Russian Folk Songs

Russia is a large and culturally diverse country, with many ethnic groups, each with their own locally developed music. Russian music went through a long history, beginning from ritual folk songs and the sacred music of the Russian Orthodox Church. Authentic Russian church folk music is primarily vocal. Russian folk song was an integral part of daily village life. It was sung from morning to night, and reflected the four seasons and significant events in villagers’ lives. The performance and promulgation of ethnic music in Russia has a long tradition. Russia today is a multi-ethnic state with over threehundred ethnicities living under one flag. Each of these ethnic groups has their own indigenous folk, sacred and in some cases art music, which can loosely be categorized together under the guise of ethnic roots music, or folk music. This category can further be broken down into folkloric, modern adaptations of folk material and authentic presentations of ethnic music. Traditional Music Channel is fo