Russian Roots, American Branches: Music in Two Worlds
odd: label: Introduction
content: One of the outcomes of the 1988 Festival program of Music from the Peoples of the Soviet Union was a series of research partnerships pairing U.S.-based scholars and their counterparts from several countries of the former Soviet Union (Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan). The focus of the projects was to compare the transformation of similar cultural traditions in different environments. In the Russian study, the Old Believers and Molokan communities, which both share a history of opposition to the Russian Orthodox Church, have each developed differently, depending on their root traditions and their situations. Some people in those communities left Russia and migrated to Turkey, South America, and the United States. Some communities later returned to Russia. Each of the migrations left its mark. Their histories provided an important backdrop to the contemporary statuses of the communities.

The Old Believers and the Molokans represent two very different phenomena of Russian religious and cultural life. The Old Believers belong to the old Orthodox Church, while the Molokans reject it altogether. If visual aspects are very important for the Old Believers (the best representation of this can be found in their handwritten books, carefully and artfully illuminated and decorated with colorful miniatures, as well as in their icon paintings), Molokans pay less attention to visual expressions of their faith and concentrate almost entirely on aural aspects. Still, their histories have much in common. Both were persecuted by the Russian church and government, imprisoned, executed, and forced to migrate. For both, living in diaspora and in opposition to mainstream culture became the norm. These circumstances forced them to be independent and strong, spiritually and physically, in order to withstand pressures from the dominant culture.

Developments of the previous decade, when the research teams had been observing these communities, offered perhaps the most interesting basis for comparison. The religious revival in post-Soviet Russia gave a respect to the Old Believers and Molokan communities in 1995 that was unknown ten years before. In the United States many people were looking away from government and to their own roots for identity and structure in an increasingly disjointed world. In the program Russian Roots, American Branches, Festival audiences had an opportunity to observe not only the survival and adaptation of traditions, but also the influence of the changing perspectives of tradition in Russia and the United States.

The invitation from the Smithsonian to participate in the 1995 Festival of American Folklife was greeted by the four groups presented in the program with remarkable enthusiasm. Although some communities remain completely closed to scholars even today because they do not think that their singing, not to mention their religious life, should be studied or observed, many members of Molokan and Old Believer communities generously shared their talents, knowledge, and convictions with Smithsonian researchers. Those who heard their magnificent singing on the National Mall could feel privileged, gratified, and greatly enriched.

Margarita Mazo and Richard Kennedy were Curators; Katie Gruber was Program Coordinator in the U.S. and Anatoly Kargin was Program Coordinator in Russia. Russian Roots, American Branches: Music in Two Worlds was produced with the collaboration of the Russian Ministry of Culture, with support from the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
label: Researchers
content: Margarita Mazo (Molokans, Old Believers), Serafima Nikitina (Molokans)
label: Presenters
content: Margerita Mazo, Roy Robson
label: Participants
content: NEKRASOVTSY OLD BELIEVERS, STAVROPOL, RUSSIA

Evlampy Kirsanovich Banderovsky, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Gavril Dmitrievich Belikov, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Tatyana Timofeievna Elesiutikova, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Ludmila Vasilievna Evdokimova, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Stepanida Trofimovna Galuplina, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Matrena Nikolushkina, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Ivan Yakovlevich Nikolushkin, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Anastasia Zakharovna Nikolushkin, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Praskovya Pashina, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Lefevr Grigorievich Pashin, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Vasilii Zakharovich Popov, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Anastasia Timofeievna Pushichkina, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Anna Trofimovna Tchernyshova, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Maria Matveievna Tchizhikova, singer, Stavropol, Russia

AMERICAN OLD BELIEVERS, ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA

Charles (Seraphim) Dobson, singer, Erie, Pennsylvania

James Hawkins, singer, Erie, Pennsylvania

Anastasia Jurewicz, singer, Erie, Pennsylvania

Hilary (Xenaida) Miester, singer, Erie, Pennsylvania

Violet (Varvara) Semenoff, singer, Erie, Pennsylvania

Daria Simon, leader of right choir, singer, Erie, Pennsylvania

John Simon, singer, Erie, Pennsylvania

Reverend Pimen Simon, parish rector, singer, Erie, Pennsylvania

Stacey L. (Solomonia) Wing, leader of left choir, singer, Erie, Pennsylvania

Douglas (Seraphim) Wing, singer, Erie, Pennsylvania

STEADFAST MOLOKANS STAVROPOL, RUSSIA

Anna Nikolaievna Anaprikova, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Vasilii Ivanovich Bogdanov, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Anastasia Fedorovna Bogdanova, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Vladimir Ivanovich Polstianov, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Alexandr Timofeievich Shchetinkin, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Timofei Vasilievich Shchetinkin, presbyter, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Vasilii Timofeievich Shchetinkin, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Anna Pavlovna Shchetinkina, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Matrena Timofeievna Shchetinkina, singer, Stavropol, Russia

Vasilii Andreievich Volkov, lead singer, choral director, Stavropol, Russia

AMERICAN STEADFAST MOLOKANS

Katrina Hazen, singer, San Mateo, California

George J. Kostrikin, assistant choral director, Redwood City, California

Lucy Kostrikin, singer, Redwood City, California

William J. Loskutoff, choral director, 'Sunnyvale, California

Mary M. Loskutoff, singer, Sunnyvale, California

Antonina M. Pushkarow, singer, San Francisco, Californiq

Bill T. Razvaliaeff, singer, San Francisco, California

Nadia Shabalin, singer, Daly City, California

Andrei A. Shabalin, singer, San Bruno, California

Mary Jane P. Shabalin, singer, San Bruno, California

Edward J. Samarin, assistant presbyter,  -- skazatel  -- (prompter), Oakland, California
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
setName: label: See more items in
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1995 Festival of American Folklife
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
identifier: label: Identifier
content: CFCH.SFF.1995, Series 5
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials