In this presentation, the speaker examines how the core principle of authenticity—defined by literary critic Leonel Trilling as the alignment of outward expression with inner life—functions within Russian bardic song and what happens when the tradition migrates to the United States. The talk argues that authenticity, while stable in a homogeneous Russian cultural context, becomes destabilizing when younger generations of Russian-Americans live in a different reality, speak English, and have access to a broader palette of instruments. If authenticity is allowed to manifest in the new environment, the genre evolves into hybrid forms that blend Russian lyrical sensibilities with American musical idioms; if it is suppressed—by insisting on Russian language, classical guitar, and traditional repertoire—the tradition becomes frozen, persisting only through nostalgic concerts before eventually dying out. The speaker illustrates this dynamic with a conceptual diagram contrasting “authentic hybrid evolution” versus “frozen preservation.” Current observations of Russian-American bardic communities show enthusiastic experimentation with English‑Russian wordplay, diverse instrumentation, and new identities. The presentation concludes with a brief audio example of a new American bard, Alex Kiskachi, whose song incorporates a saxophone solo, exemplifying the hybrid direction.
Chapters
We stopped here, and so after this we move on to looking at authenticity a little bit deeper as Russian bardic song moves to the United States. So let's look at authenticity a little bit closer. As I mentioned before, in Russia I believe it is a central stable element in bardic song based on what Leonel Trilling a literary critic, says about authenticity, and we can take him seriously because he wrote an entire book called Sincerity and Authenticity. He says that authenticity is accurately aligned outward expression of the external inner life of the individual. So what you put out has to match what is inside. People can't learn to be authentic. They can't imitate authenticity. It has to come from within. I would argue that in a homologous culture, individuals can sense when someone's being authentic because they have a shared reality, so their authenticity is bound to be similar. But now imagine an entire generation being moved to a different country. Younger generations here in America are now living in a different reality, and when they are true to that reality, their output, their songs, should look different than what their ancestor songs look like. But then what happens to Russian bardic song as new generations try to perform it? Well, it stops being Russian. It stops being about Russian realities. It also eventually stops being in Russian. New generations speak English, and that's their native language. That's where they're most comfortable. And so an authentic representation of themselves would be in English. And acoustic guitar may not be the instrument of choice. They have a whole plethora of instruments to choose from, after all, not quite like in Russia. So, if the stable element of authenticity is carried over, it ends up bringing within itself a seed that will ultimately lead to its own destruction. But I don't want to be fatalistic. New hybrids will flourish. However, if the stable element is not allowed to be realized in the new land, then the whole genre will become frozen, and that's what you get when you have concerts. Old bards are just performing, but then they die out, and the older generations pass on, and so the genre dies a slow and painful death. Death as well. So I propose this diagram to demonstrate what I'm talking about. So if you have internally generated content and characteristics such as authenticity, and you move it overseas, if you allow it to play out, the genre will die and you'll get these great hybrids. If you don't allow it to play out, if you say, no, we don't care about you being authentic, guys, sing in Russian, use classical guitar, don't try to experiment, then you will keep the Russian bardic genre for a while, but eventually it will be frozen and will die out. And of course, if a genre that is not Russian bardic song but another genre does not have internally generated elements, it does not call for you to be authentic, then transplanted overseas it will continue evolving gradually. Basically right now this is what we're looking at in Russian communities in the US. We have hybrid genres, people are exploring, they're enthusiastic, they're trying new things, and they're finding a new identity as Russian Americans. So they are playing with English and Russian word games, they are trying new arrangements, they're talking about this new life that they live now, and they're kind of incorporating that into their authentic expression of themselves. Of course, you have the concerts that I talked about, and when I talk to bards in America, they say that the future is unknown. But they are always optimistic. And so I end with a little bit of a song that is a new bard creating here in America, Alex Kiskachi. As you can hear already, there is something new— saxophone solo. Thank you for your attention. I look forward to hearing your questions.
