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Inna Golovakha and Larysa Vakhnina, eds.  35th International 
Ballad Conference SIEF Papers and Materials (2005, July 6-11, 
Kyiv, Ukraine). Kyiv: National Academy of Science of Ukraine, 
Rylsky Institute for Art Studies, Folklore and Ethnology, 2009.  
311 Pp.  Introductory notes. Notes. ISBN 978-966-02-5300-1. 
 

In 2005, the International Society for Ethnology and 
Folklore (SIEF) met for its 35th International Ballad Conference.  
The annual meeting was hosted by the National Academy of 
Science of Ukraine in conjunction with the Rylsky Institute for Art 
Studies, Folklore and Ethnology.  The present collection is the 
publication resulting from that conference: 27 papers of various 
lengths (between 3 and 30 pages) dealing with ballad research in 
folkloristics.   

Some scholars who participated in this collective project 
propose a historical approach to songs.  For example, in “A 
Country goes to War, Singing: Denmark in 1848,” Hans Kuhn 
examines the production of songs during the First Schleswig War; 
in “The Ballad of the Heartless Mother: The Origins of the Ballad 
and its Variation in Eurasia,” Elod Kovacs shows different 
international parallels in this song’s motifs.  In “Ballads and the 
Bible: Inquiry,” William McCarthy discusses the Song of Moses 
(Exodus 15) and the Song of Deborah (Judges 5) as possible 
sources for preceding prose narratives.  Lastly, Alexandre Moroz 
and Tatyana Moroza (“Mental Characteristics of Belarusian Folk 
Ballads”) present a historical background of ballad research in 
relation to nationalistic ideology. 

Other researchers refer to the form of the text itself as a 
mean for analysis.  For example in “Crossing Genre Boundaries 
(Examples from Bulgarian Ballads),” Svetla Petkova examines 
intergenre relationships by analyzing two ballad types: ‘The 
Robber’s Wife’ and the ‘Man Harnesses Wife for Ploughing’.  
“The Orpheus Myth and the Slovenian Folk Ballad ‘Godec pred 
peklom’” [‘The Musician at Hell’s Gate’] by Marjetka Golež-
Kaučič discusses the continuation and transformation of the myth 
of Orpheus and Eurydice through the analysis of thirty-one 
different Slovenian ballads.  In “Some Mythological Elements in 



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Turkish Folk Songs,” F. Gülay Mirzaoğlu-Sivaci proposes an 
analysis of the symbolism of the song’s myths; while in “Roland’s 
Journey to Faroe: The Chanson de Roland as a Faroese Ballad,” 
Frances J. Fisher looks at the diffusion and transformation of the 
Chanson de Roland from France to Denmark.  Olysia Britsyna, 
Inna Golovakha and Lyudmyla Yefremova’s article “The Dead 
Fiancé Returns: A Traditional Plot in the Ukrainian Oral Prose and 
Ballad Traditions” deals with the motif of the return of the 
deceased.  According to the authors, this plot is popular in 
Ukrainian ballads, but is also prominent in prose, beliefs and 
superstition.  Researcher Oksana Mykytenko analyzes the motif of 
the Sister-the-Poisoner as representative of Serbian foreigners in 
Ukrainian culture in “The Ethnic Stranger in Ukrainian Ballads of 
the Sister-the Poisoner Motif.”   

Some scholars equally integrate the historical approach and 
textual study in their research.  In “La ballade Portugaise et ses 
Prolongements au Brésil,” Anna Caufriez explores the 
modifications of form of contemporary Portuguese ballads and 
their transmission through the littérature de cordd; while in 
“Ukrainian Ballads about the Loss of Virginity and Out-of-
Wedlock Pregnancy,” Natalie Kononenko presents Ukrainian 
ballads about pre-marital lovemaking in regards to historical data 
of the same period, to understand how the songs functioned in 
Ukrainian traditional society.  In “Peasant and Noble, Peasant and 
Urban: the Interweaving of Popular and Elite Cultures in the Plot 
of the Mediterranean Ballad About the Noble Shepherdess,” 
Simona Delič examines female social status in Mediterranean 
ballad plots. Broné Stundžiené (“Folk Songs as Ritual Innovation 
of the Funeral Ceremony”) analyzes the transformation of 
Lithuanian song-romance as a new form of contemporary laments, 
and on a similar topic, Sabina Ispas researches the possible  
connection between heroic ballads and funerary songs in Romania 
in “Trois Soeurs Parties Pour Cueillir des Fleurs et Le prêtre de 
Piatra.”   

Several articles of this collective treat the role of the 
researcher, transcriber or translator in relation to folklore studies.  
In “What did the People All Say? Ballad Editing and the Problem 



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of Punctuation,” David Atkinson examines the complex role of 
editing when transcribing oral texts.  Maria Vengrenivska 
discusses the intricacy of Ukrainian and French ballads when it 
comes to translating the texts in “Particularités de la Traductions 
des Ballades Françaises et Ukrainiennes.”  Lastly, Larry 
Syndergaard examines certain cultural agendas such as spiritual, 
nationalism, homophobia and sexual property that are produced 
when rewriting songs in “From Song, to Print, to Translation and 
Pictures: Rewritings of Three Scandinavian Traditional Ballads.” 

This publication presents a large variety of topics.  
However, it is difficult to connect the papers since they are not 
grouped under common themes or chapters; such an organization 
would certainly have been beneficial for research purposes.  
Scholars published their articles in English, French or German, 
which could make reading difficult for some as no translation is 
provided.   Finally, some articles are in need of editing and show 
numerous typographic errors.   

Nevertheless, this book presents rich material for any 
researcher studying songs and ballads.  It demonstrates a strong 
tendency in Eastern European scholarship in researching ballads 
form, motifs and plots.  From these texts, one can assume Western 
scholarship is more interested in the social purpose of the songs 
and the role of the researcher.  In both Eastern and Western 
scholarship, the historical approach seems to be less present or at 
least to be simply a means of research to support another theory.  
This collection of conference papers represents an attempt to 
reconnect different schools of ballad criticism  – a long awaited 
discussion.  
 
Genia Boivin  
University of Alberta 
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada