UKRAINIAN CHORAL SINGING AS A MEANS OF CONSTRUCTING NATIONAL IDENTITY

Abstract

The purpose of the article – to justify the historical role of choral singing of Ukrainians as an important factor of national self-identification. The research methodology consists of the following methods: scientific-theoretical (when considering scientific works, the focus of which research is concentrated on the concepts of «mentality», «identity»); historical and cultural (when outlining the conditions for the existence and functioning of the national choral culture at various historical stages); systematic (with a holistic study of choral singing as a phenomenon of Ukrainian musical culture); inductive (to reproduce the general picture of Ukrainian choral culture). Scientific novelty. It was revealed that the propensity of the Ukrainian people to group singing is determined not only by anthropological factors, the richness of Ukrainian folk songs, but also by historical, political, social factors and features of the national mentality. It has been proven that choral singing played a major role in the Ukrainian statebuilding process and had a direct impact on the formation of Ukrainian national identity. Conclusions. Taking into account the fact that choral singing in Ukraine has long prevailed over other types of musical performance activity, the characteristic features of the national mentality (introversion, cardiocentricity, emotionality and sensitivity, anarchic individualism on the one hand and collectivism on the other, religiosity, to some extent «decorativeness») are found its vivid expression in the traditions of Ukrainian group singing. Choral singing is one of the most important components of Ukrainian national culture, as the life and cultural system of Ukrainians is connected with it – agricultural traditions, family and church rituals have always been accompanied by joint singing. It is noted that collective music-making, the essence of which is the unification of people in a common creative endeavor, contributes to the construction of Ukrainian national identity, because choral art became a means of «self-revival», «self-display» of the Ukrainian people, contributed to Ukrainians' awareness of themselves as a nation, and represented Ukrainian professional musical art on the international stage.