Die fahrenden Sänger-Bettler als soziale Gruppe und ihre Funktionen in der Gesellschaft

Abstract

Itinerant beggar singers, a type of epic singer, were known in many European countries since ancient times, later especially in the Middle Ages and until the first quarter of the 20th century. These singers came from the common people, usually from the village; they made their living by singing and were the bearers of songs.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, a typology was developed among various Slavs. The social group of beggar singers is studied from two points of view: 1. From the internal, i.e. from the point of view of social communities. (criteria such as: the presence of some kind of disease, most often blindness, differences in appearance, clothing, norms of behavior and common symbols and customs, secret language, etc. are given). The presence of a certain internal organization within the social group is also emphasized (unification around one center, common property, regulated relations, a mandatory period of training for a fee and an entrance exam to the organization). When viewed from the outside, the public assessment of the wandering beggar singer and the functions he performs in society are taken into account. The main types of songs in his repertoire are also presented, along with the functions that the singer performs among various Slavs through this repertoire: patriotic-educational, socially integrative, regulatory, or moralizing.