Lullaby Songs and Their Role in the Context of Traditional Culture

The genre of the lullaby is important in traditional culture. Despite the fact that many songs related to the cycle of family and ritual folklore have ceased to function, lullabies do not lose their relevance. The purpose of lullabies in modern practice has a more practical application, but in traditional culture, their role was much greater than lulling a child. The study of the relationship between the components of the lullaby and the separation of their ethnic identity is an urgent task that helps to understand the specifics of traditional culture.

The purpose of the article is to study the specifics of lullabies and their role in the context of traditional culture.

The research methodology is based on a cultural-historical and musical-analytical approach. In this study, the cultural-historical approach is used to identify socio-cultural conditions in which domestic folk genres are formed. Much attention is paid to the semantic level of analysis of the verbal text of lullabies, which reveals the specifics of ancestral beliefs, the relationship of the text with the functional purpose of these songs. The musical-analytical approach makes it possible to explore and compare certain common intonations, rhythmic characteristics in lullabies that exist in different cultures.

Conclusions. Lullabies are a form of broadcasting the experience of many generations. Analysis of their specificity allows us to talk about the similarity of musical characteristics of this folk genre, which relate to different ethnic cultures – a small ambition, downward movement, and repetition of one intonation and the choice of rhythmic patterns that reproduce the specifics of rocking. The content of lullabies reflects the peculiarities of ancestral beliefs. On the example of lullabies, common in European culture, we can note a combination of elements of the Christian religion and mythological ideas. Lullabies have certain stable components that are associated with calming the baby and wanting to lull him. However, there are a number of differences, in particular in the verbal text, which reproduces the specifics of socio-cultural conditions in which they were formed. Functions of lullabies include communicative, social and magical. Each element of the lullaby verbal text has a deep symbolic meaning and is aimed at raising a child, attracting certain spiritual forces, promoting his/her health and ensuring his/her happy fate.