Tradicija ir dabartis / Tradition & Contemporarity. 13, Mokslo darbai / Scientific works, Klaipėdos universitetas, Klaipėda, p. 165-186, 2018
Ethnomusical and Ethnocultural Identity of an American Lithuanian Traditional Fidller Dovydas ... more Ethnomusical and Ethnocultural Identity of an American Lithuanian Traditional Fidller Dovydas Pivoriūnas: from Native Land of his Grandparents to „Baltic US“
Dovydas Pivoriūnas (David Jon Pivorunas, born in 1958 in Chicago, Ill., living in Washington, DC) is a traditional fiddler of Lithuanian and Italian descent. In the early 20th century parents of his father came to Chicago with the first wave of Lithuanian emigrants to the USA. According to the conclusions of this investigation, Dovydas perceives the ethnic musical and cultural identity of himself, like of other Lithuanian immigrants of later generations, possible to (re-)create, connecting own primordial heritage with the ethnocultural knowledge and values discovered and chosen by himself (in the direction from USA to Lithuania and backwards). His marriage with a Lithuanian woman and ties with the contemporary wave of Lithuanian immigrants are of relevance, too.
The core of Dovydasʼ ethnic musical identity is fiddle, hammered dulcimer and traditional dance music making. In 1985, his involvement into traditional music making was inspired by the revival of traditional fiddling of the USA, and around the 1990s, by the folklore movement wave from Lithuania as well as his participation in American Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian folklore groups. He is very observant of relations and similarities between American and Baltic (or vice versa) folk dance music. His perspective is very large and open, however essentially concentrated onto the American and Lithuanian or Baltic traditional music and culture. Capacity to learn about a topic both from insiderʼs and outsiderʼs perspectives increases his ability to better understand and appreciate ethnic Lithuanian music and culture through comparison.
As Lithuanian communities became dispersed, in 2005 Dovydas with his wife started consolidating Baltic people and founded a joint traditional music group “BalticUS”. They also maintain their ethnicity, celebrating traditional calendar festivals. Thus, though it is often emphasized that Lithuanian-ness would not have been preserved without the formal associations, their musical groups and events, the initiative and contribution of smaller communities, even a person or family is also of great significance.
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Dovydas Pivoriūnas (David Jon Pivorunas, born in 1958 in Chicago, Ill., living in Washington, DC) is a traditional fiddler of Lithuanian and Italian descent. In the early 20th century parents of his father came to Chicago with the first wave of Lithuanian emigrants to the USA. According to the conclusions of this investigation, Dovydas perceives the ethnic musical and cultural identity of himself, like of other Lithuanian immigrants of later generations, possible to (re-)create, connecting own primordial heritage with the ethnocultural knowledge and values discovered and chosen by himself (in the direction from USA to Lithuania and backwards). His marriage with a Lithuanian woman and ties with the contemporary wave of Lithuanian immigrants are of relevance, too.
The core of Dovydasʼ ethnic musical identity is fiddle, hammered dulcimer and traditional dance music making. In 1985, his involvement into traditional music making was inspired by the revival of traditional fiddling of the USA, and around the 1990s, by the folklore movement wave from Lithuania as well as his participation in American Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian folklore groups. He is very observant of relations and similarities between American and Baltic (or vice versa) folk dance music. His perspective is very large and open, however essentially concentrated onto the American and Lithuanian or Baltic traditional music and culture. Capacity to learn about a topic both from insiderʼs and outsiderʼs perspectives increases his ability to better understand and appreciate ethnic Lithuanian music and culture through comparison.
As Lithuanian communities became dispersed, in 2005 Dovydas with his wife started consolidating Baltic people and founded a joint traditional music group “BalticUS”. They also maintain their ethnicity, celebrating traditional calendar festivals. Thus, though it is often emphasized that Lithuanian-ness would not have been preserved without the formal associations, their musical groups and events, the initiative and contribution of smaller communities, even a person or family is also of great significance.
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very strong regional and local identities which were developed and played one of the major roles in creating and strengthening their national self-consciousness and in fostering their traditions in the multicultural American space. In the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, American Lithuanian associations founded not only brass bands, but also mixed orchestras incorporating fiddles. These American Lithuanian orchestras have formed distinctive repertoires of dances, mainly of polkas and waltzes. According to the titles, they originated from all five ethnographical regions of Lithuania (Aukštaitija, Dzūkija, Sudovia, Samogitia and Lithuania Minor).
deportees.
During traditional customs, fiddle music played one of the greatest roles in
representing and maintaining Lithuanian national and cultural identity, which was much more important in forced exile than at home. Traditional fiddling was of great relevance to the deportees’ and political prisoners’ states of mind, their spiritual resistance, if not their physical survival.
Dovydas Pivoriūnas (David Jon Pivorunas, born in 1958 in Chicago, Ill., living in Washington, DC) is a traditional fiddler of Lithuanian and Italian descent. In the early 20th century parents of his father came to Chicago with the first wave of Lithuanian emigrants to the USA. According to the conclusions of this investigation, Dovydas perceives the ethnic musical and cultural identity of himself, like of other Lithuanian immigrants of later generations, possible to (re-)create, connecting own primordial heritage with the ethnocultural knowledge and values discovered and chosen by himself (in the direction from USA to Lithuania and backwards). His marriage with a Lithuanian woman and ties with the contemporary wave of Lithuanian immigrants are of relevance, too.
The core of Dovydasʼ ethnic musical identity is fiddle, hammered dulcimer and traditional dance music making. In 1985, his involvement into traditional music making was inspired by the revival of traditional fiddling of the USA, and around the 1990s, by the folklore movement wave from Lithuania as well as his participation in American Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian folklore groups. He is very observant of relations and similarities between American and Baltic (or vice versa) folk dance music. His perspective is very large and open, however essentially concentrated onto the American and Lithuanian or Baltic traditional music and culture. Capacity to learn about a topic both from insiderʼs and outsiderʼs perspectives increases his ability to better understand and appreciate ethnic Lithuanian music and culture through comparison.
As Lithuanian communities became dispersed, in 2005 Dovydas with his wife started consolidating Baltic people and founded a joint traditional music group “BalticUS”. They also maintain their ethnicity, celebrating traditional calendar festivals. Thus, though it is often emphasized that Lithuanian-ness would not have been preserved without the formal associations, their musical groups and events, the initiative and contribution of smaller communities, even a person or family is also of great significance.
very strong regional and local identities which were developed and played one of the major roles in creating and strengthening their national self-consciousness and in fostering their traditions in the multicultural American space. In the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, American Lithuanian associations founded not only brass bands, but also mixed orchestras incorporating fiddles. These American Lithuanian orchestras have formed distinctive repertoires of dances, mainly of polkas and waltzes. According to the titles, they originated from all five ethnographical regions of Lithuania (Aukštaitija, Dzūkija, Sudovia, Samogitia and Lithuania Minor).
deportees.
During traditional customs, fiddle music played one of the greatest roles in
representing and maintaining Lithuanian national and cultural identity, which was much more important in forced exile than at home. Traditional fiddling was of great relevance to the deportees’ and political prisoners’ states of mind, their spiritual resistance, if not their physical survival.
fiddlers used to perform along with dancers and singers at the same time, have been explored. As late as the end of the twentieth century, it was nevertheless acceptable in various ensembles that some fiddlers still played in drone styles, even ones with modern accordions.
In Southern and Western Lithuania, drone fiddling was not as popular as in
the Eastern parts of the country. Some fiddlers, mainly in Sudovia, had a special ‘drone tune’ distinguished by its archaic melodies and performance practices. Samogitians preserved the drone in the accompanying voices (third fiddle and bass) of the bowed string ensembles. Particular tunes included sections performed
without changing the harmonic pedals or the general style of their arrangements.