and business trips, from the content analysis of Internet space, scientific literature and fiction, the author puts forward an idea of "the Caucasian trace" in the history of the emergence of the dance and analyzes multiethnic and globalization impregnations in its structure and in the contents and multisemantic codes, interpreted differently in the specific environment.
Polka Oyra, folklore, post-folklore, cultural diffusions, the origin of dance.
In the modern Internet space, it is easy to find the dance "Oira, oira" in a variety of ways - as an audio document or a video. The most widely used are Lithuanian and Belarusian versions of the dance (in the form of audio recordings and video versions), but there are also Ukrainian, Finnish folklore arrangements and German variants of "oira" performed in the style of hard rock. A huge number of Oira videos are dedicated to children learning dance or performing it at youth parties, summer tourist camps, folklore holidays and school classrooms. Thus, we can say with confidence that the Oira-Oira dance is quite famous, widespread and very attractive due to its unpretentiousness, to some extent provocativeness and predisposition to easy acquaintance and pastime. Usually the dance is performed in pairs, forming big circle. It is based on two musical tribes. To the sound of the first couple
walk around one another in a counterclockwise direction. With the beginning of the second knee, everyone stops, the partners become facing each other and, to the music, successively touch their feet (the inside of the feet), shoulders, hips, each time saying “oira, oira”. After that, the partner goes to a partner from another pair, they join hands crosswise, stand at the back of the head to another pair, and the dance begins again.
What does the mysterious expression "Oira-Oira" mean and where did this dance come from? In science, this question is raised for the first time, although in recent years it has attracted some interest on Internet forums, chats, and on the pages of music portals. The discussion of the issue usually includes ordinary people, lovers of music and dance. Let's try to outline some interpretations of the concept of "oira-oira" that are characteristic of everyday consciousness. Oira is:
Lithuanian song-dance (Polka) with a characteristic refrain "Oira-Oira"; polka dance of Belarusian origin; Kuban dance; Kyiv polka;
an expression of joy in an abbreviated version (derived from the cry "Oh, I'm glad!");
old Russian battle cry;
a distorted Hebrew designation for choral singing (hora); an ancient Aramaic term for light; gypsy chorus, something like the Russian "tra-la-la".
It is quite possible that the proposed 9 versions do not exhaust the whole variety of human fantasies, trying to somehow decipher the mysterious expression. Five factors remain undeniable. The first is that the concept of "oira-oira" is applicable simultaneously to dance and to a certain dance melody (melodies); the second - most often the dance "oira-oira" is called polka; third - group cries of "oira-oira" are markers and a characteristic driving force of the dance; the fourth - the dance is performed by couples lined up in a circle; fifth - the dance is spread over a large territory (Kuban, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, European countries). This probably ends the universal characteristics of the dance.
Considering all the above facts and analyzing the music available to us, we will try to put forward and substantiate our version of the origin and content of the polka oira dance.
The very first written references to the oira-oira dance are found in the 90s of the 19th century. The first sound samples of "polka oira" (instrumental versions) were recorded on a phonograph at the beginning of the 20th century. Here are some of them:
Record number Company Name in the catalog and on the record Artists
X2-69122 Zonophone, October 1911 Oira, oira, polka Izvekov Brothers, Avakov Brothers Harmonica Orchestra
Kh-60803 Zonofon Oira, oira Recorded in St. Petersburg, 1909
X-60908 Zonophone Oira, Oira Orchestra Zonophone
X2-00789 Zonophone Polka Oira, oira Orchestra under the control. Chernetsky. Berlin recording, 1910
С-20872 Zonophone Polka Oira, oira Orchestra conducted by Gulesco
"Polka Oira", most likely, could appear no earlier than the second half of the 19th century, and at the beginning of the 20th century it was already very popular among the Slavic environment. Recorded on a phonograph
in St. Petersburg (1909), Berlin (1910), Armavir (Izvekov brothers, 1911). Polka was performed solo on the button accordion, by an ensemble of harmonicas and in a full-fledged orchestra. Basically, the Polka Oira records were recorded at the Zonofon company. Recording connoisseurs know that this company produced cheap goods that sold out in large quantities, and recorded unassuming popular music, which was fashionable at the time of recording. Thus, there is no doubt that at the beginning of the 20th century, "Polka Oira" was a popular everyday music, known in the space from the North Caucasus to St. Petersburg and Berlin. It is characteristic that the music of the "oira" was recorded only in an instrumental presentation, without vocals. The orchestral version of "Oira" was performed by Russian military bands in Europe. Additional evidence that the "polka oira" was popular fashionable music at the beginning of the 20th century can be found in the memoirs of Dmitry Likhachev. Talking about childhood impressions associated with a summer stay at a dacha in Kuokkala (now Repino, Leningrad Region), D.S. Likhachev writes: “A small orchestra of four retired German soldiers walked the streets of Kuokkala, stopped in front of some dacha and started playing - started with "Oira", a song beloved by the Finns. If they waved their hand, they stopped the game, but often we asked them to write down what day to come, to play dances at a birthday or name day, when children from all over the neighborhood gathered. Consequently, even before the First World War, Germans and Finns knew and loved "oiru", so it is not surprising that the dance was posted on the modern Finnish Internet portal.
According to the writer L. Lagin, "oira" was very popular among the Germans. In the fantastic novel "The Island of Disappointment", which tells about the test by the Nazis atomic bomb in the Atlantic Ocean, the mention of this dance occurs repeatedly. “... Do you know such a song “Oira”? And Fremdengut, for clarity, sang, barely audibly, almost in a whisper: “We dance-tsu-em, oh-ra, oh-ra ... We dance-tsu-em, oh-ra, oh-ra ...”.
How, how! Kumacher responded with a touch. - God forbid memory, one thousand nine hundred and ten - the eleventh year ... In any case, before the First World War ... One might say, the song of my youth.
She will be the call sign of this ship, understand?” .
So how could this dance tune appear among the Slavs and European peoples? Where did the emotional exclamation “Oira” come from, by which the dance is unmistakably defined? And finally, why is the dance called a polka? Those who live in the Caucasus have no doubt that the "oira" originated here and that its emergence is associated with a certain reaction of the Slavs to Caucasian music and culture in general. Putting forward the version of the Caucasian origin of the dance "Oira" and, accordingly, the melody to it, we were guided by five, in our opinion, weighty arguments. The first concerns the lexeme oira; the second is connected with the identification of folklore, folklore and post-folklore forms of dance existence; the third is determined by the processes cultural diffusions characteristic of the second half of the 19th century in connection with the conquest of the Caucasus; the fourth is characterized by a situation of European sympathy for the Circassians in their struggle for independence and a reaction of cultural empathy; the fifth is characterized by post-folklore European globalization processes, determined by the “fashion” for folk dances and their over-ethnicity.
There is no doubt that the lexeme "Oira" is related to the culture of the autochthonous peoples of the Caucasus. This exclamation is normative for a group of sing-alongs (zhyu) accompanying an instrumental tune or a song among the Adyghes, Abkhazians, Karachais, Ossetians, etc. Moreover, among the Adygs there is a legend that tells about the origin of the chorus syllables “oh-ra”, “o-ri -ra”, “oh-rai-yes”, “o-ri-ra-sha”, “u-rai-yes”, “e-ra-yes”, etc. The story described in The Tale of Bygone Years about the duel between Mstislav and the Kosozh prince Rededa found the following continuation in the Adyghe legend. The tribesmen approached the mortally wounded Reded and asked: “How to perpetuate your name, prince? You saved an entire army by agreeing to settle the war with a duel with Mstislav. The insidious opponent did not fulfill the contract, did not fight on his hands and used a knife. You -
our hero. We will erect a high stone in your honor or erect a mound over your grave. “No,” Reded replied, “The stone will not withstand the rain and wind, the mound will be trampled down over time. To make people remember me, tell the jeguaco to mention my name at every wedding. As long as the Circassians are alive on earth, until then they will play weddings, which means that my name will not die. Since then, at any wedding celebration, during dances or chants, the jeguacos exclaim in the chorus "Oh, Reded!". This is how the chorus syllables “oreded”, “orida”, “orida”, “orira”, “oira” appeared. In Adyghe, "ored" is translated as "song", and vocal ensembles are often called "Orida" or "Oraida".
The choral exclamation “oira, oira” falls at the end of the melodic phrases of the tune, which is also typologically similar to the longs (prolonged sounds) in the endings of the melostrophes of the Adyghe traditional tunes. Typical, for example, for the Circassians are the placement of exclamations at the endings of melodic stanzas (in prolonged finales) and their doubling (“Zableshch, zebleshch” - “Turn around, turn around!” - in Adyghe dances - “Oira, oira” - in polka).
"Caucasian traces" in "oire" can be partly observed in dance plasticity. However, this is not a "direct" imitation of dance steps, but a certain reaction to the dance norms of the autochthonous peoples of the Caucasus. For example, the categorical prohibition of touching in a dance between partners of different sexes among Caucasians is transformed into "oire" into the obligatory contact of dancers with different parts of the body. The imitation of active legs in the dances of the peoples of the Caucasus gave rise in the “oire” to a choreographic technique of contact between the feet of the dancers, unusual for Europeans and Slavs.
Special mention should be made of the compositional technique of "oira" associated with the change of partners. The technique itself is quite well known in folk choreography and is aimed, of course, at the young. Changing partners throughout the dance gives you the maximum opportunity to get to know the opposite sex. Usually dances involving a change of partner are performed for a long time, until everyone dances with everyone. We have already written about one such dance, common in Europe. It is called "Circassian circle" - "Circassian circle". It is danced in Ireland, Scotland, Belgium, France, Canada and other countries. The Irish jokingly call the "Circassian circle" a dance that gives every man a chance (probably a chance to find his soulmate). In connection with the dance "Circassian circle", its Caucasian origin was proved and the reasons for the "victorious" march through Europe were revealed. If there was such a precedent, why not allow the repetition of such a phenomenon in connection with the Polka Oira dance? The dance "Circassian circle" was perceived by the European public in the wake of political events and as a sign of support for the Circassians fighting for their independence. The dance "Polka Oira" could appear in the south of Russia in a democratic environment as a result of already peaceful contacts between Russians and Circassians, as a result of direct cultural diffusion and influences. In both the first and second cases, the new music. "Polka Oira" is performed, as a rule, to a two-track melody.
Music example:
One of the most important signs of the origin of dance is its manifestation or existence in the folklore environment. Nowhere, except in the Kuban, "polka oira" was performed in authentic conditions. In the Kuban villages of Varenikovskaya and Tenginskaya, it was recorded by folklore collectors in the 80s of the twentieth century as a dance with choruses. In modern conditions in the Kuban, they no longer dance oiru, but in the passive memory of the elderly there are memories that they danced and sang in the villages of "oiru". In the choruses, the situation of courtship, the choice of a partner and
expectation of a subsequent marriage / marriage - that is, a typical situation for Caucasian couple dances, expressed only not by a verbal, but by a plastic decision.
Stop it, nightingale,
The gardener twitters.
My grandmother taught me
Polka-Oira dance.
Oh-ra, oh-ra-ra
I love young Vanya.
Oh-ra, oh-ra-ra
Vanya loves me.
The light and cheerful “oira”, which spread in the Kuban Territory, quickly “stepped over” the borders of the Caucasus through recording, began to be performed by harmonists and ensembles throughout Russia, and then in Europe. It still exists in the repertoire of folk musicians-harmonists of Saratov and Astrakhan (I. Karlin, A. Podosinnikov), who, as a rule, learned an unpretentious melody in childhood. The European dance version of the "oira" is usually a product of the post-folklore era. Its folklore counterparts in European countries have not been recorded. In Lithuania, for example, according to the ethnomusicologist Gvidas Vilis, "oira" appeared in the 1980s on the crest of a folklore movement, presumably from central Europe (Poland, Czech Republic). G. Vilis considers dance music atypical for Lithuanian traditional culture, and the popularity of "oira" in youth environment explains her cheerful nature.
The spread of dances among some people with the name of the place of its origin or with a name that fixes in the ideas of the recipient ethnic group the reasons or source of its origin is a stable pattern of traditional culture. Suffice it to recall the Russian “Gypsy”, the Moldavian “Rusyaska”, etc. The Circassians of Turkey actively practice the dance “Sheshchen”, which the Chechens identify as a Circassian dance, and the bearers of the Adyghe (Circassian) culture themselves perceive as a certain imitation of Chechen plasticity. These facts are enough to make sure, on the one hand, of the high adaptability of traditional culture, and, on the other hand, of the stability of its laws. Accepting any foreign element, culture necessarily processes it, embedding it into its own system in accordance with its structure, signs and meanings. In the generated intercultural communications, the ethnos certainly comprehends new realities and at the same time experiences them in the categories of art.
The birth of a new dance takes place on the basis of the existing matrix, supplemented by "other ethnic details". In polka, oira is the exclamations of "oira, oira" and unusual plasticity that is not found in any other dance. By the way, according to our repeated observations, in the case of physical impossibility or inability of an individual to imitate the movements of someone else's dance, the latter resorts to a "cunning" decision to perform a complex movement by any other means. In other words, not having the technical or physiological ability to perform any dance movement, the dancers try to reproduce it not one at a time, but, for example, together. Not knowing how to actively move their feet, two dancers hit each other with their feet, which from their point of view is “similar” to Caucasian plastique.
Summing up our reflections, it should be emphasized once again that, in our opinion, "Polka Oira" arose as a result of cultural contacts with the peoples of the Caucasus, a reflection on their dances and a sign of a certain recognition and admiration for them. The very exclamation “oira, oira” is an imitation of exclamations typical of a dance circle or song ensembles in the Caucasus. Due to the active cultural globalization processes of the second half of the twentieth century and the overgrown folklore European movement"Oira" has become "its own" in Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and some European countries. However, her "Caucasian
trace" is clearly read in the double lexeme "oira, oira", historical realities associated with the victorious march of the "Circassian circle" dance to Europe and the early sound recordings of "oira" in the Caucasus, as well as close cultural contacts of the peoples of the Caucasus with the Russians, which to a certain extent served as "guides" in the dissemination of the musical and cultural values of the highlanders.
Notes:
1. Likhachev D.S. Memories. 2nd ed. St. Petersburg: LOGOS, 1999. S. 70-96.
2. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://aanitearkisto.fi/firs2/kappale.php ? Id=Oira+Oira
3. Lagin L. Island of Disappointment. M.: Sov. writer, 1956. 204 p.
4. Dzheguako (Circassian) - folk musicians and singers among the Circassians.
5. Adyghe-Russian dictionary / comp. Yu.A. Tharkaho. Maykop: Adyg. book. publishing house, 1991. 284 p.
6. Orida - Ensemble of the Adyghe Philharmonic. 70-80s of the twentieth century.
7. Sokolova A.N. Shouts and shouts at the Adyghe holidays // Tuko K. Adyghe musical art. Maykop, 2006, pp. 112-118.
8. Sokolova A.N. "Circassian circle" in the European-Caucasian intercultural dialogue // Sociocultural problems of the Caucasian region in the context of globalization: materials of All-Russia. scientific-practical. Conf., May 14-16, 2007. Nalchik, 2007, pp. 253-256.
9. Dance choruses of the Kuban / recording and preparation. text for publication by I.N. Boyko. Krasnodar: Folklore and creative center of the peoples of the North Caucasus "Otrada", 1993. S. 75-77.
10. Semantic interpretation of the Adyghe folk pair dances, see Shu Sh.S. Folk dances of the Circassians. Nalchik: Elbrus, 1992. 140 p.
11. Gvidas Vilis, Doctor of Humanities, Lecturer at the Department of Music Pedagogy, Siauliai University, Lithuania. Audio recording of an interview conducted by Anzhelika Glumova in May 2012. Personal archive of A.N. Sokolova.
12. Stepin V.S. Philosophy and universals of culture. SPb., 2000. 185 p.
Likhachev D.S. memoirs. 2nd ed. SPb.: LOGOS, 1999. P. 70-96.
URL: http://aanitearkisto.fi/firs2/kappale.php?Id=Oira+oira Lagin L. The island of Disappointment. M.: Sov. writer, 1956. 204 p.
Dzheguako (Adyghe) - national musicians and singers of the Adyghes.
The Adyghe-Russian dictionary / comp. by Yu.A. Tkharkakho. Maikop: The Adyghe book publishing house, 1991. P. 284.
Orida - an ensemble of the Adyghe philharmonic society. The 70-80s of the XX century.
Sokolova A.N. Exclamations and shouts of the Adyghe holidays // K. Tuko. The Adyghe musical art. Maikop, 2006. P. 112-118.
Sokolova A.N. "A Circassian circle" in the European-Caucasian cross-cultural dialogue // Sociocultural problems of the Caucasian region in globalization context: materials of the All-Russian scient. and practice. conf., May 14-16, 2007. Nalchik, 2007. P. 253-256.
The humorous dance tunes of Kuban / record and the text prep. for publication by I.N. Boiko. Krasnodar: Folklore and creativity center of the folks of the North Caucasus "Otrada", 1993. P. 75-77.
See the semantic interpretation of the Adyghe folk pair dances at Shu Sh.S. The folk dances of the Adyghes. Nalchik: Elbrus, 1992. 140 pp.
Gvidas Vilis, Doctor of the Humanities, a teacher of Musical Pedagogy Departmenr of the Shyaulyay University, Lithuania. An audio recording of the interview taken by Anzhelika Glumova in May, 2012. A.N. Sokolova's personal archives.
Stepin V.S. Philosophy and culture universals. SPb., 2000. 185 pp.