Traditional Songs and Their Messages in the Corona Period: An Experience from Serbia

Folklore in so-called secondary oral tradition, i.e., in its ‘neo-traditional’ forms, has significantly changed its performing contexts in relation to the original context of traditional songs. In Serbia, traditional melodies gained new lives primarily in urban environments – at concerts, public and, more rarely, internal/private ceremonies, and at performances connected with church holidays. In these situations, the favourite pieces were those that were considered attractive to listeners because of their specificities in structure, form, melodic and chord/harmony characteristics; the functional aspect of songs became primarily aesthetic. However, during the Covid pandemic in 2020 the experience of the female vocal ensemble Moba from Belgrade, Serbia, showed that the function of songs may return to its ritual sense. In this period, the repertoire of the group was enriched by songs that regained the feeling of togetherness with colleagues and singers from other countries, since the direct contact with them was almost disabled. New experience was gained during preparations for the concert, which is analysed in this article according to the concept of “time, place and metaphor” suggested by Timothy Rice (2003). During this period, also partly due to the songs’ structural elements and their original genres, the songs regained their original functions. This phenomenon might also be observed in the light of universal structural patterns and archetypes that conduct and arrange every human activity, according to synthetic anthropological research based on the results of the work of Levi-Strauss, Jung, Eliade, Propp, and others.