Lo kantak: lullabies, between persistence and oblivion

Abstract

Despite many composers’ interest in lullabies, this musical genre is often mixed up with children’s songs in the collections of popular music, and has no specific category. One of the main causes of this confusion may be due to the lack of definition of lullabies, both in music and in texts. Starting from the analysis of the Basque songbooks of Azkue and Aita Donostia, the article describes the characteristics of lullabies collected in these songbooks and outlines the results of fieldwork, anticipating the current situation of this tradition.