Sung poetry
Encyclopedia
Sung poetry is a broad and imprecise music genre
widespread in Eastern Europe
an countries, such as Poland
and the Baltic States
, to describe songs consisting of a poem (most often a ballad
) and music written specially for that text. The compositions usually feature a delicate melody and scarce musical background, often comprising a Russian guitar
or piano
. Some sung poetry performers are singer-songwriter
s, others use known, published poems, or collaborate with contemporary writers. Artists of sung poetry include people of various occupations usually with little or no particular music education
, as well as stage actors.
Sung poetry shares much in common with the author's song in Russia
yet differs from it in a significant way: sung poetry performers often do not compose lyrics themselves. Similar artists in other countries are usually classified as bard
s, folk music
or folk rock
(such as Jacques Brel
, Lluís Llach
, Ovidi Montllor
, Georges Brassens
, Léo Ferré
, Bob Dylan
, Simon and Garfunkel
, Tom Waits
, Leonard Cohen
, Djordje Balasevic, Bulat Okudzhava
, Vladimir Vysotsky
), or chamber pop. Artists of other musical genres may or may not be included into sung poetry category, such as Czesław Niemen, whose many songs are based on works of esteemed Polish poets, is usually regarded as either a rock
or electronic
musician. The common forms of expression are individual and collective public performances, festivals of sung poetry, publication of records online and release of music albums.
Music genre
A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
widespread in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an countries, such as Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and the Baltic States
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
, to describe songs consisting of a poem (most often a ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
) and music written specially for that text. The compositions usually feature a delicate melody and scarce musical background, often comprising a Russian guitar
Russian guitar
The Russian guitar is a seven-string acoustic guitar that arrived in Russia toward the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, most probably as an evolution of the cittern, kobza, and torban...
or piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. Some sung poetry performers are singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
s, others use known, published poems, or collaborate with contemporary writers. Artists of sung poetry include people of various occupations usually with little or no particular music education
Music education
Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain , the cognitive domain , and, in particular and significant ways,the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity...
, as well as stage actors.
Sung poetry shares much in common with the author's song in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
yet differs from it in a significant way: sung poetry performers often do not compose lyrics themselves. Similar artists in other countries are usually classified as bard
Bard (Soviet Union)
The term bard came to be used in the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, and continues to be used in Russia today, to refer to singer-songwriters who wrote songs outside the Soviet establishment, similarly to beatnik folk singers of the United States...
s, folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
or folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
(such as Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...
, Lluís Llach
Lluís Llach
Lluís Llach i Grande is a Catalan composer and songwriter.Though partially dependent on arrangers, like Manel Camp or Carles Cases in his early works, Llach's songwriting has largely evolved from the more basic early compositions to a vastly more complex harmonic and melodic writing...
, Ovidi Montllor
Ovidi Montllor
-Career:At the age of 24, Montllor moved to Barcelona, where he was a member of various independent theater groups, including the CICF, and later with Núria Espert and Adrià Gual...
, Georges Brassens
Georges Brassens
Georges Brassens , 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981), was a French singer-songwriter and poet.Brassens was born in Sète, a town in southern France near Montpellier...
, Léo Ferré
Léo Ferré
Léo Ferré was a Franco-Monegasque poet, composer, singer and musician.Born in Monaco, Ferré mixed love and melancholy with moral anarchy, lyricism with slang, rhyming verse with prose monologues...
, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Simon and Garfunkel
Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel are an American duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They formed the group Tom & Jerry in 1957 and had their first success with the minor hit "Hey, Schoolgirl". As Simon & Garfunkel, the duo rose to fame in 1965, largely on the strength of the...
, Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
, Djordje Balasevic, Bulat Okudzhava
Bulat Okudzhava
Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musician, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He was one of the founders of the Russian genre called "author song"...
, Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky was a Soviet singer, songwriter, poet, and actor whose career had an immense and enduring effect on Russian culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often humorous street...
), or chamber pop. Artists of other musical genres may or may not be included into sung poetry category, such as Czesław Niemen, whose many songs are based on works of esteemed Polish poets, is usually regarded as either a rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
or electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
musician. The common forms of expression are individual and collective public performances, festivals of sung poetry, publication of records online and release of music albums.
Lithuania
- Vytautas KernagisVytautas KernagisVytautas Kernagis was a Lithuanian singer-songwriter, bard, actor, director, and television announcer. He is considered a pioneer of Lithuanian sung poetry.- Career :...
- Saulius MykolaitisSaulius MykolaitisSaulius Mykolaitis was a Lithuanian director, actor and singer-songwriter .- Life :Saulius Mykolaitis was born in Ramygala, a small city in Lithuania. His parents died while he was still studying at school...
- Domantas Razauskas
- Andrius Kulikauskas
- Vytautas V. Landsbergis
- Nojus
- Aidas Giniotis
- Andrius Kaniava
- Eglė Sirvydytė
- Saulius Bareikis
- Ieva Narkutė
- Gediminas Storpirštis
- Alina OrlovaAlina OrlovaAlina Orlova is a Lithuanian sung poetry singer and musician.- Performing career :Orlova both composes her own songs and performs other musicians' cover versions...
- Kostas Smoriginas
- Olegas Ditkovskis
- Romas LileikisRomas LileikisRomas Lileikis is a Lithuanian poet, musician, and film director.Lileikis is a director of five movies: Aš esu , Olandų gatvė , Anapus , K+M+B , and Saša , and author of three music albums: Kiaulės sakmė , Evangelija nuo Romo , and...
- Virgis Stakėnas
- Vidas Petkevičius
- Vytautas BabravičiusVytautas BabraviciusVytautas Babravičius, stage name Simas, is a Lithuanian country and folk rock musician. He is often described as a founder of Lithuanian country music scene.-Musical career:...
- "Keistuolių TeatrasKeistuolių TeatrasKeistuolių Teatras is a Lithuanian theatre troupe. It was founded in 1989 by actors Ilona Balsytė, Aidas Giniotis and Sigutis Jačėnas and theatre director Romualdas Vikšraitis...
" - "Stipriai Kitaip"
Poland
- Cisza Jak Ta
- Przemysław GintrowskiPrzemysław GintrowskiPrzemysław Gintrowski is a Polish composer and musician.Gintrowski debuted in 1976 on a review of the Warsaw Riviera with the song “Epitaph for Sergei Yesenin”. Shortly afterwards, in 1979, he formed a trio with Jacek Kaczmarski and Zbigniew Łapiński, and initiated a poetic programme “Mury”...
- Elżbieta Adamiak
- Michał Bajor
- Stan BorysStan BorysStan Borys is a Polish singer-songwriter, actor, director and poet.He is a charismatic person and a versatile artist who has a broad musical taste, acting and directing capabilities....
- Mirosław Czyżykiewicz
- Ewa DemarczykEwa DemarczykEwa Demarczyk is a Polish singer. She is generally associated with the Piwnica pod Baranami cabaret.Demarczyk is recognized as one of the most talented and charismatic singers in the history of Polish music. She is praised for her unique interpretations, expression and unusual stage personality...
- Edyta GeppertEdyta GeppertEdyta Geppert is a popular Polish singer.She is married to Piotr Loretz. They have one son Mieczysław, born in 1988.-Awards:...
- Marek GrechutaMarek GrechutaMarek Grechuta was a Polish singer, songwriter, composer, and lyricist.-Biography:...
- Katarzyna Groniec
- Jacek KaczmarskiJacek KaczmarskiJacek Kaczmarski was a Polish singer, songwriter, poet and author.Kaczmarski was a voice of the Solidarity trade union movement in 1980s Poland, for his commitment to a free Poland, independent of Soviet rule. His songs criticized the ruling communist regime and appealed to the tradition of...
- Robert Kasprzycki
- Czesław Niemen
- Renata PrzemykRenata PrzemykRenata Przemyk is Polish singer and song writer. In Bielsko-Biała she attended primary and secondary school. She enjoyed her childhood together with her parents, grandmother and brothers...
- Janusz Radek
- Andrzej Sikorowski
- Edward StachuraEdward StachuraEdward Stachura was a Polish poet and writer. He rose to prominence in the 1960s, receiving prizes for both poetry and prose. His literary output includes four volumes of poetry, three collections of short stories, two novels, a book of essays, and the final work, Fabula rasa, which is difficult...
- Basia Stępniak-Wilk
- Grzegorz TurnauGrzegorz TurnauGrzegorz Turnau is a Polish composer, pianist, poet and singer.He was born on 31 July 1967 in Kraków, Poland. At age seventeen he won First Prize at The Student Song Festival in Kraków in 1984...
- Elżbieta Wojnowska
- Ilona SojdaIlona SojdaIlona Sojda , Polish singer whose work has its origin in sung poetry, an imprecise, unspecific music genre that merges lyrical ballads with written poetry.-Awards:...
- Jacek Różański
- Antonina KrzysztońAntonina KrzysztonAntonina Krzysztoń is a Polish singer-songwriter.On May 3, 2006 Polish President Lech Kaczyński awarded her the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.-Discography:* 1990 Inne światy...
- "Stare Dobre Małżeństwo"
- "Wolna Grupa Bukowina"
- "Czerwony Tulipan"
- 'Lubelska Federacja Bardów'
- "Bez Jacka"
Bulgaria
- Mihail Belchev
- Assen Maslarski
- Plamen Stavrev
- Grisha Trifonov
- Margarita Drumeva
- Krassimir Purvanov
- Ivan Nenkov