Ethnographic Revue 3/1995

The third issue of Národopisná revue 1995, has been dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of Národopisná výstava československá (Czechoslovak Ethnographic Exhibition) held in Prague in 1895. Stanislav Brouček in his study takes notice of the appeal by the director of the National Theatre in Prague, F. A. Šubrt, to staging the exhibition and to the reaction of the Czech society on the event. The situation in Moravia in connection with the preparations of the exhibition is dealt with by Miloš Melzer. Martina Pavlicová and Lucie Uhlíková write on the correspondence of those in charge of the preparations for the Moravian Folk Feasts at the Czechoslovak Ethnographic Exhibition (CEE), namely between Lucie Bakešová and Leoš Janáček. Eva Urbachová comes back to the preparations and scenario of the "Wallachian Wedding" at the CEE. One of the descendants of the regional activists contributing to the preparations of the CEE, Jaroslav Sojka recollects the ethnographic activities in those times in Troubsko near Brno.

In the photographic supplement Professor Richard Jeřábek brings documentary photographs from Moravian Wallachia at the time of the Prague exhibition.

The third issue of the periodical has been complemented with information on the jubilee celebrations of the 100. anniversary of the CEE, including festivals, seminars, book reviews and reviews of exhibitions, together with some minor contributions. Some of them focusing on various activities connected with the celebrations of the CEE.

The second copy of the "Ethnographic Revue" magazine issued in 1995 is dedicated to 50^th anniversary of the International Festival of Folklore in Strážnice which the Institute of Folk Culture is organizer of. This anniversary has influented also total composition of issued contributions.

Dr. Josef Jančář, Director of the Institute of Folk Culture, is reverting to the origin of the Festival by passage from new book called "Looking back in Strážnice" (Strážnická ohlédnutí). Dr. Svetozár Švehlák in his essay is observing development of folk culture presentation at different exhibitions, festivals and other opportunities and also relations towards the Czech nation. He has managed to put the origin of the Festival into wider historical and cultural circumstaces. Cyril Zálešák is watching development of dramaturgy and programm structure at the Festival. Prof. Dušan Holý is meditating upon accession of authors to creation of folk programs and gives some counsels to beginners.

The photographic supplement of the magazine this time proceeds from archive documentation of the Institute of Folk Culture.

Some other shorter contributions are dedicated to the Festival anniversary. Petr Dorůžka is observing phenomenon of "World music" and Americanization of culture at more generally written article. Vladislav Stanovský, Josef Beneš, Miloš Vršecký and Svetozár Švehlák remember the Festival and are publishing their declarations. Dr. Karel Pavlištík, Chairman of the Program Council of the Festival, closes that part by evaluation of existing conditions and situation of the Festival.

Content of this copy has been amended by reports about other festivals of folklore, about the CIOFF-Conference, by reviews of books and replica of one of them, by report about journey of studies organized by students from Brno. A short contribution is also dedicated to the world "folklore" used by some politicians and journalists without knowing its meaning. At the conclusion, reports about awards of contributors of our magazine are issued.

The first copy of the "Ethnographic Revue" magazine issued in 1995 will include three essays, director's report describing activity of the Institute of Folk Culture in the years 1993 and 1994 and further number of various materials, reports and reviews.

The Director of the Institute of Folk Culture, Mr. Josef Jančář, reports circumstantially on activity of that Institute in the years 1993 and 1994. Professor Jan Trojan with his article has returned to the song as a living formation. Records of melodies and play of Strážnice musicians, how they were put down by Vladimír Úlehla, has helped him Vladimír Stanovský's essay deals with ethnography as with the sciential branch. Dagmar Štěpánková concerns herself with the Czech issue for the work of French social anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss "Mythus and significance".

The photographic supplement of the magazine is this time devoted to photographs of Jan Šilpoch. The related introductory note has been written by Břetislav Rychlík, actor and idolizer of folk inheritance.

Among shorter contributions, you can find report on activity of the Folk Association of the Czech Republic. evaluation of festival of folklore, reports from various conferences, reviews of books and collections, evaluations of exhibitions, report on feast-day in a small village in Moravian Slovakia and list of books and magazines of the international interchange of the Institute's publications in 1994.

This double edition of the magazine "The Ethnographic Revue" 3-4/94 has been put together in a somewhat untraditional manner. It contains only two articles and a number of reports and reviews. The contribution by Lucie Uhlíková follows the corespon-dence between Leoš Janáček and his colleague and collector of folk songs. Martin Zeman. In all, 80 letters have been preserved and have now been published in this magazine.

This year, we remember the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Karel Plicka. In her article, Ľuba Sýkorová reflects upon Plicka's life and his artistic work as a professor at the Prague Film Academy, a photographer, filmmaker, musician, folklore expert, collector of folk songs and organizer of folk festivals; Sýkorová expecially remembers the years Karel Plicka was active in Slovakia. A selection of his photographs are to be found in the photographic supplement.

For the third time in our magazine, the names of ethnographers have been mentioned, this time of those who have reached a ripe old age in 1993 and 1994. The magazine also addresses the most topical problems in the field, tries to define the concept of "folklorism" and to evaluate the direction of The Ethnographic Revue.

In the final pages of this double edition of "The Ethnographic Revue" 3-4/94 there are some shorter contributions, obituaries for deceased scholars, criticisms and reviews of folk festivals and exhibitions, symposium and seminar reports and reviews of recent publications.

The double issue of the periodical "Národopisná revue" 1-2/1994 comprises four studies and various pieces of information, reports, and reviews.

The Institute of European ethnology of the Masaryk University in Brno has been making use of all sorts of complementary educational forms over the last decades. The recent years have brought another enrichment thanks to regular seminars under the title "Profile of an ethnologic region". Four of the papers presented at this year's seminar on Horácko are reprinted in this issue of Národopisná revue.

Richard Jeřábek, professor of the Masaryk University in Brno, investigates the person of Josef František Svoboda who, being an amateur ethnologist, collected such amounts of both archival and field material, as to deserve being called the discoverer of the ethnologic region of Horácko.

Folk ceramics of Horácko has been the topic of Dr. Miroslav Válka. He arrives to the conclusion that the local tradition, along with various cultural trends and influences,

gave rise to quite diversified production in Horácko, and namely related to technology as well as decoration. Characterizing the main productional circles (those of Hlinsko, Jihlava and Kunštát), he devotes his interest also to folk faience.

Dr. Hana Dvořáková from the ethnographic department of the Moravian Regional Museum of Brno examines the folk toys of Horácko in the light of contemporary production of the neighbouring countries. In the introduction of her study she focuses upon the difference between Czech scientists and their German and Austrian colleagues in understanding one basic concept of ethnology, namely the essence of the adjective "folk". She devotes particular interest to toys produced by wood turning. Having described a number of manufacturing centres and their products and compared their production with that of our neighbour countries, she arrives to the opinion the Horácko toys have not deviated from the international context of their times.

Musical theoretician professor Jan Trojan returns to the musical aspects of the Horácko folk song in his study "Song of the Czech-Moravian borderland". According to his statement the folk song of this region belongs among the least researched ones, and only a tiny fraction of the collected material has been published. He examines both printed and manuscript collections. His primary attention is devoted to the musical aspects of folk songs, to the relations between folk music and the work of contemporary composers, as well as to the setups of farmer music bands.

The picture appendix brings a selection of photographs taken by Karel Cudlín during his wanderings through Sub-Carpathian Ukraine. The author of the photographs tries to depict people having firm bonds with the country they live in.

The double issue of "Národopisná revue" 1-2/94 closes with minor contributions, congratulations, reviews of folklore festivals, information related to symposia and seminars, reviews of published works. There is also the list of books and periodicals acquired through the international exchange of publications by the Institute of Folk Culture in Strážnice 1993.

The double issue of Národopisná revue 3-4/1993 contains three studies and a great number of interesting news items and reviews. A study by a professor of Masaryk University in Brno, Richard Jeřábek, presents a highly instructive overview of the development of ethnography and ethnology teaching at this university from its foundation in 1919, up to the establishment of the Seminary of Ethnography and Ethnology in 1946. Jeřábek focuses on the important individuals who prepared ground for the creation of a separate Department of Ethnology, especially Professors Bohuslav Horák, Vojtěch Suk, Frank Wollman and Stanislav Souček. The most important, however, was Prof. Antonín Václavik, who completed his habilitace and was made a docent at the Philosophical Faculty of Masaryk University in 1934, but did not manage to found a separate department until after World War II.

A paper, by Dr. Martina Pavlicová, on the study of oral folklore, carried out between 1919 and 1939 at Masaryk University, is of a similar structure. She evaluates the outstanding works of literary scholarship of those individuals who worked at the Philosophical Faculty at that time. Professors Frank Wollman, Jiří Horák and Stanislav Souček each devoted a large part of their work to oral folklore and influenced a number of younger scholars, for instance Robert Smetana. Even today, their works are truly inspiring.

A study by the composer and theoretician, Prof. Jan Trojan, (Píseň jako živý útvar" - "Song as a Living Form"), deals with the musical folkloristic work of Professor Vladimír Úlehla, especially his book Živá píseň (Living Song). Trojan analyzes the melodies and harmonies of songs recorded by Úlehla, as shown in specific materials from Strážnice.

The article "O Moravském roku 1914" ("On the Moravian Year of 1914") was written by Professor Dušan Holý as a dialogue between the professor, one of his students, V. Ševčík and a colleague, Dr. M. Pavlicová. Holy denies that Journalist information on the ethnographic programmes, which took place in Brno in 1914, is true and presents an archival record which demonstrates that the event was carefully, if rather unprofessionally, prepared, but it was actually unfavorable weather that made it impossible.

A photographic Supplement to the Národopisná revue 3-4/1993 consists of a selection of photographs by Antonín Václavik from his book Luhačovské Zálesí. The selection ought to remind us that Prof. Václavík's legacy - his photodo-cumentation - is still waiting for someone to process it.

The last part of the double issue contains short articles, obituaries, reviews of folklore festivals, exhibitions and books. This time, Prof. D. Holý and Mgr. D. Štěpánková argue in the Errata column with the untrue and malevolent article of Dr. David Z. Scheffel (University College of the Cariboo) on the anthropologic ethics in Eastern Europe. They convict the author of misunderstanding and tendentious distortion.

The double issue of Národopisná revue 1-2/93 includes the second part of the study by Martina Pavlicová: Personalities from the Hi story of the Czech Ethnochoreology. In her opinion scientific exploration of folk dance in Moravia appeared somewhat later than in Bohemia. In particular František Bartoš, Martin Zeman und Leoš Janáček were outstanding personalities among the collectors. Lucie Bakešová and Xavera Běhálková introduced also practical Choreographie issues into the research efforts of those times, especially relating to the publicity of the ceremonial dance Královničky (Little Queens) and to the preparation of the performance of the Moravians on the occasion of the Czechoslavonic folklore exhibition in Prague 1895. M. Pavlicová revokes the atmosphere of the turn of the Century by quoting passages from works of the above authors.

The study devoted to Alois Hába, a significant composer, has been written by musical theoretician Jiří Vysloužil. He offers a very vivid curriculum vitae of this spectacular personality of the modern Czech music, drawing attention to his micro-tonal compositions, especially the quarter-tonal quartets and the opera Matka (Mother).

Národopisná revue continues to introduce further important photographers in the field of folklore, in offering an example from the work of Jan Koula who was active as architect by the end of 19^th Century and of K. O. Hrubý from the beginnings of the second half of this Century.

The article by Josef Jančář deals with the present Situation of folk handicraft in the Czech Republic. He draws the attention of the readers especially upon the fact that the unique documentation of handicraft techniques in the former Center of Handicraft (that has been dissolved) should be not only preserved, but deserves being made füll use of, Further contributions bring Information about folklore festivals and exhibitions in the Czech and Moravian museums and about the application of Computer technology in the Institute of Folk Culture.

There are again the Errata, like last year, written by Richard Jeřábek, professor of ethnology at the Masaryk University in Brno, meticulously, yet with a fine sense of humor.

The issue ends with a list of books and periodicals obtained from international exchange by the Institute of Folk Culture in Strážnice in the course of 1992.

The fourth issue of the Národopisná revue 1992 brings the final contributions to the survey focused on the importance of traditional and folk culture in our life (writers Antonín Přidal, Antonín Bajaja und Přemysl Rut, the musical editor Zdeněk Bláha and archeologist Jiří Pavelčík). The leading article is the study of Martina Pavlicová: Personalities of the history of the Czech ethnochoreography. The author investigates the ethnochoreo-graphic knowledge expressed in the works of significant representatives of the 19^th Century Czech culture (Jan Jeník of Bratřice, Václav Krolmus, Josef Jaroslav Langer and Jan Neruda). She follows the scope of their interest in folk dance within the context of the period. By numerous quotations of their works she succeeds to exemplify the social atmosphere of those times.

The work of the important Czech ethnographer Jaromír Jech who died 1992 is the subject of the article by Marta Šrámková in pages 162-164.

Part of the fourth issue is again a photographic annex, this time by the Slovak photographer Ľubo Stach. He devotes a considerable part of his work to the documentation of the life in the Moravian region of Valachia.

Similarly to 1991, also the closing issue of Národopisná revue 1992 comprises the "credo" of our associates celebrating some sort of jubilee; they speak of their relation to scientific ethnography. These texts in pages 173-180 have a characteristic heading: Words as seed.

Reports and evaluations of folklore festivals in the Czech Republic and information of specific literature can be found in page 181-189. They are complemented by the annual report of the Institute of Folk Culture in Strážnice for 1992.

The third number of Národopisná revue (Ethnographie Review) is again predominantly devoted to folkloric issues. The last contributions from the XII. Strážnice Symposium, held 1991, are published here. H. Bočková demonstrates various expressions of folklorism in the traditional customs and celebrations in Brno and its neighborhoods in her study entitled Folklorism and folk habits. From the diversified manifestations of folklorism the author selected some examples of the application of folk customs to enhance social and cultural events of the club and school VESNA by the end of the 19^th and at the beginning of the 20^th Century. She establishes that the beginnings of folklorism go back to the approach to the people at age of enlightment (village people performing their customs to please the nobility). She maintains that there are Signals of original practices dying out in the course of further development of the changing society in Moravia.

Part of folklorism are ethnographic festivals, "Strážnice" is acknowledged to be one of the oldest folklore festivals in Europe. Its programme structure and perspectives were the topics of a separate colloquium in Brno, in November 1992. The main papers were presented by J. Jančář (The Importance of the Strážnice Festival within the context of the transformations of the present day culture) and Karel Pavlištík (The programme structure of the International folklore festival Strážnice - problems and perspectives). In additions to that the copy contains also valuable Impulses from the discussion to this topic (M. Brtník, H. Laudová, L. Kunz, l. Vojancová and many others).

Interesting viewpoints to questions of modernity and tradition are presented in an essay by Vladislav Stanovský who Supports the UNESCO recommendation for the protection of traditional culture and folklore.

Also the third number of NR brings a profile of an important photographer from Moravia. This time it is devoted to Josef Šíma (born 1859 in Prague), painter and designer in Prague and Brno. As well as the previous ones, also this number is closed by a series of book and exhibition reviews as well as informations on Conferences in the field of ethnography.

The second issue of The Ethnographie Revue brings about more answers of the representatives of the Czech science and culture to the question of relation to the national traditions (Jiří Fukač - a musical science expert, Pavel Šmok - the head of the ballet at the National Theatre, Helena Jarošová - a sociologist, Jindřich Uher - a writer, Nina Pavelčíková, a historian, Vladimir Merta - a musical editor).

In the part dealing with ethnographic studies Miloš Melzer writes about the role of the outstanding folklorist Václav Tille played in the preparations of the Moravian participation in The Czechoslovak Ethnographic Exhibition in Prague, 1895. This study is a part of preparations for the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of this exhibition. E. Večerková's study on the national customs in the cultural activity of the association The National Unity for the Southwest Moravia returns to the topic of folklore in the life of the society.

The central material of the second issue of The Ethnographic Revue is the remarkable study of Petr Dvořáček on the photographs of Jindřich Štreit showing the life of the common people in the North Moravia. The studies and photographs on p. 69 - 76 prove that a work of art may be at the same time an outstanding scientific document.

On p. 77 - 78 there is an obituary about the significant Czechoslovak ethnographer, university professor Václav Frolec. The obituary is followed by some more short contributions and papers on the ethnographic Conferences, news about important folk festivals (H. Laudová, J. M. Krist, M. Válka) and book reviews (A. Jeřábková, M. Mušinka, I. Benčíková).

An exceptional attention is paid by K. Pavlištík to the twentieth anniversary of the well known ensemble of folk songs and dances Kašava and to the remarkable action of The Studio of Folk Dances in Walachia. J. M. Krist informs about the project of the educational Videoprogramme which was started by The Institution of Folk Culture under the title The Folk Dances from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia All ten parts of the project - the first two of which have already been realized this year - are to be finished by the year 1995. ERRATA have been a traditional contribution of professor R. Jeřábek to The Ethnographic Revue. Errata 5 pay attention especially to mistakes in The Czechoslovak Biographical Dictionary (Prague 1992) where a lot of inaccuracy has appeared in the field of ethnography and folklore.