Удружења гуслара и индивидуални гусларски идентитети: друштво гуслара "Свети Никола" из Новог Сада

Abstract

Певање епских песама уз гусле као традиционална солистичка пракса представља изузетно интересантно поље проучавања идентитета из перспективе односа појединца и различитих традиционалних и савремених, имагинарних и реалних колективитета са којима се он идентификује. У овом раду су на примеру Друштва гуслара (ДГ) „Свети Никола“ из Новог Сада разматрани начини на које гусларско друштво, као базична организациона институција гусларске праксе, утиче на обликовање идентитета гуслара. Постојање дуже од две деценије, а лоцираност у универзитетској и изразито мултикултурној средини чини искуства чланова овог Друштва посебно релевантним. Студија се заснива на теренском истраживању – учешћу у „интерним“ активностима Друштва и разговорима са члановима, увиду у јавну праксу и документацију Друштва. ДГ „Свети Никола“ је идентификовано у односу на социокултурни контекст и у односу на друга удружења истог ранга, а потом и кроз политике одрживости и репрезентовања. На основу тога је мапирана мрежа релација од значаја за (пре)обликовање идентитета гуслара-чланова овог друштва, са назнакама о њиховим парадигматским или диференцирајућим вредностима.

This paper is part of the results on the Matica srpska project entitled "Folklore music as a representation and medium of negotiation of cultural identities in Vojvodina" and is a continuation of the author’s earlier research of the relations between identity, institutions and traditions of singing accompanied by gusle. Namely, the singing of epic songs accompanied by gusle as a soloist practice shaped within tradition represents an extremely interesting field for the study of identity as a product of the relationship between individuals and different social groups with which he/she identifies. Using the example of the Association of Gusle Players “Sveti Nikola” from Novi Sad this paper analyzes various ways in which the organizational institution of the practice of singing accompanied by gusle at the basic, local level influences the shaping of the identity of gusle players and, consequently, the direction of the epic tradition. This is a society which is a stable and referential institution of this kind and its location in an urban and prominently multicultural environment and a university center makes it particularly important for the said issues. The study is based on field research – on observations during several attendances of the regular meetings of the Association, semi-structured interviews with the members and insight into their public practice as well as the documentation of the Association. The Association is identified in relation to the socio-cultural context and certain analogies have been noticed regarding the structure and relations (age and education), as well as its particularities (ethnicity and gender homogenous group). Furthermore, the paper indicates particularities in comparison with other associations of the same kind and the politics of sustainability and representation. A society seen that way is further analyzed as a reference and a context of the (re)shaping of the identity of gusle players who are members of the Association. It is noticed that the affection towards singing accompanied by gusle defines them as a subcultural group not only as agents in an archaic and somewhat eccentric musical practice, but also as producers of sound which has not been submitted to a (more) significant adaptation of the dominant aesthetics, i.e. genre hybridization. The analysis of inter-group identities points to the importance of “pre-gusle” identities, “besides-gusle” aspects of identities, the complexity and particularity of individual music-cultural identities as well as a variety of desired gusle players’ identities.