Expedition Leader

Dr. Andrei Sergeievich Kabanov

Dr. Andrei Sergeievich Kabanov was born in 1946 and raised in Moscow. He graduated from Moscow State Conservatory. As an ethnomusicologist, Dr. Kabanov has dealt squarely with the problem of preservation of folklore musical traditionalism all his professional activity. His research digs deep into the influence that context exerts over folk song performance. Many of his articles and monographs are devoted to the problem of working out the criteria that differentiate regional and group musical styles(such as southwestern, southern and Cossack) in the Russian music tradition. His fundamental research projects were devoted to the history of musical instruments and to the problem of the development of folk harmony. Dr. Kabanov has worked out a unique methodology to investigate the interrelation of folk song and folk dance, and has applied this method on his expeditions to Russia’s southern and western provinces. Although along with his colleagues and students he discovered 17 centers where musical traditions are still well-preserved, all these traditions are on the verge of total disappearance. Besides his academic work, Dr. Kabanov is one of the founders of the youth folklore movement. This movement, consisting largely of university or music institute students together with laypeople interested in singing Russian folk songs, aims to preserve Russia’s rich folk music tradition, not only in written form and recordings but in living performance as well. He is leader of a folk chorus that has presented concerts in Russia,France, Great Britain and Spain. Under Dr. Kabanov’s leadership, folklore groups have published several albums, such as “Kazachii krug” and “Veretentse.” He has also written extensively on the youth folklore movement.