Russian Names/ Русские имена

Session 4

 "What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Naming a new-born is something not to be taken lightly in all cultures. Lots of traditions, superstitions and beliefs are connected to names and name-giving, even in our time. But in old times, the name was given special powers: it could protect or revive flagging energies (old and ailing people were given new names to supply them with health). The person was believed to inherit virtues of the human, animal, or inanimate namesake. Some names were tabooed , so as not to bring evil spirits (Voldemort) or out of reverence. In ancient Egypt, for example, people believed if you knew somebody's name you had power over that person, so they had secret names as well as names for the common use. The name was considered to be an essential (almost physical) part of a person.  According to an Egyptian legend, God Ra would not reveal his name, so Goddess Isis, through trickery, acquired his name from his heart.

Russian tradition  also has a special relationship with name giving. The power of the name is raised to such importance that the holiness of an icon is measured by whether there is a name of  the Saint on it or not.

Maslenitza/Масленица

Session 3

 

Пекут блины, стоит весёлый чад.
На масленицу всюду разговенье! 

Сегодня на Руси, как говорят,
Прощёное Святое Воскресенье!
И вот, во имя этакого дня,
Коль в чём-то провинился, допускаю,
Уж ты прости, пожалуйста, меня...
И я тебя за всё прощаю!

Maslenitza  is an ancient Russian holiday that marks the end of winter and beginning of spring. Similar holidays exist in many cultures: Chinese New Year is all about celebrating spring and new life, for example. 

Poets with Guitars/ Поэты с гитарами

Session 2

Today, I would like to share with you the world of a very dear to me original genre of Russian Soviet авторская песня or бардовская песня. The best way to describe this cultural phenomena is as poets singing their poems with guitar accompaniment.  Usually, I stay away from Wikipedia, but the article about Soviet bards is very informative. So here it is:

The term bard (Russian: "бард" bard) came to be used in the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, and continues to be used in Russia today, to refer to singer-songwriters who wrote songs outside the Soviet establishment, similarly to beatnik folk singers of the United States. Because in bard music songwriters perform their own songs, the genre is also commonly referred to as author song ("авторская песня" avtorskaya pesnya). Bard poetry differs from other poetry mainly in the fact that it is sung with simple guitar accompaniment as opposed to being spoken. Another difference is that this form of poetry focuses less on style and more on meaning. This means that fewer stylistic devices are used, and the poetry is often in the form of a narrative. What separates bard poetry from other songs is the fact that the music is far less important than the lyrics; chord progressions are often very simple and tend to repeat from one bard song to another. A far more obvious difference was the commerce-free nature of the genre; songs were written to be sung and not to be sold.

Welcome! Добро пожаловать!

Session 1

Welcome to our Russian Club. I decided to start this blog so that all the research and preparation I am doing for the club meetings were available for all of you for further reference. And also, I hope this blog will become OUR on-line club where we'll continue our discussions and where I'll be able to answer all of your questions.