Ehedus mitut moodi: rahvamuusika ahtusest pärimusmuusika avarustesse
Authentic One Way or Another: from the Restrictions of Folk Music to the Expanses of Traditional Music

Summary/Abstract: Some end-of-20th century Estonian opinions about the authenticity, purity or genuineness of folk music are analysed, comparing them to those of the preceding and following periods. For folklore, such terms as „pure”, „authentic” or „genuine” usually become topical in the case of secondary presentation. Authenticity is regarded as a quality marker of folklore, a proof of its high aesthetic value, ethical purity and ethnic individuality. Ever since the 19th century only the oral tradition of a people who live in harmony with nature without and within has been considered authentic. In the 1970s and 1980s, in Estonia, authentic folk music meant a possibly exact imitation of an example picked from the folklore of a bygone rural society. In the 1990s, however, after the restoration of the Republic of Estonia, a new trend called traditional music emerged, combining the devices of folk and popular music. The musicians believed that a modern person was also able to (re)create ethnic folklore, using the historical devices of folk music to express their own sensation. In Estonia, the authenticity of folklore has been associated with national loyalty and democratic aspirations, particularly at the times when ethnic culture was seen as a medium to resist a foreign power, such as, e.g. the ruling Baltic german landlords and the Tsarist Russia in the 19th century, or the Soviet rule in the second half of the 20th century.

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