Problems of Ethnomusicology by Constantin Brăiloiu; A. L.

Lloyd
Review by: Vic Gammon
Folk Music Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1985), pp. 107-109
Published by: English Folk Dance + Song Society
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Reviews- Books I07

Chapter I, 'TheBalladandContemporary Man',recommendstheHungarian

balladto the modern-daylistener,claimingthe repertoryto be in manyrespectsa
latter-dayanticipationof contemporarytaste. ChapterIt is entitled'An Outline
History of HungarianBallad Research'.Volumei includes a 24-page biblio-
graphy,with Hungariantitlestranslatedinto English.
Volumez, 'SpecialPart',contains 34 balladsincludingtexts with variants,
musicaltranscriptions,notes on dissemination,textualrelationshipswith other
ballads, partialparallelsin foreign-languageareas,versionsin languagesother
than Hungarian,commentsand explanatorynotes on divergencesin the sung
variants,bibliographicnotes, and maps of balladdistribution.Includedare 83
'old-styleballads',9 'ballad-likeold songs',8 'broadsideballadsfromthe i8th and
i9th (zoth) centuries',zo 'outlawballads',and 14 'newballads'.The appendixes
includetwo thematicindexes:'ConflictPlotsand Themesin HungarianBallads'
and 'Scenes,CharactersandDetailsof Formulationin HungarianBallads'.
The work suffersfrom a numberof minortechnicaland editorialflaws.The
Englishtranslation,surelya formidabletask,is not entirelyidiomatic.Thelackof
both runningheadsand a generalindex makeit ratherdifficultfor the readerto
findher/hisway aroundtheseheftyvolumes.
The English-speakingethnomusicologicalcommunitywelcomesthis all-to-
rare Englishtranslationof a majorpiece of recentEasternEuropeanresearch.
Some may be disappointedthat the focus of attentionis the ballad text, with
musicalfeaturestakingsecondplacebothin theauthor'sdescriptionandanalysis.I
believemostwill findthevalueof the booksliesin therichfundof informationthey
presenton Hungarianballads,their historyand social context, ratherthan the
somewhatoutdatedtheoreticalperspectivefromwhichthismaterialis offered.
HELEN MYERS

PROBLEMSOF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY.By Constantin Brailoiu. Edited and trans-

lated by A. L. Lloyd. Cambridge,London, New York, New Rochelle,
Melbourne, Sydney: Cambridge University Press. I984. xix+z99 pp.
£z7. 50.
A. L. Lloydneverlivedto writean introductionto his translationof twelveessays
by the RomanianmusicalfolkloristConstantinBrailoiu.This is a greatpity for
Brailoiu,a followerand associateof Bart6k,clearlyhad a profoundinfluenceon
Lloyd'sthought and work. Everyso often in readingthis collectionone comes
acrosstheoriginalof a thoughtor a passageonehasreadin Lloyd'swritings.Lloyd
freelyacknowledgedhis indebtednessas a glanceat Folk Song in Englandwill
show. In presentingthe Englishspeakingworld with a collectionof Brailoiu's
work, Lloyd was clearlypointingout his debt. Readerswill feel the absenceof
Lloyd'smaturereflections,on the workof one of his mentors,is a greatloss.
Inlieuof an introductoryessayby Lloyd,we havea translationof theprefaceto
the Frencheditionof the book by GilbertRouget.Thismakesa good introduction
to Brailoiu'swork pointing to its main themes and its importancewithin the
developmentof ethnomusicologybut I would have liked to know more about
Brailoiu,the man, than is disclosedhere.A biographicalnote in additionto the
prefacewouldhavebeenwelcome.

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io8 Reviews- Books

The essays in the book, written between I93I and I960, are grouped in a
thematic way. The first eight are compiled under the heading 'Method and
Criticism', the last four under the heading 'System'. In addition there is an end-
piece consisting of A. L. Lloyd's translation of funeral songs from the Romanian
village of Gorj, strange and wonderful material that Brailoiu collected and wrote
about. One of the essays in the first section of the book 'On a Romanian ballad'
deals with the similarities and connections between funeral and marriage rites. It is
a fascinating and wonderfully concise piece of ethnological writing but it stands
out in the book for its anthropological approach. Generally speaking Brailoiu's
work favours musicological approaches to the exclusion of others.
The style of writing is learned, at times turgid but at others bright and amusing.
Brailoiu has an excellent line in the examination and exposition of other people's
arguments that points up their inconsistencies and unexamined assumptions. I
actually found myself laughing in the middle of a long section on the pentatonic
scale, not something I would have anticipated.
Key themes emerge from Brailoiu's writing some of which are familiar through
the writing of Lloyd and others. Some of these themes appear dated and
unimportant now but others are recurringpoints of discussion. His refutation of
Rezeptionstheorie (the idea that the folk create nothing but merely take from the
cultural goods of their social superiors) is thorough and convincing. His
uncompromising critique of approaches to traditional music based on assumptions
drawn from the Western classical music tradition remains valid. Problems of the
relationship between musicology and ethnomusicology, a relationship marked by
incomprehension and intolerance, remain as real today as when Brailoiu addressed
the subject in 1958. In contrast his assertion that exposure to exotic and popular
music has widened western musical sensibility strikes me as over optimistic.
The essay 'Outline of a method of musical folklore', although dating from
I93I, can still be read with profit by anyone contemplating or engaged in
fieldwork. Brailoiu's idea of a thorough study of the musical life of one community,
using a variety of methods, seems amazingly ambitious to people in a country
where the latter discovery of one important traditional singer is considered an
event of great importance. Perhaps we are studying the wrong kinds of musical
activities? Brailoiu would have said we were not, for he defined what he studied as
the study of music of peasant origin as opposed to the study of peasant musical life
which he considered properly the realm of sociology. This definition and its built-in
assumptions have significant ramifications for Brailoiu's work. To him an 'ideal
informant' is one possessed of an 'archaic repertory', he is excited by the prospect
of using traditional music to enlighten our ignorance of the history of pre-written
music, he even feels it is too easy to make fun of those 'who see everywhere nothing
but survivals of dead paganism' when clearly survivals are all around us. Yet he is a
man of contrasts, scientist as well as romantic. He hesitates but ultimately declares
'the folklorist should not do otherwise than to collect everything if he wants to give
a faithful picture of the real musical situation'.
The heart of Brailoiu's ideas on musical folklore is his notion of system. The
musical investigator is able to discover 'a coherent group of procedures ruled by
intelligible laws. Though they have never been codified and their bearers know
nothing of them, these laws . . . often astonish us by their rigour'. In another place

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Reviews - Books
Reviews -Books Io9
109

he tells us 'the law of "primitive"art is to makesystematicuse of such technical

possibilitiesas areofferedit'. The fouressaystowardsthe end of this book apply
this idea of systemto bodies of materialoften very wide ranging.Some of this
writingis difficultbut the essayson children'srhythmsand a threenote Russian
melody are very interestingeven if I do remainunconvincedby the ideas of
chronologicallayeringof typesof scalesin the latter.
In seekingthe 'laws' that underlymanifestationsof humanculture,Brailoiu
sets himself firmly within vitally important traditions in twentieth-century
thought.GilbertRougettells us that Brailoiudid not like the termstructuralism
appliedto his work. True,thereis no invocationof Saussureor linguistictheory,
butthe searchfor underlyinggenerativepatternsis deeplystructuralist andclosely
analogousto Todorov'snotion of the 'grammar'of storiesor Bourdieu'sconcept
of 'habitus' or transposabledispositionswhich generate social practice, or
Althusser'snotionthatwe areall bearersof structuresof thoughtandbehaviour.
I sometimesfeel that those of us whose interestsoriginatedwith English
traditionalsong andmusicareratherparochialin our attitudes.We oftenstandin
great need of stimulationfrom outside the rathernarrowconfinesof what we
study. I welcome this collection of essays by a man who made an important
contributionto ethnomusicologicalthought. This welcome is tinged by two
regrets,thatit hastakenso longforBrailoiu'swrittenworkto be publishedin book
formin English,and thatA. L. Lloyddid not live to writethe introductionto his
translation.
VIC GAMMON

MUSIC AND DANCE: FOURTH NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM OF THE MUSICOLOGICAL

SOCIETYOF AUSTRALIA.Edited by David Turnley. Perth: Department of
Music, University of Western Australia. I98z. II7pp.+ Audiocassette.
£6.95. Available from P. Moore, P.O. Box 66, zooa Perne Road, Cambridge
CBI 3PD.
DANCESTUDIES.Volume 7. Edited by Roderyk Lange. Jersey: Centre for Dance
Studies. 1983. 78 pp. Illus. Les Bois, St Peter, Jersey.
The interface between sound and movement as performance is, from a scholarly
viewpoint, a sadly neglected phenomenon, despite its almost pervasive appearance
in the world as a human activity. No doubt the degree of specialization required in
Western education, together with the late development of dance as an academic
pursuit, has restricted the emergence of studies where music and dance receive
equal treatment.
The Perth conference of I980 addressed itself to the often symbiotic
relationship between music and dance with a set of papers orientated towards the
European scene. Of particular note is Margaret Mullins's paper on 'Dance and
Society in Seventeenth-Century France' where, in addition to a contextual
treatment of her material, she discusses Feuillet dance script in tandem with
contemporary music notation.
Although films of non-Western dance were presented at the conference, apart
from John Blacking's familiar studies of the Venda, there is little evidence in the

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