The phenomenon of singing ‘face-to-face’ in the practice of Lithuanian polyphonic sutartinės songs

Abstract

The article discusses the phenomenon of singing ‘face-to-face’ in the practice of Lithuanian polyphonic sutartinės’ singing. The chronicler Maciej Stryjkowski described singing «to each other with their mouths wide open» as early as the 16th century. Zenonas Slaviūnas drew attention to a specific way of singing during sound recording the singing of several singers’ groups before WWII. Although this phenomenon has not been studied so far, it can be assumed that ‘face-to-face’ singing is essential for high-quality sutartinės singing (the word sutartinės is derived from the verb sutarti ‘to agree’ with another person). Peculiarities of singing ‘face-to-face’ depend on different communication when singing in twos (opposing), threes (canon, ‘circle’), fours (pair opposite a pair), ‘face-to-face’ communication during singing facilitates the coordination of voices, helps to achieve the desired ‘roughness’ of singing, to feel the vibrations of another body, and creates a specific acoustic space.