Robert Burns’s Poetry in creative works of Belarusian folk group “Pesnyary”

Bartkevich Alexandra, Form 9 A,

Voronovo School

Questions arose:

• Are the poems of Robert Burns translated into Russian? What are the best translations?
• Is Burns popular in Belarus?
• Have his poems ever been used in Russian and Belarusian culture: songs, cinema, theatre?
• Why did our famous “Pesnyary” turn to Burns’s talent and use Scottish motives in their creative works?

The hypothesis of the research:

“Pesnyary” used Robert Burns’s poems in their creations because they are close to their spirit, reflect people’s feelings, emotional experience, sufferings and aspiration for freedom.

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The object of my research is poetry of Robert Burns.

The subject of the research is poetry of Robert Burns in the creative works of “Pesnyary”.

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�The goal of my research is to reveal the influence of Burns’s poetry on Belarusian culture.�

Tasks:

• To study the creations of the Scottish bard.
• To analyze the existing translations of his poetry into Russian (or Belarusian if there are any).
• To study creative works of “Pesnyary” connected with Robert Burns’s poetry.

Methods were used:

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• descriptive, comparative and cultural studies
• analysis�

The structure of the work:

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I. ROBERT BURNS AS A GREAT SCOTTISH BARD

1.1 Robert Burns and his poetry

1.2 Translations of Robert Burns’s poems

CHAPTER II. “PESNYARY” OF OUR TIME

2.1 “Pesnyary” and Belarusian literature

2.2 “Jolly Beggars. A Cantata” in the musical programme of “Pesnyary”

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDIX

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Robert Burns (1759-1796)

10 Robert Burns’s Poems �Everyone Should Read:

• “Halloween”
• “The Banks o’Doon”
• “John Anderson, My Joo”
• “To a louse”
• “Holly Willie’s Prayer”
• “A Red, Red Rose”
• “A Man’s a Man for A’ That”
• Auld Lang Syne
• “Tom O’Shanter”
• “To a Mouse”

Words in Burns’s vocabulary that belong to the dialect of his native place, Kyle:

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icker – spike, kiaugh – sorrow, gloaming – darkness, winze – curse, raucle – rough, maun – must, throw – think, fou – drunk, kens – know, wad – would, tae – taken, aff - off; nappy(ale); a’ (all), e’er – you are, sae(so), etc.

The orthographic features in Burns’s poetry:

• Reduced endings: fi’ – full, fa’ – fall, ca’ – call, hae – have, ha – hand, min – mind;
• Voiceless d at the end of the words: use’t, likit;
• Use of ie instead of y: Willie, bonnie;
• Digraphs: ae – nae(no), ai – laird (lord), au – auld(old), eu – beuk (book), ui – guid (good);
• Sound x which is absent in the English language;
• Use i instead of o: mither – mother; a instead of o: na – no, wha – who.

Soviet Union films with Russian translations of Robert Burns’s songs

“We say Marshak and we mean Robert Burns, we say Robert Burns and we mean Marshak”

• Love poems;
• Nature lyric;
• Songs with humorous contents.

Belarusian translators of Robert Burns:

• Yazep Semyazhon
• Yurka Gauruk
• Galina Dubyanetskaya
• Alena Tabolich

Belarusian folk group “Pesnyary”

Books written by Angela Gergel and Valery Dayneko

“Pesnyary” wrote songs on the poems of Belarusian classics:

Yanka Kupala

Yakub Kolas

Maxim Bagdanovich

Maxim Tank

Arkady Kulyashou

Creative works of “Pesnyary”on the words of Robert Burns:

song «За дружбу

старую» (1973)

programme «Веселые нищие» (1981, 12 songs)

album «Березовый сок» (1996, 11 songs)

“The Jolly Beggars. A Cantata” (1785)

1. “When lyart leaves bestrow the yird”;

2. “Soldier’s Joy”;

3. “Sodger Laddie”;

4. “Auld Sir Simon”;

5. “Oh, an yer were dead, Guidman”;

6. “Whistle owre the lave o’ t”;

7. “Clout the Cauldron”;

8. “For a’ that, an a’ that”;

9. “Jolly Mortals, fill your glasses”.

The programme «Веселые нищие» (1981)

The programme «Веселые нищие» includes 12 songs (this is also the number of the singers in the group) on the words of Robert Burns in the translation of Samuel Marshak, music by Igor Polivoda.

1. «Базарный шут» (исп. А. Демешко)

2. «В эту ночь сердца и кружки» (исп. В. Мулявин)

3. «Весёлые нищие» (исп. «Песняры»)

4. «Кто честной бедности своей…» (исп. «Песняры»)

5. «Моему незаконнорожденному ребёнку» (исп. А. Кашепаров)

6. «Мой Джон» (исп. И. Пеня)

7. «Песня бродячего скрипача» (исп. В. Дайнеко)

8. «Песня старой маркитантки» (исп. И.Пеня)

9. «Я, Ваша честь» (исп. А. Кашепаров)

10. «Я лишь поэт» (исп. В. Мулявин)

11. «Я пью твоё здоровье» (исп. В. Дайнеко)

12. «Песня солдата» (исп. В. Мулявин)

Every song had its own stylish character and genre:

• ballad;
• rock’n’roll;
• country;
• satire couplets;
• military marsh;
• lyrical romance;
• song for health

�Conclusion�

1. The poetry of Robert Burns is very popular in Belarus thanks to the creations of “Pesnyary”.

2. The best translations of Burns’s poetry into Russian are the translations of Samuel Marshak, who translated over 200 poems and sold over 60.000 copies.

3. Robert Burns’s poems in the translations of Marshak were used in Russian and Belarusian culture: songs, musicals, cinematography.

4. “Pesnyary” turned to Robert Burns and Scottish motives because it is close to our Belarusian songs and poetry in spirit, love for freedom and independence. They wrote 12 songs on the words of Burns in the translation of S. Marshak.

5. Songs of “Pesnyary” in the style of folk-rock enriched Belarusian culture and found the bridge between folk songs and modern music.

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My interactive book “Robert Burns’s Poetry in creative works of �Belarusian folk group “Pesnyary”

Thank you for your attention!