Traditional Selections compiled by The Calgary Doukhobor Cultural Society (CDCS), with 36 songs on 2 CDs. 2013. 84 pp. (letter-size pages) $25 + $10 postage. E-mail: tradselect@gmail.com, or phone Don Cheveldayoff at 403-288-0058. 160 published, 30 available as of today. Wire bound.
Though an admirable effort, the first edition reviewed is an amateur work-in-progress, with many flaws. The project appears to have been rushed for this year's Union of Youth Festival held in B.C. in May.
I know well from the projects that I rushed, that flaws are bound to appear. Future buyers should wait for an updated edition.
In 2011, a small group of active Doukhobors in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, decided to publish a songbook with traditional hymns, psalms, peace songs and folk songs. They explain their reason on page 2 in Introductions and Acknowledgments.
The CDCS team selected 36 previously recorded songs and hymns on themes of peace, love and goodwill which were copied onto 2 CDs. The book is well planned and organized to explain each song to those who do not read Russian, and may not know the significance of these selections. Each song is presented on two facing pages in 4 columns — (1) Comments, (2) English translation, (3) Russian lyrics, and (4) an inconsistent transliteration or a somewhat phonetic pronunciation guide.
The book cover shows a rough sketch of downtown Calgary overlaid with the Canadian Doukhobor symbols for peace (dove), and the staff of life (khleb-sol : bread, salt, water). The cover shows an archaic spelling of 'Doukhobour', not the standard Canadian 'Doukhobor' universally used today, and as spelled correctly inside the book. Several photographs of choirs and a map provide some useful context to the reader.
The Comments column explains the song context. For example, several of the songs were performed by Doukhobors and Friends of Peace at the World Peace Forum held in Vancouver, British Columbia in June 2006. With a little more research, the compilers could have added an important historical fact — the Forum continued to Victoria, BC and led to the creation of the Canadian Department of Peace Initiative (CDPI) in which Canadian Doukhobors are active today.
The selection of psalms and songs were good. I especially appreciated these 4 of the 36:
The Russian lyrics are what my generation sung and memorized, but my main problem is with the inconsistent transliteration of the Russian. Using the sample pages 36-37 (shown above), compare a popular standard transliteration of Russian to that published.
Just in this one song there are 3 Doukhoborese (Doukhobor Russian) sounds shown for 'o' and 2 sounds for each of 4 other Russian letters. Russians can vary the sound of the vowel 'o' depending on its location in a word, and the regional dialect of Russian they speak. These varying phonetic sounds depend on the 'ear' of the person writing them.
The published book transliteration only uses a Southern Russian dialect 'h' sound for the Russian letter г (g).
It is noteworthy to look at the foremost Doukhobor linguist Dr. Alex P. Harshenin (1930-1977) and his work on 'English loanwords in the Doukhobor dialect'. In a letter to the editor of Iskra (January 4, 1974: 17-19), the UBC professor wrote: '.... In fact, Doukhoborism cannot be bound to any particular language, although everyone is aware that there is one language in which it finds its richest expression even to the present day, and that is in the broadcast sense "Russian." And it is the learning of Russian that will preserve the better aspects of the dialect, and consequently, of the entire culture as well.'
See my blogs:
From the Doukhobor Music website
Traditional Selections compiled by The Calgary Doukhobor Cultural Society (CDCS), with 36 songs on 2 CDs. 2013. 84 pp. (letter-size pages) $25 + $10 postage. E-mail: tradselect at gmail.com, or phone Don Cheveldayoff at 403-288-0058.
While some have chosen to offer a less-than-stellar review of this ensemble, we at DoukhoborMusic.ca whole-heartedly applaud the efforts in preserving the Doukhobor singing culture. Kudos to the Calgary Doukhobor Cultural Society!
Though an admirable effort, the first edition reviewed is an amateur work-in-progress, with many flaws. The project appears to have been rushed for this year's Union of Youth Festival held in B.C. in May.
I know well from the projects that I rushed, that flaws are bound to appear. Future buyers should wait for an updated edition.
In 2011, a small group of active Doukhobors in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, decided to publish a songbook with traditional hymns, psalms, peace songs and folk songs. They explain their reason on page 2 in Introductions and Acknowledgments.
The CDCS felt that a songbook needed to be developed that would function primarily as a teaching tool to accommodate the diversity of our group in terms of language — Russian/English and other cultural considerations. We concluded that a songbook with Russian, English, transliterations and accompanying CDs would serve such a need as well as be a legacy to future generations — our children, grand-children and great-grand-children.
Hopefully, our effort to present accurate and clear lyrics, translations and comments has been fulfilled. We apologize if any errors or omission are identified.
Hopefully, our effort to present accurate and clear lyrics, translations and comments has been fulfilled. We apologize if any errors or omission are identified.
The CDCS team selected 36 previously recorded songs and hymns on themes of peace, love and goodwill which were copied onto 2 CDs. The book is well planned and organized to explain each song to those who do not read Russian, and may not know the significance of these selections. Each song is presented on two facing pages in 4 columns — (1) Comments, (2) English translation, (3) Russian lyrics, and (4) an inconsistent transliteration or a somewhat phonetic pronunciation guide.
The book cover shows a rough sketch of downtown Calgary overlaid with the Canadian Doukhobor symbols for peace (dove), and the staff of life (khleb-sol : bread, salt, water). The cover shows an archaic spelling of 'Doukhobour', not the standard Canadian 'Doukhobor' universally used today, and as spelled correctly inside the book. Several photographs of choirs and a map provide some useful context to the reader.
Sample pages 35 and 36 |
The selection of psalms and songs were good. I especially appreciated these 4 of the 36:
- Pages 43-44 — Bставайте, Силы Новые (Arise Ye Youth, the Time Has Come), performed by the Blaine Lake Doukhobor Choir in the 1960s, is a nice Prygun hymn calling on the youth for a spiritual awakening.
- Pages 73-74 — Однозучно Звенит Колокольчик (Monotonously Rings the Bell) is Peter Voykin's exceptional solo, with accompaniment, on the traditional Russian folksong about a lonely coachman.
- Pages 63-64 — В Честь Победы (In Honour of Peace and Freedom) is an excellent performance of the traditional Doukhobor hymn by the Friends for Peace Choir at the World Peace Forum in 2006.
- Pages 71-72 — 'Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream' is a classic Canadian folk-song, written after World War II, about universal peace, sung by Tom Hawken in 1999 in Vancouver. This is one of a several non-Doukhobor numbers included.
- Pages 31-32 — Do Doukhobors believe in Jesus Christ as portrayed in Biblical stories? Such as 'how Christ lifts us and leads us in our times of darkness and need', 'of Christ suffering on the cross', and the story of heaven above. (See: Myth No. 5, in my Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers' Strategies for Living (pp. 380-381)
- Page 59 — Are Doukhobors Christians, as assumed in many of the hymns? Or are they universalists, of the Tolstoyan and Unitarian type? Ron Kalmakoff, singer, elegantly answers this on page 59 — 'The Kingdom of heaven is within'. That is, 'heaven' in not out there in space; it is here within us, reflected in our conscience and in our good behaviours.
The Russian lyrics are what my generation sung and memorized, but my main problem is with the inconsistent transliteration of the Russian. Using the sample pages 36-37 (shown above), compare a popular standard transliteration of Russian to that published.
US Library of Congress standard | As Published in Doukhoborese |
Spite orly boevye, Spite s pokoinoi dushoi; Vy zasluzhili rodnye, Pamiat' i vechnyi pokoi. | Speete arli boeviye, Speete s pokoynoy dooshoy; Ve zasloozheelee rodniye, Pamyat ee vechniy pokoy. |
Just in this one song there are 3 Doukhoborese (Doukhobor Russian) sounds shown for 'o' and 2 sounds for each of 4 other Russian letters. Russians can vary the sound of the vowel 'o' depending on its location in a word, and the regional dialect of Russian they speak. These varying phonetic sounds depend on the 'ear' of the person writing them.
The published book transliteration only uses a Southern Russian dialect 'h' sound for the Russian letter г (g).
It is noteworthy to look at the foremost Doukhobor linguist Dr. Alex P. Harshenin (1930-1977) and his work on 'English loanwords in the Doukhobor dialect'. In a letter to the editor of Iskra (January 4, 1974: 17-19), the UBC professor wrote: '.... In fact, Doukhoborism cannot be bound to any particular language, although everyone is aware that there is one language in which it finds its richest expression even to the present day, and that is in the broadcast sense "Russian." And it is the learning of Russian that will preserve the better aspects of the dialect, and consequently, of the entire culture as well.'
See my blogs:
- Q43: Is 'Doukhobor Dialect' Defended?, 21 May 2011.
- Doukhobor Russian Language Research, 3 November 2011
- The authors should have consulted and copied existing Russian-English songbooks online, like Rubin, R.N., M. Stillman, and J. Silverman. A Russian Song Book, 1989, 99 pages. For each of 44 Russian folk songs, some sung by Doukhobors, lyrics are in 3 columns — English, Russian, and Romanized Russian, and the musical notation has the same lyrics in 3 lines. Excellent!
- In my opinion, the most glaring is the varied phonetic transliteration of Doukhobor Russian (Doukhoborese). I found dozens of errors and stopped counting. The correct (US-LOC) transliteration of Russian г is g (not h). Мир is Mir (not Meer). Though many Doukhobors may consider such transliteration as a display of their colloquial dialect, in my opinion it shows poor scholarship and undermines the seriousness of this volume. The compilers failed to consult a standard professional transliteration system as used by scholars throughout the world.
- Shaw, J. Thomas. The Transliteration of Modern Russian for English-Language Publications (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1967): 8-9.
- The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 8th edition, 1990: 1454.
- ALA-LC romanization for Russian, Wikipedia.com
- Redo the Bibliography (p. 84) with correct precision and accuracy, e.g. No. 6: 'Plakun Trava.' 1982. Koozma Tarasoff. p.26. Redo it as: Tarasoff, Koozma J. Plakun Trava: The Doukhobors. 1982. p. 26. e.g. No. 10. 'Spirit Wrestlers'. 2002. Koozma Tarasoff. p. 109. Redo it as: Tarasoff, Koozma J. Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers' Strategies for Living. 2002. p. 109. Use one style for all the references.
- I would recall all of the books sold (but let them keep the CDs), and send the customer a new corrected version.
From the Doukhobor Music website
Traditional Selections compiled by The Calgary Doukhobor Cultural Society (CDCS), with 36 songs on 2 CDs. 2013. 84 pp. (letter-size pages) $25 + $10 postage. E-mail: tradselect at gmail.com, or phone Don Cheveldayoff at 403-288-0058.
While some have chosen to offer a less-than-stellar review of this ensemble, we at DoukhoborMusic.ca whole-heartedly applaud the efforts in preserving the Doukhobor singing culture. Kudos to the Calgary Doukhobor Cultural Society!