Кьм въпроса за историзма на българските исторически песенни жанрове
To the Question of the Historical Approach in Bulgarian Historical Folksongs

Summary/Abstract: The genres of historical folklore are specific forms of fixing the historical memory, a peculiar reflection of the historical consciousness of the people. When considered on a diachronic level, they reveal the evolution of this consciousness. The basic distinction between them, which also determines their specific character, is the nature and the degree of their approach to history. The appearance of each of these genres with its own themes, imagery and a definite social function, is related to a particular stage in the development of the historical approach in folklore. There exists a strong link of continuity between the various genres of Bulgarian historical folksongs. The beginnings of the new genre are often laid within the frames of the previously existing one. Thus, the origin of the hayduk songs goes back to the yunak epic. Later on, during the Bulgarian national-revival period, the first revolutionary songs followed the traditions of the hayduk songs. At the same time, however, each of these genres presents a qualitatively new phenomenon and a new artistic achievement in the evolution of the Bulgarian folk poetry. The historical reality in each one of them is treated from a new point of view and is depicted in a new manner. The genres of historical songs already formed do not remain unchanged in the course of their long existence. They undergo inner changes under the influence of the general process of development of folklore. But the basic trend in the dynamics of the historical approach in folklore, no matter whether it results in the appearance of new genres, or in the inner movements within the existing ones, remains always the same – a tendency towards a more and more concrete depiction of the historical facts. Notwithstanding this strive after a greater concreteness, a documentary authenticity could hardly be ever achieved because of the very nature of the folksong as a work of art.

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