Saturday, March 2, 2013

Ancient "Curse of rain"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNHZce1TCa8

Old Regilaul-Song (Runo Song)

     Regilaul-song is the most archaic poetic and musical heritage of the Estonians - a historical way of singing among the peoples at the Gulf of Finland. A poetic line regivärss and its tune regiviis form a unique world of regilaul, which once used to be the prevalent singing style in earlier history. Scholars consider this poetic form to date back a few thousand years while some texts are believed to originate from the beginning of the last millennium, based on their content. In this original poetic and musical language people created songs that embraced the whole lifespan and mental worldview of Estonian peasants, accompanying them from cradle to grave. Regilaul-song defined or complimented the ritual activities of an individual and of the whole village community; singing formed an important component in the working process, in leisure time, and during all kinds of festivities. Singing was a mode of expression that deviated from regular speech but was at the same time familiar and comprehensible to all members of the community. In order to express their feelings and ideas, singers of regilaul applied a special lingua or poetic code, which deviated from the ordinary forms of speech used in daily communication. People believed that songs and singing carried extraordinary power that was lacking in regular speech, while the songs reflected the actual world in a figurative way. Men and women related to the surrounding world by composing words in poetic metre, set to a melody that added depth and meaning, because they believed that songs had power to affect everything: people and their work, the surrounding nature and the netherworld.