Ethnic instrumental music playing in the surroundings of Vilnius in the 20th century: the data of ethno-instrumental expedition

ENBased on the written material from the 14th ethnic instrumental expedition (2002) held in Vilnius district, the collected data of the 20th centuryís folk musicians, their music played and instruments used are analysed and summarized. There is a mention of the best cymbals player of this region, Piotr KaËianovskij. The author conducted the interviewing of 25 informants: 14 of them being bellows players (7 accordions, 5 players of the folk accordions and 2 ñ of the bayans), 4 fiddles and other instrument players (3 mandolins, 2 cymbals, 1 guitar and 1 balalaika). In Vilnius district there were two major types of instrumental ensembles: string and mixed ensembles. The data obtained from the informants indicate that making music, which was highly popular in the regions of Vilnius at the beginning of the 20th century, is a very old tradition. Numerous folk violinists, bellows instrument players and wind musicians had still remained in the regions of Vilnius during the expedition. The old age musicians mostly used to learn musical compositions aurally. In the region considered, the traditions of ethnic instrumental music-making almost became extinct during the second half of the 20th century and were barely alive at the end of the century. Nobody has taken over the old musiciansí music-making traditions, and the art of their performance is on the brink of extinction. Unfortunately, the materials obtained during the expeditions only reflect the facts of the past or the present. Nevertheless, we should be happy to at least have registered these facts of our near cultural past.