Resurrection of the ethnic music of Lithuania Minor in Klaipėda district from 1971 to 2022

Abstract

This article examines how at the close of 20th century and beginning of the 21st century the ethnic music of Lithuania Minor, the ethnically Lithuanian area of the historical East Prussia, was reconstructed and developed. It goes into detail on the activities of Klaipėda district-based folklore collectives who considered it their mission or at least one of their goals to preserve the musical folklore of the Lietuvininkai, the name of Lithuanians in East Prussia. The study surveys in detail the current results of Lithuanian research on the resurrection of ethnic music, showing the folklore ensembles of the Klaipėda district were a significant part of the folklore movement which arose in the 1970s. Regional Klaipėda cultural and educational institutions began preserving and systematizing the Lietuvininkai musical folklore tradition in the latter half of the 20th century, which basically was taken over and continued by folklore ensembles and separate individuals, while the Lietuvininkai themselves did not take part in that activity.