The power of Oral Transmission : Singer's imprint and Folk Song Lab

Abstract

In this keynote, the singer’s role in tradition is enlightened from today’s perspective. Starting from this idea: the person from whom you learnt the song matters, and you will retain an “imprint” of that singer over time while making the song your own, adding your variations.  This may seem contradictory, so how does this work? What stable features do you retain from the singer you learn from, and what is the variation? What explorative ideas can emerge from this perspective in today's traditional and folk singing environment?In The Singer’s Imprint (2019), the question was how much of a singer's imprint remains in a long-term chain of oral tradition, what these stable features are, and what is varied. In the Folk Song Lab project (2019-2021), the exploratory question was whether it would be possible to learn traditional singing skills through collective improvisation sessions and consider the song more like a “container” of musical and stylistic ideas, creating new interpretations every time you sing. Both projects illuminate how traditional singing thrives as a dynamic interplay between tradition and innovation.The Singer’s imprint shows how imitation and oral transmission allow singers to inherit cultural knowledge while leaving room for personal expression and transformation.Methods like shadow singing in the Folk Song Lab project demonstrate that skills connected with traditional singing passed down informally can be learned today through intuitive, embodied practices that allow creativity, flow, and collective presence.Both studies show that traditional singing is not a static preservation but a living, communal art form in which continuity and change coexist.</p