Work Songs of Lithuania

Songs of the work differ greatly in function and age. There are some extreme old instances, which have retained their direct relation with the rhythm and process of the work to be done. After sing the song of the work more of a person’s feelings, experience and aspirations, the older work song more accurately relate the different levels of the work to be done. They are divided according to their purpose on the farm and in the home.

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·         Herding songs:- the song of shepherd are sung by children while song of the nightherding are sung by the adults. The shepherding song shows the actual tending of animals, the social of children as well as references to the olden beliefs. The raliavimai or warbles are also singing form of melodies, distinguished by the vocal ralio, which is meant to calm the animals. The raliavima does not have any set poetic or musical form being free singings, unified by the refrains. Some of the warbles end in a prolonged jubilation base on a major or minor third.

·         Rye harvesting songs:- The rye of harvest is the central stage in the agricultural cycle. The mood is sad; love and marriage are prevailing topics in them. The relationship of the family between the parent and the children are often discussed with special emphasis on the hard lot of the daughter-in law in a patriarchal family. The songs of rye harvest have rhythmic and tonal structures in common, and confines to their ancient time. Their special melodic pattern is determined by close linking to ritual and the function of the work. The modal tonal arrangement of some of these songs rotates around a minor third, while others are built on a major tetrachord.

·         Oat harvesting flax and buckwheat pulling and hemp gathering songs:- harvesting oat song sing of the lad and the maid of love and marriage as well as the work process involve the sowing, harrowing, cultivating, reaping, binding, stacking, transporting, threshing, milling and even the eating. Addition to the monophonic oat harvesting songs if Dzukja, there are somewhat a few sutartines from the northern Aukstaitija which are directly related to the job of growing oats.

·         Milling songs:- this genre can be identified by the characteristic refrains and vocals such as malu malu and zizui malui. They recommend the hum of the millstones as well as the rhythm of the milling. The milling is done by the women and lyrics are about women’s life and family relationship as well as the work itself. The milling songs are composed, slow tempo and the melodic rhythm differs little.

·         Spinning and weaving songs:- songs of the spinning the main topic is spinning itself, the spinner and the spinning wheel while weaving songs mention the weaving process, the weaver, the loom and the delicate linens. Some of the spinning songs are cheerful and funny while others look like the milling songs which lament the women’s hard lot longing for their homes and parents. The write up describes the work process, while the refrains mimic the whirring of the spinning wheel. And also there are highly special spinning sutartines, typified by clear and severe rhythms.

·         Laundering songs:- the refrain sometime competes with the sounds of the beetle and mangle and also the laundering tools. The songs often hyperbolize pictures of the mother-in-law’s outlandish demands such as using the sea instead of a beetle and the sky in place of a mangle and the treetops for drying.

·         Fishing and hunting songs:- the fishing songs is all about the sea, the bay, the fisherman, his boat, the net and they often call the seaside place names such as Klaipeda or Resne. The feelings of the young people in love are often shown in the way that they are special only in the fishing songs. The monophonic melodic is mainly of singing the traditions of the seaside areas of Lithuania. Hunting motifs are extreme clearly stated in hunting songs.

·         Berry picking and mushroom gathering songs:-these are remarkable songs. The berry picking songs tell the young girls how to pick berries, meeting boys and their discussions. The songs of mushroom gathering can be funny, making light of the process of gathering and cooking the mushrooms, telling the war of the mushrooms or their weddings.